And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:3-5.
And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Matthew 10:7-8.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
You trust Me with your eternity, trust Me also with your life on earth. I do not change. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. No one even imagines they will not have abundance in Heaven. Why do you think you cannot have it on earth? No one even imagines they will be sick or disabled in Heaven, why do you think you have to have these things on the earth? Jesus came to bring the Kingdom to the earth. He told you that He came to give you ABUNDANT life. John 10:10. That is days of Heaven on earth. It has pleased Me to give you the little flock of the great good Shepherd My Kingdom. So do not live in fear.
And as we look in today’s Life Lesson at the next miracle in the gospel according to Matthew, which is the cure of the paralytic lowered down to Jesus through the roof, you will see Jesus telling the crowd how easy it is to have forgiveness and healing manifest even now in the midst of this world when the Kingdom is released by faith into the earth.
This miracle is reported by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew just details the healing itself but Mark and Luke fill in all the surrounding facts that took place. Let us go through the miracle as it happened and there is much revelation here for you to ponder.
“When Jesus had come back to Capernaum, several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.” Mark 2:1. Note that Jesus was at home. He had left Nazareth and moved to Capernaum. 12-13, Mark 9:33. “And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the Word to them.” Mark 2:2. People came to His home to hear Him teach and not just the people of Capernaum, “He was teaching; and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.” Luke 5:17. That day there was a large crowd and My power was present to heal, and that tells you that Jesus was teaching on healing. And then an unusual event took place. And even though My power to heal was there filling the place for those who would reach out and take it by faith only one man was healed. And now My power to heal is residing in every believer for you have within you the Holy Spirit who gives life to your mortal body, and Jesus told YOU as temples of the Holy Spirit and members of His body to lay your hands on the sick and they shall recover. You have the anointing.
“And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.” Mark 2:3-4. These men were determined to get their friend healed and he was determined as well. And they knew if they could just get him in front of Jesus that Jesus would heal him. That was noticeable faith for it was clearly seen by their actions. And nothing was going to stop them, they found no way to get in the door or even a window so they managed to lift that paralytic to the roof and dig an opening in the roof and then lower him down. And they calculated very well the part of the roof to open. “But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.” Luke 5:19.
And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” And Matthew adds, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2. Jesus is always looking for faith in order for the healing power present in Him and on Him by the anointing of My Spirit to be able to transmit the healing power to the believer. He, when speaking of the endtimes to His disciples, asked them the question with a deep sigh, “when the Son of Man comes will He find any faith on the earth?” It is impossible to please Me without faith because if you are lacking in faith you cannot receive from Me and it blocks Me giving you the abundant life that Jesus died to give you, a life of days of Heaven on earth. For those who would take it by faith, He gave them the Kingdom. And healing is a sign that the Kingdom is near you.
But many of the religious leaders had set their minds against Jesus, and those could not receive from His fullness. Jesus told them at another time, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24. For having all your sins forgiven and taken away and receiving healing as well requires for you to have received Him by faith, being IN HIM is where you must be.
And that day, He did not speak healing to the paralytic, He told him that his sins were forgiven. Jesus saw the root of the problem and spoke to it. Many of you are still trapped in the guilt of your sins and are paralyzed to go forward to your high calling in Christ. You keep looking back and disqualifying yourself so that you cannot move forward.
“But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? Mark 2:7-9. And Matthew has the details of the strength of that reply, “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’?” Matthew 9:4-5. He called their thoughts “evil” for they were accusing Him, My very Word made flesh, true purity and holiness before them, the very One whom I had sent into the world as My gift to all so that all who believe in Him shall never perish but have eternal life, of blaspheming.
Jesus revealed here for all time and eternity who I am. Nothing is too wonderful or too hard for Me. Nothing is impossible for Me. I made your bodies and souls and I can heal them. I gave you your spirits and I can give them birth a new. I created you and I can recreate you anew in Christ in His image and according to His likeness. I forgive and I heal and both are easy for Me. Why? Because of the Wonderful God Hero I sent to you—My Word became flesh and dwelt among you and I punished sin in the flesh in Him and made Him who knew no sin to be sin on your behalf so that in Him you would become righteous with My righteousness, not righteousness of your own that you earn and could lose, but Mine which will never be compromised or lost.
And as He took away your sins by bearing them in His own body, He did the same with your diseases, infirmities and pains. “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.” Matthew 8:17.
Jesus introduced a concept here that caused offense to the scribes and “experts” in the Law, but it was prophesied by the very prophet from whose writings Jesus had read when He was handed the scroll to read in the Synagogue at Nazareth at the beginning of His public ministry. And when He put the scroll down, He announced that He was the fulfillment of that Scripture passage. Isaiah 61:1-2.
But now He was referring to My Word through the prophet Isaiah concerning Him in another passage: “Surely our sicknesses He Himself bore, and our pains He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” Isaiah 53:4-6. Jesus made it legally and justly proper for Me to forgive and heal all who are in Him, that is who have received Him as Lord and believed that I raised Him from the dead with all your sins punished and gone on Him. The wages of sin is death, so once that is removed, healing can flow. Long life is yours in Him, for length of days.
He bore both your physical infirmities as well as your sins. He bought your healing and your forgiveness together as one. Do not forget all My benefits, I forgive ALL your sins and heal ALL your ills in Him. And I do MUCH MORE than that, but it all hinges on the forgiveness of your sins or none of the benefits would be yours without that, for first the sin barrier must be removed for you to enter My Kingdom and get in its flow. He has saved all those in Him from the wrath to come and given them access to Heaven on earth as citizens of My Kingdom. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart, taken out of darkness into My own marvelous light to sing there in joyful thanksgiving and praise.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32.
And that is the new and everlasting Covenant sealed in His blood. He had the authority to lay down His life and take it up again to put you in a whole new way of life that is life indeed. But though they were experts in My Word, the scribes and Pharisees failed to understand Scripture and My power, which were both before them in Jesus, the fulfillment of all.
“But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:23-24.
So Jesus replied to them, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” Mark 2:10-12. “Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.” Luke 5:25-26. “But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.” Matthew 9:8. Heaven had shown up with Jesus and had touched the earth and all were amazed. That is the way it should be everywhere your feet tread now as well.
I love you. You are forgiven and you are healed. Both are easy for Me and easy for you to receive, but they cost My Son every drop of His pure blood and made Him endure the punishment that was due to you all. I laid upon Him the guilt of you all. “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:24-25. He made peace through the blood of His Cross. Colossians 1:20.