Health |
Written by Dr. John E. Russell Sr |
Jesus the HealerThe Apostle Peter, who associated with Jesus constantly for three years, summarized Jesus' healing ministry in this short verse: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. Dr. John Alexander Dowie, in his classical, eloquent style, reveals how the LORD quickened this verse to him: I sat in my study in the parsonage of the Congregational Church at Newtown, a suburb of the beautiful city of Sydney, Australia. My heart was very heavy, for I had been visiting the sick and dying beds of more than thirty of my flock, and I had cast the dust to its kindred dust into more than forty graves within a few weeks. Where, oh where, was He Who used to heal His suffering children? No prayer for healing seemed to reach His ear, and yet I knew His hand had not been shortened. Still it did not save from death even those for whom there was so much in life to live for God and others. Strong men, fathers, good citizens, and more than all, true Christians sickened with a putrid fever, suffered nameless agonies, passed into delirium, sometimes with convulsions, and then died. And oh, what aching voids were left in many a widowed or orphaned heart. Then there were many homes where, one by one, the little children, the youths and the maidens were stricken, and after hard struggling with the foul disease, they too, lay cold and dead. It seemed sometimes as if I could almost hear the triumphant mockery of fiends ringing in my ear whilst I spoke to the bereaved ones the words of Christian hope and consolation. Disease, the foul offspring of its father, Satan, and its mother Sin, was defiling and destroying the earthly temples of God's children and there was no deliverance. Not one single person from Dowie's congregation died of pneumonic plague after God opened "the eyes of the heart" of this nineteenth century minister to the truth that Jesus still heals. (Lindsay, The Life of John Alexander Dowie, 26). (The illness that struck Dr. Dowie's congregation was probably caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. When these bacteria attack the lymph nodes it is called bubonic plague. When it attacks the lungs, it is called pneumonic plague. When it attacks the bloodstream, it is called septicemic plague. It is also called The Black Death. The mortality rate today, even if treated by antibiotics, is still 5 percent! Infected fleas on rodents usually transmit The Black Death to human beings). Jesus Is the Will of GodJesus was the revealed Will or Word of God. Everything He said and did revealed the will of God: In many separate revelations—each of which set forth a portion of the Truth—and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] fore-fathers in and by the prophets. [But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time—[that is,] He made, produced, built, operated and arranged them in order. He is the sole expression of the glory of God—the Light-being, the outraying of the divine—and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God's] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power.... In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. "So Jesus said, 'When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him'" As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say. Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work" Jesus alone was born both (1) without the sinful Adamic nature and (2) positively holy. Therefore, One can build his theology on both Jesus' experience and teachings. However, one cannot build his theology on the experience of other men, although he can build his theology on the inspired teachings of Biblical writers. Old Testament Prophecy Fulfilled in JesusIsaiah prophesied the healing ministry of Jesus as well as his atoning death: Surely our diseases he did bear, and our pains he carried; Whereas we did esteem him stricken, Smitten of God and afflicted. Matthew records a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4, When evening came, many who were demon possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took our infirmities and carried our diseases." There are many other recorded examples of Jesus' healing ministry, but two detailed accounts give further insight into God's will concerning divine healing. Examples of Jesus' HealingJesus' healing of the leper is found in all three synoptic Gospels. Mark records this wonderful revelation of the heart of God: A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone, But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." The leper had a partial revelation of God's nature. No doubt he had either seen or heard of Jesus' miracles and knew that Jesus had power to heal people. However, the leper did not have a revelation of the love of God as expressed in the desire to heal suffering human beings. [Ralph G. Turnbull, gen. ed., Proclaiming the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1961), The Gospel of Mark, by Ralph Earle, 21]. Luke the physician adds that this leper "was covered with leprosy" (Luke 5:12, NIV). This was probably a skin disease that rendered the person ceremonially unclean—not the type of disease known as leprosy today. (Earle, The Gospel of Mark, 20). "If you want to," he [the leper] said, "you can make me clean" (Mark 1:40b, GNB). Jesus' reaction to this man is not adequately expressed in most English translations. Ralph Earle says the aorist passive participle should be translated, "[having been] gripped with compassion." Jesus' heart went out to the man. Next, Jesus said, "I am willing" (Greek,Thelo, "I choose"), thus declaring that it was God's will to heal him. Next Jesus uttered one word, translated "be cleansed." This word is in the aorist tense, passive voice, imperative mood, and could better be translated, "be thou (right here and now, immediately) cleansed." (Earle 1961, The Gospel of Mark, 20-21). And of course, he was! Some say that Jesus healed to prove that he was the Son of God. If so, why did he "sternly warn" the former leper not to tell anyone? The truth is that Jesus was motivated by agape—the Love of God—which has no ulterior motives. To charge that Jesus had ulterior motives is to impugn the character of God. Jesus healed the leper for the same reason that he heals all people—he loves us! Human beings build hospitals, perform medical research, and provide medical training running into billions of dollars and somehow mat think that our desire to heal is greater than God's! God gave his only Son to die for our sins and healing. Another example of Jesus' healing is that of the woman with an infirmity: On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath." The leper apparently was suffering from sickness caused by Adamic sin. However, this woman was suffering from sickness caused by a demon commanded by Satan (Luke 13:11,16). Jesus healed both types. Jesus Healed AllThe following scriptures support the premise that Jesus healed all who came to him: Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples were there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all [Italics Mine]. These few scriptures, or even all the healing passages of the Bible are but samples of what God has done in healing mankind physically and mentally. John testifies, Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. There are exceptions to the general truth that Jesus healed all. Apparently not all who were sick sought his healing. Also, most of the sick from his home town were not healed because of their unbelief: Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Someone will recall a fine, upstanding Christian, who was filled with the fruits of the Spirit and yet he was not healed. Jesus gives some answers to this problem: When they joined the rest of the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and some teachers of the Law arguing with them. When the people saw Jesus, they were greatly surprised, and ran to him and greeted him. Jesus asked his disciples, "What are you arguing with them about?" A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, because he has an evil spirit in him and cannot talk. Whenever the spirit attacks him, it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth, grits his teeth, and becomes stiff all over. I asked your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they could not." Jesus said to them, "How unbelieving you people are! How long must I stay with you? How long do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy to me!" They brought him to Jesus. As soon as the spirit saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a fit, so that he fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. "How long has he been like this?" Jesus asked the father. The balanced Christian will be filled with the (1) fruits of the Spirit, (2) the power of the Spirit and (3) faith! Jesus identifies community unbelief (v. 19); weak faith of the boy's father (vv. 22-24); and lack of prayer on the disciples' part (vv. 28-29). Just because someone is not healed does not mean it is not God's will. Because someone is not saved does not mean it is not God's will. Also, one can be saved and not healed. One may protest that teaching divine healing may detract from the most important work of grace, the new birth. F. F. Bosworth recounts his experience: . . . . Instead of the "ministry of healing" diverting from the more important matter of salvation for the soul, we have seen more happy conversions in a single week than we ever saw in a whole year of evangelistic work during the thirteen years before the Lord led us to preach this part of the Gospel in a bolder and more public way.... [I am indebted to chapter three of Bosworth's Christ the Healer: "Is Healing for All?" I am also indebted to Fred Price's tape, "Is Healing for All?" (Joshua, TX: Romans VIII Ministries, 1974).] A concrete expression of the love of God awakens the heart for the need of the new birth. Jesus is the greatest revelation of the will of God to man. Since he healed all who came to him, one can conclude that it is God's will to heal all. In Christ, then, one can be made whole physically and mentally as well as spiritually. The love, care and compassion of God shine deeply into the hearts of people when they see God heal someone in great physical or mental distress. The message comes through that God really does love people. Self-esteem rises because one more fully realizes that God esteems us highly! Assignment: confess aloud, "God really does love me!" Begin to pray for the sick, expecting them to be healed!
Chapter 17 of my Book, How to Raise Your Self-Esteem Using Proven Biblical Principles. In Essentials: Unity; In non-essentials: Liberty; In all things: Charity—Peter Meiderlin 1626. You have permission to copy, email or print unedited Power Articles. |
Last Updated on Monday, 12 February 2018 15:03 |