16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8:16–17 (ESV)
By Jesus’ great authority as God, He conquered disease. Additionally, the disease of sin vanishes by grace alone, through faith alone. This is because of the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.
Following Jesus’ healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (Matt. 8:14-15), He began to heal the many who lived in Capernaum.
Mark’s Gospel informs us that following Jesus’ entrance into Capernaum, He entered the local synagogue on the Sabbath and began teaching (Mark 1:21-28). It was after He left the synagogue that Jesus entered Peter and Andrew’s home; with James and John (1:29). It was during this visit that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law (1:30-31). It was the evening of that same day that many brought the sick and the demon possessed for healing (Matt. 8:16).
“That evening, the citizens of Capernaum bring demoniacs and the physically ill to Jesus for healing (v. 16). The people come after the sunset because it marks the end of the Sabbath (Mark 1:21–34), a day on which healing would break God’s law, according to the Pharisees (3:1–6). Of course, Jesus will later demonstrate this instruction to be false, but at this point He apparently heals without explaining how such work actually fulfills the Sabbath’s intent,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.
Everything Jesus did was to fulfill the Scriptures (Matt. 5:18-19). This included the healing of the sick and diseased. Matthew quotes from Isaiah 53:4. The text is a part of the great Servant Song of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 that declares the substitutionary atonement of the Messiah; Jesus Christ.
“This prediction has the appearance of being inappropriate, and even of being tortured into a meaning which it does not bear. Isaiah does not speak of miracles, but of the death of Christ – not of temporal benefits, but of spiritual and eternal grace,” explains John Calvin.
“What is undoubtably spoken about the impurities of the soul, Matthew applies to bodily diseases. They (the sick) experienced in their bodies the grace of Christ, but we must look at the design. Jesus gave sight to the blind in order to show that He is ‘the light of the world’ (John 8:12). He restored life to the dead to prove that He is the ‘resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25). Similar observations might be made to those who were lame and paralyzed. Jesus was sent by the Father to relive us from all evils and miseries.”
Thank you, Lord, for being the healer of my soul.
Soli deo Gloria!
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