The three stories of Matthew 8 were the healing of a leper, a healing of Roman offical‘s servant and the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. In the Gospels, we see that Jesus often healed out of compassion for those who were suffering. This compassion is a reflection of God's love for us, and it is through Jesus' healing that we get a glimpse of His immense love.
Matthew wants us to see Jesus as both Messiah and healer. In verse 17, he said that “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” He was referring to a messianic prophecy found in Isaiah 53, but surprisingly it is not a direct quote. Isaiah said, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows . . . and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4a, 5b), referring to how Jesus bore our sins on the cross to see us forgiven and healed spiritually. Sin and sickness sometimes go together. Jesus heals both.
This is one of the passages that modern faith healers use to sanction what they do, but I disagree when it is taken out of context. What do these verses say that we are healed of? It clearly states that we are healed of our transgressions and iniquities. These are two other words for sin. Peter confirms this in 1 Peter 2:24, “Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye are healed.”
It was our sin that was laid on Him, not our sickness and disease. Sin and disease are the parts of the fall of mankind. He died to redeem us and make us new creatures. Those healed of sickness, that was temporary. They all died. Then what? We will have a new body and there will be a new earth, and both are due to His death to atone for our sins, but this is not the time for them. Sin is an illness and a terrible fever that has only one cure.
Peter’s mother-in-law proved that she was fully recovered from her fever by waiting on them, a sign of her physical wholeness and her spiritual responsiveness to Jesus. He gave her an instant cure, and at the same time renewed her strength. No trace of fever remained. Her instinct, as a matronly woman and head of the household, was to rise at once to prepare a meal for Jesus and His disciples. All He did was touch her hand, and her temperature instantly goes down. The stories of the two healings spread through Capernaum and many brought their sick and demon possessed to be cured.
It is not always God’s will to heal, but it may be. Don’t stop praying for our daily needs and healings. I believe in divine healing, but whether or not it is instant be assured of glory because your sins are forgiven.
Let’s get up and serve Him, maybe in a wheelchair, like Joni Eareckson Tada, or in blindness like Fanny Crosby awaiting the time of our rising for all eternity.
Application: Give God the glory.
Prayer: Lord, we continue to pray for those who have been afflicted with illnesses and diseases that they would be healed. But, we pray that they know You!
