Miracles, Miracles, Miracles

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 8—10 we witness Jesus’ power over nature, over disease, and over the demonic realm. But perhaps the greatest power continues to reach us today when Jesus heals broken people and forgives our sins.

Jesus made it clear (in John 15) that without Him, we can do nothing. Only as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit can we do anything that pleases God.

Jesus cured the incurable. He healed at a distance. He “muzzled” the storm that threatened to drown the frightened disciples. The disciples marveled, “Who is He that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

We learn from Matthew that Jesus was a Shepherd, moved with compassion to gather the lost and suffering sheep to Himself. Jesus healed many, many people, and He rescued those who were demon possessed. “He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick” (8:16).

Thousands of blind people had their eyes opened, thousands of paralyzed walked, thousands of deaf people heard. After all, the apostle John said, “Truly Jesus did many other signs … which are not written in this book” (John 20:30.) But the ones recorded are written for a very definite purpose. No one, including Jesus’ enemies, ever questioned whether Jesus performed miracles. People only asked how.

But Jesus did not heal everyone. It’s not always His will to heal even today. If you have a need for healing, go to the Great Physician and find out if it’s His will. Put your case before Him and, like the leper, say: “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” And if He is, He’ll never send you a bill, and He’ll get all the glory/credit for it.

Yet even as Jesus healed bodies, Jesus cared more for people’s souls. The Pharisees questioned Him when Jesus said He forgave sin. “Which is easier to say ‘your sins are forgiven’ or ‘you can get up and walk”? (See Matthew 9:5.) Jesus answered the challenge of those who didn’t believe He could do either for a paralyzed man. But the One who can make a man walk is the One who can forgive his sins.

Only the Lord Jesus can miraculously heal and gloriously forgive us. Let’s never get in the way of what only Jesus can do.

His compassion for people moved Him into the “cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (9:35). He told His disciples to go out and call people to repentance, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus is a king on the way to the cross.

1. What is there in the leper’s statement, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean,” that we can learn to emulate?

2. Why do you think the centurion, who knew Jesus could heal his servant from a great distance away, had such great faith when others did not?

3. The disciples panicked while Jesus slept during a storm on the Sea of Galilee. What can their frantic reactions show us about our own faith (or lack of faith) in God?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teachings on Matthew 8:1-17 and Matthew 8:18-9:14.