In the New Testament, there aren't many records of the gift of the working of miracles in
operation. There were a few instances in the ministry of Christ and less in the Acts of the
Apostles. But in the New Testament, there are many examples of the gifts of healings in
operation.
Jesus Ministered as a Man Anointed by the Holy Spirit
Jesus Himself ministered not as the Son of God but as a man anointed by the Holy Ghost.
Jesus was just as much the Son of God when He was twenty-five as He was the Son of God
when He was thirty years old. Yet at twenty-five years old, He had not healed a single person;
not one miracle of healing had been wrought under His ministry prior to His receiving the
anointing of the Holy Spirit at the age of thirty.
And Jesus was just as much the Son of God when He was twenty-nine years old as He was
when He was thirty. Yet at the age of twenty-nine, not one single person was healed in His
ministry, nor had He wrought one miracle of healing.
Even when Jesus was thirty years of age, on the day before Jesus was baptized by John in the
River Jordan and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him to anoint Him to minister, Jesus was just
as much the Son of God as He was after His baptism.
Yet until Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit, He never healed a single person. Before Jesus
was anointed by the Holy Spirit, there was no manifestation of the power of God operating in
His ministry. It was only after the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove in
order to anoint Him to minister that the gifts of the Spirit began to be manifest in His ministry.
In fact, Jesus Himself said, ". . . the Father that dwelleth in me, HE doeth the works" ( John
14:10). He never did claim to do them Himself or on His own. He said, "My Father in Me, He
does the works." How did He do them? Through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus stood up and read in His hometown synagogue, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he hath anointed me . . ." (Luke 4:18). Then Peter, preaching to Cornelius and his
household, said, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power:
who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with
him "(Acts 10:38). Although Jesus had always been the Son of God, He never healed anyone
until after He was anointed with the Holy Ghost and power.
This should prove conclusively that Jesus didn't heal the sick by some power that was inherent
in Him as the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity. Rather, He healed the sick just as
anyone else called of God would minister to the sick today — by the anointing of the Holy
Spirit, by the manifestation of these gifts of healings, and by the preaching of the Word of God.
The Word of God tells us in the Book of John that Christ had the Spirit without measure (John
3:34). Therefore, we would see a full manifestation of spiritual gifts operating in Jesus' ministry
that we wouldn't see in anyone else's ministry because, as John 3:34 infers, Jesus had the
Spirit without measure. No other person has the Spirit without measure.
However, it seems to me that John 3:34 infers that the entire Body of Christ has the same
measure of the Spirit collectively as Jesus had individually. Therefore, just one person would
not have the same measure of success in ministering even the gifts of healings that Jesus had
in His earth walk because He had the Spirit without measure.