The power at Jesus’ arrest

I have been listening to the Gospels on the way to and from work. As I listened to John 18 and the parallel passage from Luke 22, I saw some examples of Jesus’ power when He was arrested.

1. The power when He declared

When they came to arrest Jesus they asked which one Jesus was. Jesus said, “I am He” (John 18:5-6). Verse 6 tells us that at His words those around Him fell backwards to the ground. The power of His declaration knocked them over.

2. The power in His healing of the servant

The next display of His power is in the healing of the servants ear. Peter tried to stop the soldiers arresting Jesus by striking the servant with a sword and cutting off His ear. Jesus rebuked Peter and healed the man’s ear in front of everyone there (Luke 22:51).

3. The power of His love

The final display is the incredible love of Jesus. Moments before His arrest He was praying and drops of blood sweated from His forehead (Luke 22:41-44). He knew what was coming and His love kept Him on task – from arrest, to trial, to crucifixion.

Jesus displayed great power at His arrest and immediately afterwards. By His words of declaration, by His healing of the servant and by His great love for you and I – we see His great power.

Revival and healings

During A.A. Allen’s healing revival in Birmingham, Alabama, a mother from Knoxville brought her son for prayer. David was almost three years old and had been called “the most underdeveloped boy ever born in Tennessee.” He was paralyzed on his right side, blind in one eye, deaf, and mute. He couldn’t even crawl because his limbs were like twisted sticks and his feet were deformed. All total, he had twenty-six major diseases or defects in his body. His mother had been told by one doctor “only God can help your boy now.”

David’s mother took that statement literally. When she heard that Allen would be holding meetings in Birmingham, she knew she had to get there. As a single mother in 1959 with a special-needs child, this was no small task. Although it cost her all she had, she drove the 250 miles alone with her boy to get him to the revival. The Great Physician did not disappoint.

What happened at that meeting in Birmingham is called the “greatest miracle of A.A. Allen’s ministry.” As Allen held the boy in his arms and wept over him, suddenly two bright blue pupils appeared where once there was only the milky-grey of blindness. The boy’s limbs began to morph like putty into the correct shape. His tongue, which had hung out of his mouth limply before, snapped inside his mouth, and he began to call out his first words “Mama! Mama!” And when he caught sight of her, he took his first steps to go embrace his mother. He was completely healed!

However, the Lord did not end there. God wasn’t going to leave anything unfinished. The tent was full of people with significant needs. Spontaneously, with no one praying for them, every person in a wheelchair stood up altogether, totally healed. Every person in a stretcher got up the same way. People began running to the front so they could throw their hearing aids on the altar. Then came the glasses. Then came the walking sticks for the blind. Every single person was healed as the glory of God rested under that tent that night.

(From Holy Spirit TV)