The man was literally healed but there is also a healing in the soul. There is no such thing as someone who prays, ‘Lord forgive me’, and he is only a little bit converted. This is why all who are converted know it without doubt. It is so quick, so total. We don’t talk about conversion in stages – ‘I was converted in ten stages over five years.’ No, I hear that Christ died for me. I feel my need of the forgiveness of sin and I say, ‘Lord bless me.’ I am permanently instantly changed, and how great is that change! I can pray; I want to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord; I have spiritual delights.
Before I came to know Christ, I prayed and I was not sure if any God was listening. It was like shooting arrows into the sky. I didn’t realise salvation was my greatest need. But at conversion I learn the language of prayer intuitively. God gives us an education in prayer almost in seconds.
We trust in Christ and immediately we are saved and it is free. There is nothing we can contribute to or pay. Sometimes we are clinging on to the old life, full of unbelief, not wanting to place ourselves in God’s hands. We have to lay hold on Christ. Not that we contribute to it. If an aircraft is crashed, we use the escape chutes freely; there is no charge, there is no merit or skill in escaping. But some might hesitate because what is in the aircraft cabin is too precious to them, and they might then perish. Are we hesitating at the peril of our souls? We are all deaf, and unable to speak in our souls. We are cut off from God and unable to communicate with him, and will continue like this forever unless Christ sets us free.
Some people are unable to say precisely when they were converted – ‘I was converted over 6 months.’ Yes, but that only means you don’t know precisely the time. You were hell bound, now you are heaven bound. You are like a person on a train who crosses into a new country, but who may not know the exact moment that he crosses the border.
There is only one case among the healings of Christ in which the healing takes place in two stages (the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida – Mark 8:22-26), but that case does teach us that conversion itself is gradual or extended over a period of time. We may seek the Lord for a period of time, but as soon as we are sincere and earnest, and repent and believe in Christ, we are converted instantly, immediately. The case of the blind man at Bethsaida is intended to teach a different lesson – that God has more work to do in our hearts after conversion. Following the new birth, for the remainder of our lives in this world, the Spirit is sanctifying us and imparting new understanding to our hearts. Viewed in this way, the work of salvation is only completed when we put off the body of sin at death and when we are given our new resurrection bodies.