Fresh Eyes On Jesus' Miracles - Healing The Man's SonExemplo
Now that we have created the timeline and discovered what it reveals, let’s back up from the story and collect ourselves. I’m almost breathless myself! This miracle unveils something we moderns hardly appreciate. The greatest demonstration of God’s deity is His ability to create everything by the power of His word. That’s who He is. That’s what He does. His words are not just informative; they are performative. Divine words spoken long-distance from over eighteen miles away had caused the terminally sick boy to recover.
We must adopt a higher view of the Word of God than we often do. We need to approach the Bible believing it is more than a repository of accurate and authoritative information. It is that, of course. But too often we stop there. We milk its instruction, principles, precepts, and eternally true information for all they’re worth and try to live according to them. That’s right and good. But God’s Word is more than that. God’s words perform His will.
It has always been that way, and so it shall remain. God’s words cause everything that counts. God’s words created everything (Gen. 1) and sustain everything (Heb. 1:2–3). He is not a grand watchmaker, as the deists claim, who created the material universe that now functions by fixed laws independent of His faithful involvement. If He ever was to stop speaking His will for this universe to exist, at that very moment everything would stop existing.
God’s words always accomplish His purposes (Isa. 55:10–11). His words create faith (Rom. 10:17) and cause spiritual rebirth (1 Pet. 1:23). They discern and expose our inner thoughts (Heb. 4:12). They cleanse (Eph. 5:25–26) and sanctify (John 17:17). His words can be in us so we bear much fruit (John 15:7–8). And thankfully, His words defeat the Enemy of our souls (Eph. 6:17).
One day my wife and I received a phone call about a thirtysomething lady who, although a devoted Christian, suffered frequent bouts of depression and spiritual attack as a result of her childhood exposure to her parents’ and grandparents’ satanic practices, including human sacrifice. She needed help breaking free from recurring, debilitating torment, so we arranged to meet with her. We followed no preconceived formula—indeed we had never encountered anything like this before. My wife felt strongly impressed prior to our session to use a specific psalm at a key moment and asked the lady to read it aloud through her empty eyes. As she did, an oppressive, almost visible cloud of sadness lifted. Her torment immediately departed, but the proof of her freedom played out over the years of a stable life of peace and joy.
Experiences like that of the royal official and this tormented woman have a way of helping us know what happened in the first moments of time.
God spoke. He still speaks, and good things happen.
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Jesus often said, "You have heard how it was said, but I tell you..." He invited His listeners to break away from well-worn ways of thinking to see something new. In Fresh Eyes, Doug Newton helps readers do just that and look at the miracle of healing the royal official's son in a new way.
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