And Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed." Then he arose immediately. So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. Acts 9:34-35
After details about Saul’s conversion (his name had not yet been changed to Paul), Luke shifts back to how the Lord was using Peter. We know nothing about Peter’s travels except in v.32, in which Peter landed in Lydda. Saul’s travels were much broader than Peter’s, who remained in Israel. Lydda was west of Jerusalem, near but not on the Mediterranean coast. Apparently there was a church in Lydda (v.32), though we don’t know who planted the church there.
Peter encountered a paralyzed man names Aeneas. We do not know if the man was a believer or not, but God graciously, through Peter, healed the man of his paralysis. It is important to note that Peter did not heal the man. Jesus did—as evidenced by Peter’s words: “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you.” This a valuable reminder that those who present themselves as healers are at best frauds, and at worst usurpers of the power and authority that belongs only to the Lord Jesus!
Luke accurately reports that, “all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.” What should we make of this? Some believe that miracles axiomatically result in people being saved as a result of miraculous healings. But is that so? Not at all. There were many more in the New Testament who were healed “healed” than ended up believing and being converted.
God can and does graciously heal people, but healing does not always result in salvations, as evidenced by the fact that some (many) of those God heals, do not end up believing.
We must be discerning about miracle healings, who actually does the healing, and who gets the glory.
We must not think, if only a lost person and infirmed person were healed physically, he would also be saved spiritually, because the Bible does not support that conclusion.
Let us be grateful for God’s kind providence in healing, but let us long more for spiritual salvation.