The Book of Acts ~ Study Forty-Seven

"Blinded by Healing"

Acts 14:8-20 (NLT) While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed. So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.
   When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!” They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul was Hermes, since he was the chief speaker. Now the temple of Zeus was located just outside the town. So the priest of the temple and the crowd brought bulls and wreaths of flowers to the town gates, and they prepared to offer sacrifices to the apostles.
   But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, “Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings—just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.” But even with these words, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.
   Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

We greet Paul and Barnabas again as they are preaching the Good News about Jesus to a diverse crowd of listeners in Lystra. It was a Roman colony founded by Augustus with an aristocracy core of citizens. (NIV Pocket Dictionary) They worshiped the gods of Zeus and Hermes.

As Paul is preaching about Jesus, he notices that there is a crippled man listening intently. Paul sees that he is believing the things he is teaching about Jesus. In fact, the passage relates that Paul sees that he had faith to be healed. So Paul yelled "Stand up!" to the man and the man did. Instantaneous healing. Yes, instantaneous healing of the physical man, but we are skipping something entirely more important. The man's soul had been healed before that when he came to believe and have faith in the message of Jesus Paul preached.

Do you ever focus on the physical aspects of your life and often overlook the spiritual? Life often obscures our spiritual vision and this is what happened that day in Lystra. The people who witnessed the miracle missed the life-giving message of Jesus.

Look at the following passages and note the similarities:

Luke 5:15-16 (NIV) Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.


Luke 6:17-19 (NIV) He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

The two things that stand out for me when I read the passages is this: hear and healed. First, they heard Christ speak and then they were healed. Faith comes from hearing the words of Jesus. In other words, when the active and powerful Word of God is spoken and then received, faith begins.

Romans 10:17 (NLT) So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

HEARING ~ FAITH ~ HEALING

The true healing is not physical, its spiritual. Where is this crippled man now? Is he alive? No, he's dead physically, but alive with Christ for all eternity. That's where the true healing lies.

We see that the healing of this man led the people to believe that the healing came from Paul and Barnabas. They tried to explain the miracle by their own belief system. Paul was Hermes and Barnabas was Zeus. It was harder for them to believe that God, through Jesus, was the source of the healing. This is no different from the way people nowadays try to explain God.

A popular talk show host teaches that we have the power within us. We are gods and have the ability to heal ourselves and make our own destiny. Books are written and songs are sung proclaiming the power of mankind. It can be inspiring to us and often sucks us into the false security of self.

The Bible teaches us the opposite. We are nothing without the Creator. He is the source of all things and if He were to remove His hand from the world, we would all die and be lost to Him. Instead, God, in His mercy, sent His Son to die for our sins against Him. Jesus rose again and sits at the right hand of God to mediate for us. He is our defender and friend.

Hebrews 5:7-10. (MSG) While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God's Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him. (emphasis mine)

Jesus is the source of eternal salvation. Physical healing isn't. Miracles aren't. Jesus is. This world is but a mist and eternity with Him is the true goal. Praise Jesus that He takes us through this hard world and brings us into His Kingdom where there will be no more sorrow or pain.

Look up and don't let the temporal things of this world obscure you sight of the One who made the way for us to be right with God. Yes, Jesus still heals our physical bodies. Miracles do happen. But, let's not allow them to be our aim. Let's make Jesus all we see and all we hear and all we are.