The Healings of Jesus IV – The Nobleman’s Son

In the previous few blogs, I said that if you’ve ever doubted the will of God concerning healing, look no further than the four gospels. In them you’ll see that Jesus always said “yes” to healing! He never turned anyone away who came to Him for healing. And if you turn to Him for your healing, He will say “yes” to you!

The gospels also instruct us on how to receive healing from God. So I have been teaching about the healings of Jesus because we can glean helpful nuggets. Today, let’s study the account of the nobleman’s son who was healed.

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son was lying ill in Capernaum.

Having heard that Jesus had come back from Judea into Galilee, he went away to meet Him and began to beg Him to come down and cure his son, for he was lying at the point of death.

Then Jesus said to him, Unless you see signs and miracles happen, you [people] never will believe (trust, have faith) at all.

The king’s officer pleaded with Him, Sir, do come down at once before my little child is dead!

Jesus answered him, Go in peace; your son will live! And the man put his trust in what Jesus said and started home.

But even as he was on the road going down, his servants met him and reported, saying, Your son lives!

So he asked them at what time he had begun to get better. They said, Yesterday during the seventh hour (about one o’clock in the afternoon) the fever left him.

Then the father knew that it was at that very hour when Jesus had said to him, Your son will live. And he and his entire household believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Jesus). John 4:46-53 AMPC

If you read through stories like these quickly, you might miss some key aspects. So, I want to break it down and look at five valuable truths.

1.     Faith is required to receive anything from God.

James addressed this when he said,

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. James 1:6-8 NKJV

We see that faith is necessary to receive. We could say that faith is the currency of Heaven. We don’t pay for healing with money. We can only obtain healing by the currency of faith.

The nobleman had such faith, although not initially. When he first came to Jesus, he came begging for help. His humility was commendable. But begging didn’t help him receive healing for his son. After he heard what Jesus said, however, the nobleman put his trust in Him and went on his way home. The nobleman had to travel a great distance back, but he made the journey in faith, even though he didn’t see his son yet. When did he go from begging to faith? After hearing Jesus’ words. And once he had faith, his son’s healing could be accomplished!

Many people are desperate, and they make the mistake of pleading and begging God for things. But this is a futile approach that will not get results. God will not answer us based on need, or even on sincerity. We can be sincere in our begging, but God only responds to faith!

How do we obtain faith for healing?

2.     Faith comes only one way: by hearing!

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Rom 10:17 NKJV

Just as we don’t receive our answers by begging or crying, faith doesn’t come by begging or crying. It comes by hearing. Jesus said to use our ears: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9). It is critical that we listen to the Word on a daily basis. We’re always listening to something, and it’s going to be either faith building or not. Let’s keep our ears listening to the Word of God because it always builds faith!

Sometimes people rely just on seeing. Jesus knew that this nobleman had come to Him because He had turned the water into wine. That’s why Jesus said, “Unless you see signs and wonder, you will never have faith at all.” But Jesus knew that seeing a miracle was not enough for the nobleman to receive healing for his son. He knew the nobleman needed faith. Faith comes by hearing. Therefore, Jesus gave him words to believe: “Go in peace. Your son will live.” And he believed Him.

3.     Healing power is not limited to proximity.

As a child raised in a denominational church that did not teach healing, I would daydream about how nice it would be to have Jesus physically present to heal people like He did when He was on the earth. Then I found out Jesus was in fact still healing people today, and after that everything changed for me. My dream had come true. Thank God, Jesus doesn’t have to be physically present for us to receive our healing.

If He does not have to be present, what is required? Speaking the Word of God! That’s because Jesus and His Word are ONE. When we speak His Word, we’re bringing Him on the scene, even though He isn’t physically present. In the same way, once Jesus spoke the Word concerning the nobleman’s son, healing began, even though He was not present with the boy. There is no distance in the realm of the spirit.

The Roman centurion in Matthew 8 understood this. He told Jesus that He didn’t need to come to his home to heal his servant. He simply said, “Speak the Word only, and my servant shall be healed.” And Jesus marveled at his faith. Let’s have the same kind of faith in the Word that the centurion did!

4.     Not all healing is instant.

Some people might be surprised to discover that most healings are not instantaneous. The nobleman asked his servants what time his son began to get better. It seems he anticipated that it might not be instantaneous. Yet he had faith in what Jesus said, and that was all that mattered! He did not ask Jesus to come with him; he trusted in His words.

If you pray for healing for yourself or someone else, or you ask someone to lay hands on you for healing, and you don’t notice a change right away, DO NOT CAST AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE! The moment you believe and receive, healing power begins to work. We must hold fast to what we believe, regardless of how we feel or what we see. If we refuse to stop believing, we will receive the manifestation, no matter how long it takes.

5.     One person receiving healing can lead many to Jesus.

The final point we learn from the nobleman’s story is that the receiver isn’t the only person impacted by healing. Verse 53 tells us that the nobleman and his entire household believed in Jesus as a result of his son’s healing. This boy was at the point of death, so his recovery was an obvious miracle to those around him. His healing led others to believe!

Every time you receive divine healing, you are glorifying God. And when you glorify God, others do, too. This is an important aspect of healing: our sound bodies bring glory to God, as Paul said in Corinthians:

For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Cor 6:20 NKJV

So be encouraged today. Faith is Heaven’s currency, it comes by hearing the Word, and it is all you need to receive healing! If the manifestation takes some time, don’t lose confidence in the Word! And expect that others will see what happened, believe in Jesus, and glorify Him!

I highly encourage you to get a copy of my new daily devotional, Healing Nuggets: 31 Days of God's Word for Health, Wholeness, and Peace, to help you meditate day and night. I believe it will be a blessing to your life.

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