"Immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."Acts 3:7, 8; This, surely, is the kind of healing we all long to see consistently occurring as a result of our bearing witness to the fact that man is God's son, as Christ Jesus taught.
In this case, the man who was healed had never walked. A congenital cripple, apparently he did not even consciously expect to be able to walk. He was merely asking for money. Yet, as he sat at the gate of the temple, the Apostles Peter and John recognized he had the grain of faith that would result in healing. They roused him to take possession of God-given strength and activity as he never had before, and he responded by leaping up and going with them into the temple, jumping for joy. The incident took place quickly, the healing was complete, and there is no record in the Bible of its being anything but permanent.
The apostles' own faith in the power of God as taught by Christ Jesus was undeniable and vigorous. They expected quick, complete, and permanent healing. When Peter took the man by the hand and lifted him to his feet, spectators were amazed. But to the apostles it was the natural consequence of understanding that man is the son of God, as their Master had taught, and of letting faith in God's healing power govern their thought. They had seen such cases of sudden healing many times before. According to the Gospels, Jesus' healing work was always quick, complete, and permanent. It was not marked by gradual improvement, incomplete healing, or relapse. His followers were filled with the inspiration of their Master's sublime example and knew his teaching gave them similar healing power.
