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The Desire of Ages
which He alone can give, would impart vigor to the mind, and health
to the body.
Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil.” “In Him was life,”
and He says, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly.” He is “a quickening spirit.”
1 John 3:8
;
John
1:4
;
10:10
;
1 Corinthians 15:45
. And He still has the same life-giving
power as when on earth He healed the sick, and spoke forgiveness
to the sinner. He “forgiveth all thine iniquities,” He “healeth all thy
diseases.”
Psalm 103:3
.
The effect produced upon the people by the healing of the paralytic
was as if heaven had opened, and revealed the glories of the better
world. As the man who had been cured passed through the multitude,
blessing God at every step, and bearing his burden as if it were a
feather’s weight, the people fell back to give him room, and with awe-
stricken faces gazed upon him, whispering softly among themselves,
“We have seen strange things today.”
The Pharisees were dumb with amazement and overwhelmed with
defeat. They saw that here was no opportunity for their jealousy to
inflame the multitude. The wonderful work wrought upon the man
whom they had given over to the wrath of God had so impressed the
people that the rabbis were for the time forgotten. They saw that Christ
possessed a power which they had ascribed to God alone; yet the gentle
dignity of His manner was in marked contrast to their own haughty
bearing. They were disconcerted and abashed, recognizing, but not
confessing, the presence of a superior being. The stronger the evidence
that Jesus had power on earth to forgive sins, the more firmly they
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entrenched themselves in unbelief. From the home of Peter, where
they had seen the paralytic restored by His word, they went away to
invent new schemes for silencing the Son of God.
Physical disease, however malignant and deep-seated, was healed
by the power of Christ; but the disease of the soul took a firmer hold
upon those who closed their eyes against the light. Leprosy and palsy
were not so terrible as bigotry and unbelief.
In the home of the healed paralytic there was great rejoicing when
he returned to his family, carrying with ease the couch upon which
he had been slowly borne from their presence but a short time before.
They gathered round with tears of joy, scarcely daring to believe their
eyes. He stood before them in the full vigor of manhood. Those