Matthew 8:14-22 ESV
14 And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” 18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.””
Introduction
As in our previous chapter, we see Jesus accompanying his teaching with the working of miracles. The miracles He did were not performed to simply show off His power, but to attest to the fact, or to prove, that he was the long- awaited Messiah. Never has a man spoken like He did, never has a man done the things He has done. The signs that He did pointed to the fact that He was the Messiah.
Now we often hear some Christians say that we should expect Christ to do the same miracles today. But that is a mistake, because in the New Testament we see that after Jesus’ ascension and after a period of time, Paul, Timothy and other disciples became sick but were not healed. There is an important principle we have to emphasize – the Kingdom of God is already here, and with it signs and healings do occur, but we are still waiting for more to come. The principle is called, “the already but not yet” principle of the Kingdom of God. Understanding this principle, you will accept the fact that God does not heal or do miracles in every circumstance. When Jesus Christ came to earth, there was a period of time when He worked many miracles as signs to prove He was the Messiah, the Son of God. He gave ability to heal and exorcise demons to his apostles and we see in the Book of Acts and in the gospels that they did the same. These signs and miracles performed by the apostles proved that they were apostles and had received their authority directly from Christ – that the apostles were sent by God and that their message was from God and therefore true. Since then, there have never been any new apostles – only the original twelve. Miracles still happen today when and if God, who is sovereign, decides.
However, in times of revival, God has done many miracles and many healings as the people of God pray. We have seen this in the revival in Indonesia and in KwaZulu Natal in the 1960s, in East Africa, for example, in the 1930s and 1940s. There are many other examples. But the point is that God does not heal everyone who has a sickness now, even when prayed for. We live in a sinful, fallen world. Christ has conquered the grave and death, but we still die. Christ has power over sicknesses now, but we still get sick. Christ has power over evil spirits all the time, yet we still see demonic activity in the world. The Kingdom of God is already in the world, yet there is more to come. The kingdom still waits to come in full force, to be consummated. We are still waiting for the glorification of our bodies (See Romans 8:21-25).
INTERETHNICMISSIONS 