Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him. Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. (Luke 9:37-42)

Jesus Has All Power

When Jesus sent the twelve apostles into the mission field, He gave them the power of the Holy Spirit to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. Their authority was extensive to cure any disease known to man, cleanse lepers of a disease that was certain death with no cure, do the incredible task of raising people from the dead, and finally, exercise the authority over the realm of the evil demons sent by Satan. This package of divine Holy Spirit power was to prove the word of God measured by the will of the Holy Spirit. The twelve would only exercise the power through the authority of God.

A man had an only child who was possessed by a spirit that caused him much harm and distress. An evil spirit would seize the child, making him scream. It threw him into convulsions so that he foamed at the mouth. The spirit would abuse the child violently and hardly ever leave him alone. When the father heard of the apostles, he implored them to heal his son. To the amazement of the twelve, they could not heal the child. Vainly, they tried to cast the demon out with no success. When the father brought the child to Jesus, the Lord rebuked the unclean spirit, and the child was healed.

The healing of the child was a puzzlement to the twelve. They had been given the power of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit had refused to act through them. The power of healing was not indiscriminately done by men. Only by the will of the Holy Spirit and His authority were miracles performed by men. Jesus rebuked His apostles for not exercising the faith needed to heal the child, explaining why the Holy Spirit would not allow the power to be used. It also proved that Jesus had all faith, authority, and power to heal anyone of anything. The faith of men weakened for reasons unknown, but Jesus demonstrated His complete power over all things – including the unclean spirits.

Jesus is the Son of God, proven through the miracles He performed with no exceptions. There is nothing Jesus could not do. He had power over the world to change water, curse a tree, walk on water, and calm the storm. His power over any disease was complete. Death had no power when Jesus commanded the dead to rise. During the time of Jesus and the early days of the church, God allowed the demon world to exact its curse on humanity to show the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When did a miracle of Jesus fail? Never. The failure of the apostles reminded them that Jesus had all the power to heal everything.

Central to the story of the child’s healing is the need for greater faith. Had they taken for granted their power and tried to use it in a careless way? Jesus was angry with the apostles for their lack of faith. The apostles had allowed the carnal mind to cloud their ability to show the power of God in healing the child. They needed deeper faith to heal the child. Had they not prayed about their failure? Jesus healed the child immediately, showing His complete power to do everything, establishing the difference between the Son of God and men.

Men fail when they do not trust in God. Eleven of the men would learn greater faith when they began to preach the gospel at Pentecost, and ten of the men would die martyrdom for the cause of Jesus Christ. Faith must grow, but sometimes it grows best in the field of failure. What made the men great was not the power to heal the body but the power to heal the soul. Curing a man of leprosy will not save him, but removing the stain of sin will. Jesus has all power to work in your life to take away the guilt of sin. Let Him, who has all power, give you greater faith to accomplish the will of God in your life. Jesus never fails.