Only God can heal and restore
Many people still resist the notion of an absolute standard of right and wrong
The message of the Bible is about salvation or of being saved.
We see the concept of salvation pictured in Acts 3. There we read that as Peter and John were going to the temple for prayer, they encountered a man crippled since birth and they healed him (or ‘saved’ him, Acts 4:9). He was saved from his crippled state and he was restored to being made whole and healthy. As a result, he could walk and even leap for joy.
Our primary problem, though, is not physical pain/ suffering in this life as terrible as that is. It is that we have been crippled by sin and find ourselves helpless to live as God designed us to. We were meant to do what is right and to delight in God. Instead, we resist God and His will. We can go to extreme lengths to avoid coming to this conclusion.
Many people resist the notion of an absolute standard of right and wrong. This relieves them of the burden of accountability, but it fails to explain why someone else should agree with their values. Not only does Scripture teach that we are spiritually crippled (Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:12), but it makes the most sense of the human condition and experience.
The Bible also expresses an expectation that the Lord will address our crippled condition Himself and heal us (Ps. 51:2; Isa. 1:18). This longing is realized in Jesus. In Acts 4:11-12, we read, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Peter makes it clear that it was in the name of Jesus that this man was healed (Acts 4:10). But more than that, Peter says that true healing of the soul is found in Jesus. Peter makes this argument by quoting from Psalm 118. That Psalm describes the Lord’s servant as being rejected before ultimately being approved. Jesus himself had quoted from this same passage in the last week of his earthly life (Matt. 21:43-45) and identified Himself as the stone and the religious teachers that were rejecting Him as the builders. Now that Jesus has been raised, Peter drives home the point that Jesus’ prediction has been shown to be true. He is the Lord’s chosen instrument. The religious authorities did reject Him as the Scripture foretold, but God has approved of Him by raising Him from the dead. The religious authorities could not deny the miracle (Acts 4:7), but neither could they deny the way that Jesus’ experience fits the descriptions of what God had promised would happen in bringing salvation.
Peter refers to Jesus as the cornerstone. The cornerstone was usually a large stone that was essential to the structure of a building. The Bible is portraying God as working on a building project that centers on Jesus. He is the chosen instrument (Isa. 28:16) given by God (Acts 4:12) to complete God’s work of deliverance from judgment for our sins. Jesus fulfills the promises of God’s Word, but He also gives a satisfying answer to the longing for redemption and forgiveness.
Our need to be healed and restored is something made plain in Scripture and experience. That work is something that God Himself must accomplish. When we acknowledge our sins and recognize God’s work in Jesus, then we will be able to reply as the psalmist, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes (Ps. 118:23).”