EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/20/2026 10:02 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-2
“Jesus’ Power Over The Natural Realm”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
4:38-40
Message of the verses: “Then He got up and left the synagogue,
and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s
mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help
her. And standing over her, He rebuked
the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them. While the sun was setting, all those who had
any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His
hands on each one of them, He was healing them.”
I have to say that I did not get too far this morning,
but will try and do better in this evening’s SD, as I will begin by quoting a
paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary that he wrote to help explain these
verses above.
“But Peter had more in mind than a
meal, since upon arrival Jesus was confronted by a family crisis. Simon’s mother-in-law (1 Cor. 9:5
refers to Peter’s wife) was seriously ill, suffering from an
infection and a resulting high fever.
(Only Luke the physician specifies that it was a high[Gk., mega; lit.
‘large’ or ‘great’] fever; Matthew [8:14] and Mark ‘1:30] merely refer to it as
a fever.) Fully aware of Jesus’ power to
heal (cf. 4:14, 23), they asked Him to help her. The Lord immediately responded and standing
over her He took her by the hand in a gesture of tender compassion (Matt.
8:15; Mark 1:31), rebuked the fever, and it left her. Rebuked translates a form of the verb epitimao,
which is used almost exclusively in the New Testament to speak of rebuking
people or demons (the only other instance of it being used to rebuke an
inanimate object are in the accounts of Jesus’ calming the sea [Mark 4:39; Luke
8:24]). Its use here demonstrates that
Jesus had authority and power over the forces that debilitate the natural
body. At Christ’s word, the fever
instantaneously left her. There
was no lingering weakness, no recovery period; all her symptoms disappeared at
once. Completely healed and needing no
recovery of strength lost in the battle with the infection, she immediately
got up and waited on them, preparing and serving the Sabbath meal to the
many family members and guests.
“The Lord’s healing ministry set the
pattern for the true biblical gift of healing.
Six features characterized His healing ministry and set it apart from
those of the fake ‘faith healers,’ who have paraded themselves before the
church with their deceptive and abusive false promises.”
I will now begin quoting these six
features that characterized Jesus healing ministry, and see how far I get this
evening.
“First, Jesus healed with a word, as
He did in the case of the centurion’s servant (Matt. 8:5-13) or, as here with
Peter’s mother-in-law, a touch (cf. Mark 3:10; 5:25-34).
“Second, Jesus healed
instantly. There were no progressive
healings; the people He cured did not gradually get better. As noted above, Peter’s mother-in-law’s symptoms
vanished at once, and she was fully restored to health. Similarly, the centurion’s servant ‘was
healed that very moment’ (Matt. 8:13); the woman with the hemorrhage was healed
‘immediately’ (Mark 5:29); the ten lepers were cleansed of their disease as
soon as they left to show themselves to the priests (Luke 17:14); after Jesus ‘stretched
out His hand and touched [another leper]…immediately the leprosy left him’
(Luke 5:13); when Jesus commanded the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, ‘Get
up, pick up your pallet and began to walk’ (John 5:8-9). Some offer the Lord’s healing of the blind
man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-25) as an example of a progressive healing. But the man’s statement, ‘I see men, for I
see them like trees, walking around’ (v. 24) merely defined his preexisting
condition of blindness. The actual
healing was instantaneous (v. 25). Had
Jesus’ healings not been instantaneous, they would not have demonstrated His
supernatural power over disease. His
critics could have claimed that the people were better as a result of natural
processes.
“Third, Jesus healed totally. Peter’s mother-in-law was cured of all her
symptoms and went at once from being bedridden to serving a meal. When Jesus healed a man ‘covered with leprosy’
(Luke 5:12), ‘the leprosy left him’ (v. 13).
It was the same with all of Jesus’ healings; ‘the blind receive[d] sight
and the lame walk[ed], the lepers [were] cleansed and the deaf hear[d]’ (Matt.
11:15).
“Fourth, as verse 40 notes, Jesus
healed everyone. He did not leave behind
long lines of disappointed, distraught people who were not healed, like modern
faith healers do. Matthew 4:24 says that
‘the news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all
who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs,
epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.’
According to Matthew 12:15, ‘Many followed Him, and He healed them all,’ while Luke 6:19 notes that ‘all the people
were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.’ So widespread was Jesus’ healing that He, in
effect, banished disease from Israel during the three years of His ministry.
“Fifth, Jesus healed organic
disease. He did not heal vague,
ambiguous, invisible ailments such as lower back pain, heart palpitations, or
headaches. On the contrary, He restored
full mobility to paralyzed limbs, full sight to blind eyes, full hearing to
deaf ears, and fully cleansed leprous skin.
Jesus healed ‘every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the
people’ (Matt. 4:23; cf. 9:35). All
Jesus’ healings were undeniable, miraculous signs, as even His most bitter
enemies admitted (John 11:47).
“Finally, Jesus raised the dead—not those
who were in a temporary coma, or whose vital signs fluctuated during surgery, but
a young man in his casket on his way to the graveyard (Luke 7:11-15), a young
girl whose death was apparent to all (Mark 5:22-24, 35-43), and a man who had
been dead for four days (John 11:14-44).”
Lord willing I will be able to
finish this section in tomorrow morning’s SD.
5/20/2026
10:47 PM
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