Acts 8:7
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
After the ascension of Christ the Lord continued His own work through the disciples, and this verse describes Philip preaching Christ in Samaria as part of that continuation. As Philip preached, unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed, and many taken with palsies and those who were lame were healed. The freeing from unclean spirits and the healing of the palsied and lame confirmed the preaching.
The people listened with one accord as they heard and saw the miracles, and the deliverances and healings filled the city with great joy. Many Samaritans received the message about Jesus, were baptized and gathered into the church as a precious and fruitful harvest. That harvest reaped the fruit of Christ's earlier visit, when the Samaritan woman brought her city to hear Him and He stayed two days and many believed.
The Samaritans had once been bitter enemies, but they welcomed the Saviour's messengers and gave them safe asylum during persecution. This showed the gospel reaching beyond Judea, overcoming hostility, and not confined to the Jews. The Samaritan mission helped the disciples understand that Christ's witnesses were to reach Samaria and beyond.
The work grew so large that help was sought from Jerusalem, and Peter and John were sent to help. The power to heal the sick, cast out unclean spirits, and bring people to the truth surpassed Simon's sorcery, which he hoped to imitate for fame and wealth. From this successful ministry in Samaria, Philip was called by God to go to Gaza to teach the Ethiopian official.
Physical healing belongs to the gospel work, which joins teaching and healing rather than separating them. The verse is to be studied and followed as the pattern for entering unworked cities, with medical work by men and women physicians joined to preaching, books and papers, and Bible lessons, doing a great work that would otherwise be left undone. Applied today, the verse calls for spreading out from large centers, dividing and subdividing the labor, establishing small schools to train workers, and putting up unpretentious buildings in the cities, so many places are worked at once under the cooperation of the Holy Spirit.
The verse presents the work God calls His people to do, in which the Spirit of God waits to enlighten souls and convert them to the truth, and missionaries hear God's voice to go where He sends them, putting forth much effort even for one man.