The Healings of Jesus

Six features characterized Jesus' healing ministry and set it apart from those of the fake “faith healers,” who have paraded themselves before the church with their deceptive and abusive false promises.First, Jesus healed with a word, as He did in the case of the centurion's servant (Matt. 8:5–13) or, as here with Peter's mother-in-law, a touch (cf. Mark 3:10; 5:25–34).Second, Jesus healed instantly. There were no progressive healings; the people He cured did not gradually get better. As noted above, Peter's mother-in-law's symptoms vanished at once, and she was fully restored to health. Similarly, the centurion's servant “was healed that very moment” (Matt. 8:13); the woman with the hemorrhage was healed “immediately” (Mark 5:29); the ten lepers were cleansed of their disease as soon as they left to show themselves to the priests (Luke 17:14); after Jesus “stretched out His hand and touched [another leper]. . .immediately the leprosy left him” (Luke 5:13); when Jesus commanded the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, “‘Get up, pick up your pallet and walk,' immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk” (John 5:8–9). Some offer the Lord's healing of the blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22–25) as an example of a progressive healing. But the man's statement, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around” (v. 24) merely defined his preexisting condition of blindness. The actual healing was instantaneous (v. 25). Had Jesus' healings not been instantaneous, they would not have demonstrated His supernatural power over disease...