Luke 5:16&17 “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”
While reading Luke 5 the statement at the end of vs 17 stuck out to me in a way that I have never noticed before. The end of vs 17 says, “And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.” I know that wherever Jesus is He can heal and He can save, and often times when we see the healing miracles of Christ we also see a completely changed life: a life that was changed from the inside out. Its called the New Birth!
But what I noticed about this passage was the people that the Bible describes in verse 17 before the statement that tells us the power of the Lord was present to heal. Look with me at the type of people that the Bible describes. It tells us that there were Pharisees and Doctors of the Law. That is very interesting! In other words, we have Jewish secretaries and Teachers of the Law. And the Bible says, the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Think about that, Jesus knew the power was present to heal them. Their greatest need was the healing of the soul, and the power was present, if they only would have believed. Whatever the need was - the power was present to meet the need!
We often think about Jesus as the one who heals the physical, but the reality of Jesus’ Ministry was to heal the heart! Look what Jesus says of Himself in the synagogue referring back to the old testament. (Luke 4:18) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Yes, Jesus did heal the wounds and sickness, but this was always an avenue to the heart of the problem. The real issue is the soul of man, and that’s what Jesus wants to heal! And, He had the power present to heal every soul around Him — even the Pharisees and the Doctors of the law!
You may be physically ok today, but you have a longing in your heart that is hard for you to bear. I’ll remind you that Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever. He never changes. If you will go to Him, He will receive your broken heart with arms wide open.
Psalms 34:18 says,
“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
Is your spirit crushed today? Jesus has the power to free from bondage. He is nigh and the power is always with him to heal. He has all power and he will give it freely to them that believe on His name.
The Power of the Lord is Present!