In Matthew 4:23-24, we see that Christ is also the Healer. Whereas the shining of light annuls darkness, healing annuls death. All diseases, all sicknesses, lead to death. Therefore, to be healed is to be rescued from death. We may also say that Christ’s healing swallows up the death element in our being.
As the Healer, Christ heals our diseases and sicknesses. “Jesus went about in all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. And the report concerning Him went out into all of Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those afflicted with various diseases and torments and those possessed by demons and epileptics and paralytics; and He healed them” (Matt. 4:23-24). Here disease and sickness are two different words in Greek. The Greek word translated disease and diseases refers to an incurable illness. The Greek word rendered sickness refers to light illnesses. According to these verses, Christ is the Healer of both diseases and sicknesses.
Matthew 9:35 says, “Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness.” Here “every disease and every sickness” signifies spiritual illness.
As our Healer, the Lord Jesus also takes our infirmities. “When evening fell, they brought to Him many who were demon possessed, and He cast out the spirits with a word, and all those who were ill He healed, so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘He Himself took away our infirmities and bore our diseases’” (8:16-17). All healings accomplished on fallen people are due to the Lord’s redemption. He took our infirmities and bore our diseases on His cross and accomplished full healing for us there. We may experience Christ as the Healer who takes away our infirmities, our weaknesses. However, the application of healing by divine power can only be a foretaste in this age; the full taste will be accomplished in the coming age.
As the Healer, Christ also casts out demons. Demons are not fallen angels but spirits of the living creatures who lived in the preadamic age and were judged by God when they joined Satan’s rebellion (see Life-study of Genesis, Message 2). The fallen angels work with Satan in the air (Eph. 2:2; 6:11-12), and the demons move with him on the earth. Both act evilly upon people for the kingdom of Satan. The demons’ possession of people signifies Satan’s usurpation of man, whom God created for His purpose. Therefore, in His ministry on earth the Lord Jesus cast out demons from possessed people that they might be delivered from Satan’s bondage (Luke 13:16), out of Satan’s authority of darkness (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13) into God’s kingdom.
Christ is all-inclusive. As the great light, He enlightens us; as the Healer, He heals us; and as the great Teacher, He teaches us.
Man’s fall into sin broke His fellowship with God. As a result, man became ignorant of the knowledge of God. Such ignorance issued first in darkness and then in death. Christ, as the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), came to Galilee, the land of darkness, and He came as a great light to shine upon the people in darkness. His teaching released the word of light to enlighten those in the darkness of death so that they might receive the light of life (1:4). His teaching was thus the shining of a great light. Every word that issued out of His mouth was an enlightening word. Therefore, while He was teaching the people, the light was shining upon them. In this way the people sitting in darkness were enlightened by the Lord’s teaching and were brought out of satanic darkness into the divine light (Acts 26:18).
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