Matt 4:23-25 The Healing Ministry of Jesus CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom while he was in Galilee. The gospel of the kingdom concerned getting a Jewish king on the throne of David who would lead the Jews to become the ruling nation of the world (Is. 9:6-7, Matt 2:2, Lk 1:32, Is. 60:11-12).

Now, we know that the Jewish king that the Jews should have been looking for is Jesus. In order that the Jews might recognize their king, Jesus confirmed his preaching with healing (Matt 5:23, Jn 5:36). There are several reasons for this.

First, according to Old Testament prophecy, the Jewish king will take the throne following a time of tribulation known as “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” (Jer. 30:7-9). To come out of this time of trouble, Israel will not only need to be saved (Rom 11:25-27), but also they will need to be healed (Ps 107:19-20, Jer 17:14, Jer 30:10-11, 17).

Second, Moses wrote that God would raise up a Prophet of the Jews who would be like Moses and who would preach the words that God put in his mouth (Deut 18:15-18). To be like Moses, this Prophet would have to preach God’s words (Ex 6:28-29, Jn 7:16, 8:28, 12:49). He would also have to be able to heal (Ex 4:6-7, Jn 3:2, 9:33).

Third, Jews require a sign (1 Cor 1:22). Therefore, in order for the Jews to believe what he was preaching, Jesus had to be able to do miracles just like Moses. Moses performed a healing miracle as a sign to the Jews and they believed him (Ex 4:8, 29-31). Likewise, Jesus performed healing miracles so that the Jews would believe him (Jn. 4:53, 2:23).

Notice what characterizes the true gift of healing, so as not to be confused by the “faith healers” of today. When Jesus healed, he healed ALL that were brought to him. He never had any failures for any reason (Matt 8:16; 9:35; 12:15). In verse 23, he healed “all manner of sickness and all manner of disease” and in verse 24, “he healed them.” Even the apostles healed ALL that were brought to them (Acts 5:16).

There is only one case of someone not being healed because of a lack of faith (Matt 17:19-20). In this case, the lack of faith was attributed to the healers and not to the one being healed. So, don’t let today’s charlatan “healers” make you believe that they have some gift when they can’t heal ALL that are brought to them and they blame those who don’t get healed for lacking faith.

The people who were healed had:

§ Divers diseases – they were leprous, blind, deaf, dumb, lame, and withered
§ Devil possession – like Mk 5:1-17
§ Lunacy – insanity, not always resulting from devil possession
§ Palsy – complete or partial paralysis; uncontrollable muscular tremors

The effect of Jesus’ preaching and healing ministry drew people from many places:

§ Galilee – the region of northern Israel, north of Samaria
§ Decapolis – a district east and southeast of the Sea of Galilee containing ten cities
§ Jerusalem – where the temple was located
§ Judaea – the region of southern Israel, south of Samaria
§ Beyond Jordan – the regions east of the Jordan River called Peraea and Ituraea
§ Syria – the region north of Galilee

Needless to say, Jesus had a vast public ministry.