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B. The Extent
The Bible portrays miraculous signs attending the life and work of Jesus the Messiah. We cite here only two of them: 1. Angels announcing to Mary and to Joseph (to whom she was betrothed) that she, a virgin, would be the mother of a unique child, whose name was to be Immanuel (“God with us”); 2. Angels announcing what is, in fact, the supreme event in the whole of the New Testament (Injil), namely, the resurrection of the Messiah from the dead on the third day after He was crucified and buried, and His ascension into heaven, namely His final appearance on earth to His disciples and His immediately consequent departure to heaven, from where He had originally come.
Between the two miraculous events of His birth and His resurrection, Jesus Himself performed many miracles, most of them miracles of healing. In the words of His reply to the prophet John the Baptist ( Nabi Yahya ibn Zakariyya ) through His disciples: “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” (Matthew 11:4-6)
The Qur'an describes these events thus: “And (Allah) will make him (Jesus) a messenger unto the Children of Israel, (saying) : ‘Lo! I come unto you with a sign from your Lord. Lo! I fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird and I breathe into it and it is a bird, by Allah’s leave. I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I raise the dead, by Allah’s leave. And I announce unto you what ye eat and what ye store up in your houses. Lo! Herein verily is a portent for you, if ye are to be believers.’” (Suras Al ‘Imran 3:49; al-Ma’ida 5:110 )
From the Gospel account it is evident that a long chain of mighty works studded Jesus’ brief ministry of about three years: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering from pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.” (Matthew 4:23-25; cf. Matthew 15:29-31; Luke 6:17-19)
The words “sick”/ “sickness” (including “disease”, etc.) occur fifty-six times in the Old Testament (Tawrat) and fifty-seven times in the New Testament (Injil). These many references in the Holy Bible show how important healing of the sick is within the Bible, more particularly as a vital part of Jesus’ ministry.
Regardless of time and place, it seemed that everyone suffering from any sickness approached Him. The Bible reports not a single request of any person, whether Jew or Gentile, that was turned down. He served out of compassion and He rewarded all who believed in him.
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)
John’s testimony is eyewitness testimony of a disciple and an apostle. Of John it was elsewhere said that the Lord loved him.