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"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people"
(Matt. 4:23).
In this verse the Lord did what only the Son of God and those authorized by him could do — miraculous healing. Miraculous healing pointed to His divinity like a neon sign. For example, when some of John's disciples came to Him with a message from John inquiring whether He was the Messiah or not He answered them, "Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them" (Matt. 11:4-5). Today many claim to have performed or to have experienced miraculous healing. Others listen intently to such televised charlatans as Benny Hinn and Richard Roberts. Some even base their faith on so-called modern day miraculous healing. A whole theology has developed around this claim, classifying events of nature such as a birth, survival of an accident, etc. as miracles. Webster's Dictionary defines a miracle as an event or effect that apparently contradicts known scientific laws and is hence thought to be due to supernatural causes, especially to an act of God. In other words, when Jesus, or those authorized by Him, performed a miracle they were doing something outside of the laws of nature. The Bible refers to what Jesus did during His ministry as miracles, wonders and signs (Acts 2:22). Miraculous healing was part of that ministry that served the divine function of confirmation of Jesus and His Gospel as being from God (Heb. 2:3-4). Often people confuse what they call a miracle with God's Providence. According to Webster's Dictionary, Providence is the care or benevolent guidance of God. It is God working within the laws of Nature for the good of humanity. The birth of a baby is not a miracle in the Biblical sense, yet Providence is involved. An amazing recovery from cancer or any other disease is not a miracle, yet God's hand is involved in many ways: medicine, doctors, nurses, hospital, radiation, etc. Also we must never devalue the recuperative powers of the human body and mind. God's hand is involved in both. "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well" (Psa. 139:14). Those who view miraculous healing as for today do not believe that the Bible indicates that miraculous healings have ceased. But it did, along with the other miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit of the early church (1 Cor. 13:8-10). These same adherents point to the many references in the Bible of miraculous healing as proof of modern day miraculous healing. They think that their so-called miraculous healing is confirmation from God that they are spiritual. In essence, they try to use the Bible to confirm their imagined healing. In the Bible it was the other way around. Healings were confirmation that the word spoken or taught was from God (Heb. 2:1-4). There is no doubt that the miraculous healings recorded in the Bible were for real. They have the ring of authenticity. For example, the writer/physician Luke records the healing of a lame man by the apostle Peter in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in Acts 3-4. He mentions that the man was lame from his mother's womb (Acts 3:2). This man was well known to the people of Jerusalem and was 40 years of age (Acts 4:22). Luke writes from a doctor's perspective concerning the man's healing. "And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God" (Acts 3:7-8). The commentator David L. Roper interprets this miracle: "God filled in the bone structure, built muscles and tendons, restored collapsed blood vessels, rejuvenated dead nerve endings, and made frozen ankle joints mobile — all in a moment" (Truth For Today Commentary: Act 1-14). This was no internal healing without witnesses. The healing was immediate with no hobbling around and no therapy required. Critics could not deny this miracle (Acts 4:15-16) and their modern counterparts still can't. Yet in the Bible there were parameters for miraculous healing. The Lord Jesus had the authority and power to heal from the Father (Matt. 28:18). His apostles were also given the ability to heal miraculously (Matt. 10:8). "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" (Mark 16:20). Some claim this verse today as authority to perform miraculous healing. But the "they" spoken of is defined for us in verse 14 as the eleven remaining apostles, not you and me. Some Christians in the early church of Christ had this ability by the laying on of the hands of the apostles (Act 8:14-20). But they could not pass it on. Today there are no apostles of Jesus Christ alive and we have the confirmed word of God - the Bible. Some misguided folk claim they can heal miraculously like the apostles. They deny the temporary nature of this First Century A.D. gift of the Holy Spirit. By so claiming they deny the all-sufficiency of the word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17). For them something else is needed. Another misconception concerning miraculous healing is that faith was a prerequisite for this healing. When someone fails to be healed today they say, It is because I didn't have faith. But there are at least four occasions in the New Testament where Jesus healed someone and faith is not even mentioned. One occasion was the healing of the High Priest's servant, Malchus (Luke 22:47-53). Malchus was with the mob, including Judas Iscariot, who came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke records that Peter drew his sword in anger and cut off Malchus' right ear. Jesus healed it with a touch (Verse 51). Where was Malchus' faith? On another occasion a crowd was gathered to hear Jesus in a house in Capernaum. A paralytic on a stretcher was brought to the house but could not reach the Lord. Four men tore a hole in the roof of the house and lowered the man down to be healed by Jesus. Jesus noted their faith, not the faith of the paralytic, and healed him (Mark 2:1-12). Also in Capernaum the Lord healed a servant of a Roman Centurion while not seeing either man. Yet he praised the faith of the Centurion and did not mention any faith on the part of the servant (Luke 7:1-10). The Bible shows us that belief or faith follows as a result of the Lord's recorded miracles — not before in order to receive a miracle. "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20:30-31). Is miraculous healing tied to the atonement? By the atonement I mean the effect of Jesus' death on the cross in bringing about the reconciliation of man to God. So called healers today point to the Messianic prophecy of atonement of Isaiah 53:5: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." They claim the last phrase, "and with his stripes we are healed," speaks of the miraculous healing available to all Christians. But Isaiah was speaking of the healing of the soul — restoring the believer to complete harmony with God. If the Christian's physical condition is tied to the atonement then,
God is a Being of compassion. His Son proved that (cf. Matt. 15:30-31). God hears the Christian's prayer for healing, or otherwise, because of Jesus. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7). Yet many expect a miracle (an un-biblical expression) and fail to see the providential hand of God in prayer. We should pray for healing and that God's will be done (1 John 5:14-15; Jas. 4:14-15). |