Distinctive Characteristics of Christ's Healing Miracles

1. Christ healed completely: Christ had no half cures. The paralytic didn't hobble away; the leper didn't go back to the priest with only a few skin nodules here and there; and the blind man didn't need glasses or a seeing-eye camel to find his way around.
2. Christ healed immediately: Except for three instances where the healing took place in a matter of minutes, all miracles happened instantaneously--not days or weeks later.
3. Christ healed in public: His healing ministry was not limited to certain prearranged sites. He didn't need an emotionally supercharged atmosphere or an "annointing" in a crusade or church to heal the sick. He went up and down the countryside and streets healing people in a seemingly random manner (of course, He foreknew exactly whom He would heal).
4. Christ healed mostly visible or organic disease: He was not intimidated by withered body parts, the blind, or people in the grave. His miracles were so convincing that even His critics of the day could not refute them.
5. Christ healed even those without faith: Christ healed without partiality, healing even those who apparently had little or no faith. You'll remember that the man Christ healed of blindness didn't even really know who Christ was. "He replied, Whether Christ is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see!" (John 9:25; see also vv. 35-36)
6. Christ healed with a purpose: His purpose was to authenticate His messianic claim. (John 5:36), to show the people that He had the authority to forgive sins. (Matt. 9:6), to prove that His message came from God (Acts 2:22), and through it all to launch the beginning of His church and bring more glory to God (Eph. 2:19-22; John 11:4). Christ didn't heal everyone (John 5:3-5); nor did He heal on demand (Matt. 12:38-40).

Christ healed without bias - any type of person, anywhere, instanteously, totally, any disease, in plain sight of everyone. The disciples' healings followed suit. Peter and Paul completely healed the lame and both apostles raised the dead. The apostles' healings were so numerous and so convincing that not even their enemies could deny them.

After Pentecost (the birth of the church), no miracle ever occurred in the entire New Testament record, except in the presence of an apostle or one directly commissioned by an apostle. Like Christ, the apostles didn't perform miracles simply for the physical benefit of the recipients. Miracles were never intended to make all believers healthy or to be a last-ditch effort by God to bring a person to saving faith. A miracle by itself will never bring someone to genuine faith in God (John 6:65). Neither is there evidence in Scripture that the miracles performed by the apostles were to continue after they died. Miracles of healing had a very specific purpose; to authenticate the apostles and their message from God (II Cor. 12:11-12), and therein build the foundation for the church (Eph. 2:19-22) -- the spiritual framework supporting the very life of the body of genuine believers.

So why did Christ wait until He was about thirty to miraculously heal people and display to the world His miracle-working powers? Because Christ healed with a purpose.

Miracles had a specific purpose for the church; but as adults today we don't need signs and wonders to authenticate the words of God's ambassadors; we already have God's Word written down for us in black and white. Nor do we need spectacular healings to prove to the unsaved that God exists. If the unsaved will not believe what the written Word of God says and apply it in their lives, no miracle will ever convince them. The unbeliever may stick around in the church to see more spectacular "healings", but a genuine miracle by itself will never bring anyone to completely surrender his or her life to God.

Even in the New Testament, miracles were never intended to bring masses of people to a saving faith. Though numerous miracles authenticated the ministry of Christ and His apostles, the mind-boggling miracles did not produce widespread faith (Luke 10:13-15). The masses still crucified Christ and murdered His apostles.

From "Does God Still Do Miracles" by Dr. Brad Burke.