Luke 13:10-16 (KJV) 
10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
11 And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.
15 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? 

Most of us are pretty aware of this story of the woman with a spirit of infirmity. To the casual reader of the Bible, it is very easy to toss this story into the stack of “just another miracle of Jesus.” However, John tells us in his gospel that Jesus performed many other miracles in front of His disciples that were not recorded (John 20:30). As a matter of fact, he also states that the world could not contain all the books that would have to be written if every miracle Jesus performed were chronicled (John 21:25).

We must remember and be aware that out of all these countless signs Jesus did, only 37 are actually recorded in the Gospels. Paul tells us in Romans 15:4 that these things were written for our learning. Therefore, we can rest assured that anything that is a mystery to you about your healing is hidden just for you in these accounts and others.

Many people ask, “How do I find these mysteries?” To be successful, you must work in partnership and agreement with God. It’s a two fold process: your part and His part.

Your Part

The Bible tells us, “Seek and you will find.” That is a simple and blunt truth. So consider how you are to seek:

Proverbs 4:20-23 

1. Attend to my words – Prick up your ears like a horse that hears something; its ears stand at attention and turn independently toward the sound to pay the closest attention.

2. Incline your ears to my sayings – Bend into or toward the sound in order to catch it all.

3. Let them not depart from your eyes – What you look at continually becomes enlarged and magnified. You can magnify the problem or the solution.

4. Keep them in the midst of your heart – Observe these words, guard and protect them.

5. Above all, watch and guard your heart – Mark chapter 4 tells us that the sower sows the Word in the heart and the heart brings forth fruit of itself.

6. Proverbs 2:4 –  Search as if looking for silver or hidden treasure—because you are!

God’s Part 

1. Revelation: 1 Corinthians 2:9 – These mysteries are not found by what you can see or hear or know in your own human heart or mind.

2. Verse 10 – They are revealed to us by His Spirit.

3. John 14:26 – God sends the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, who will teach you all things.

4. John 15:26 and 16:13 – The Comforter is the Spirit of Truth and will lead you into all Truth.

5. 2 Corinthians 2:12 – We have received the Spirit which is of God so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God! That is good news!

Now we will examine some things freely given to you from God that can totally set you free—to the point that you don’t even believe in sickness anymore at all.

Daughter of Abraham

Let’s see what jewels we can glean from this account.

• First of all, verses 11 and 16 tell us this woman was a slave to the Devil.

• Second, she had been in this condition a long time.

• Third, Jesus indicated that this should not even be so! Instead, she ought to be free.

Now, the statement that the whole mystery hinges upon is found in verse 16:

“Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham… be loosed from this bond…”

“Ought not” means: It needs to be this way; it should be; it is necessary—as binding in a legal contract.

So what Jesus did in healing this woman, He did out of complete necessity in order to fulfill a covenant obligation. It was legal and binding, and there was nothing the devil could do about it. And how could this be? Because she was a daughter of Abraham!

Remember in Matthew 10:5-6, Jesus told His disciples whom He was sending out not to go to the Gentiles but go to the lost sheep of Israel. In chapter 15:24, He told the Caananite woman the same thing. Why was that? Simply because they were the only ones on earth who had covenant with God.

Out of the five covenants Scripture reveals to us, the one Jesus is alluding to here is the covenant of promise to Abraham—since He calls this woman a daughter of Abraham. Moses’ covenant was given by the law, but Abraham’s covenant was given by promise through righteousness by faith (Romans 4:13). The Bible tells us that the law, coming 430 years later, could not disannul the promise (Galatians 3:17-18).

Now, there are two important things that were in motion long before the law was given, that continued through the law, and that remain with us today. Since they are critical for us to get understanding of this good news, we will examine them in Part Two.

...to be continued - Part Two