Demonstrated in Acts of Healing
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Key Verse: “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Selected Scripture: |
DURING THE THREE-AND-ONE-HALF years of his earthly ministry, Jesus performed many miracles of healing. While these had much benefit to those specifically whom he had healed, as well as to their families and friends, they were primarily designed to be a foreshadowing of the glorious healing work of Christ’s future earthly kingdom. The Scriptures speak of this kingdom as a time in which all manner of sickness—physical, mental, and moral—will be healed. “The Sun of righteousness [shall] arise with healing in his wings.”—Mal. 4:2
In today’s lesson, we see the account of two specific types of healing which Jesus performed during his ministry. The first of these is the healing of blindness. “Two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened.”—Matt. 9:27-30
In the case of this miracle, literal blindness was healed because of the men’s faith in the power vested in Jesus. In Christ’s coming kingdom, literal blindness will also be healed, and permanently so, for all mankind. There is a greater blindness, however, that will be done away with at that time. Man’s spiritual eyes, now blinded to a large extent by the great Adversary and the traditions of men, will be opened to the Truth of God’s plan of salvation and his glorious character. Note these words, prophetic of that kingdom: “I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.”—Isa. 42:16
The second example of healing shown in today’s lesson is the casting out of a devil from a man who could not speak, the devil having caused this condition. “As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.” (Matt. 9:32,33) The devil, although literal in this case, is a fitting representation of the devilish influences—pride, hatred, malice, selfishness, etc.—which have befallen mankind since our first parents’ sin in the garden of Eden. This has resulted in mankind being unable, by and large, to speak properly through the words and actions of their lives.
In Christ’s kingdom, there will be no devilish influences. Indeed, Satan himself will be bound (Rev. 20:1,2), and man will be released from the bondage of sin and death, under which the Devil has possessed him. Being thus released, and taught the principles of righteousness, man will no longer be ‘dumb,’ but able to speak and act in a righteous manner, acceptable to God. “For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isa. 26:9) The Key Verse summarizes for us the many types of miracles Jesus performed, giving us a foretaste of the great healing work to come.