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First Leper to Be Cleansed by Christ
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“Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Arise, take up your bed and
walk”? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on
earth to forgive sins’—He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, arise,
take up your bed, and go your way to your house.’”
Then the man who had been carried to Jesus on a stretcher rose
to his feet with the ease and strength of youth. Every organ of his
body sprang into activity. The glow of health replaced the pale look
[119]
of approaching death. “Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and
went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and
glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’”
Creative power restored health to that decaying body. The same
Voice that spoke life to Adam created from the dust of the earth
spoke life to the dying paralytic. And the same Power that gave life
to the body had renewed the heart. Christ told the paralytic to arise
and walk, “that you may know that the Son of Man has power on
earth to forgive sins.”
Spiritual Healing Often Precedes Physical Healing
Thousands today suffering from physical disease, like the par-
alyzed man, long for the message, “Your sins are forgiven.” Sin is
the foundation of their sicknesses. The Healer of the soul alone can
give vigor to the mind and health to the body.
Jesus still has the same life-giving power as He did when He
healed the sick and spoke forgiveness to the sinner. He “forgives all
your iniquities”; He “heals all your diseases.”
Psalm 103:3
; see
1
John 3:8
;
John 1:4-10
;
10:10
;
1 Corinthians 15:45
.
As the man who had been cured passed through the crowd carry-
ing his burden as if it were light as a feather, the people stepped back
to give him room. With a look of awe on their faces, they whispered
softly among themselves, “We have seen strange things today!”
The Pharisees were speechless with amazement and over-
whelmed with defeat. Confused and humiliated, they recognized but
did not acknowledge the presence of a superior Being. From Peter’s
home, where they had seen the paralytic restored, they went away
set in unbelief, determined to invent new schemes for silencing the
Son of God.