12th
FUNDAMENTAL
TRUTH
DIVINE HEALING
Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel. Deliverance from sickness is provided for in the atonement, and is the privilege of all believers (Isa. 53:4–5; Matt. 8:16–17; James 5:14–16).
Sickness and death came into human experience because of sin. Through the tragedy of the Fall in the Garden of Eden, sin and death passed on to everyone (Rom. 5:12). Part of the curse occasioned by the Fall was the subjection of the human body to the ravages of disease and eventual physical death. Death is considered a curse, a concept clearly taught in Scripture (Gen. 3:19; Prov 11:19; James 1:15). God promised to deliver His people from the curse of the Egyptians’ diseases if they would serve Him (Ex. 15:26; Deut. 28:15–68). Paul likewise taught that “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26).
Sickness—and its eventual consequence, death—is surely a penalty for sin (Gen. 2:17), but one must be careful not to make the mistake of assuming that all sickness and every death is the direct consequence of an immediate personal sin. Sickness is in the world because of sin. But Jesus recognized that the curse on humankind is general, afflicting people regardless of personal righteousness or sin (Luke 13:1–4). Sin may be involved as in the case of the man Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda; Jesus warned him to stop sinning (John 5:14). On the other hand, Jesus made it clear that neither the man born blind nor his parents had sinned. Jesus indicated that in such cases the healing was simply an opportunity to display the work of God in the blind man’s life (John 9:1–3; see also Mark 2:12). Until the termination of the present order, it is the lot of humanity to suffer the sicknesses and diseases that are in the world as a penalty of the Fall (Rev. 21:4; 22:2–3). A day will come when there will be no more curse.
The devil himself is the author of sickness and death.1 God should not be blamed for human tragedy and misery; they are the product of the devil’s work (James 1:17). Jesus went about doing good, “and healing all who were under the power of the devil” (Acts 10:38). That Satan, the adversary, is responsible for the physical as well as the spiritual bondage in which people find themselves is strongly supported by the Bible (e.g., Luke 13:11–17; Heb. 2:14–15; and 1 John 3:8).
There is another aspect to the matter of healing. Whether one considers the human being to be made up of three constituent parts (body, soul, and spirit), or two (the material and the immaterial), there is a further truth that needs emphasizing: Human beings would be incomplete as disembodied spirits. We need a body. The Hebrews were so conscious of this that they conceived of each human being as a unity. God himself breathed life into the moist dust He had fashioned to be a man (Gen. 2:7). Going down into the grave was a place of dread, and the Old Testament seers looked ahead with hope to a time of resurrection when the soul and body would be reunited.2
In the New Testament, Paul’s great emphasis on Resurrection is grounded in the belief that we are incomplete in a disembodied state. (This is implied in 2 Cor. 5:3.) The entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 is anchored in the great hope made possible for the believer by the resurrection of Christ as the firstfruits from the dead. What this means is that the scriptural view of the human personality assumes a very important role for the physical body.
The ancient Greeks, and other pagans as well, looked on the body as a “prison house” of the soul.3 Not so the Bible writers. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, a habitation for God. And the believer is guaranteed by the resurrection of Christ that his body shall be resurrected, not in its present mortal, frail form, but in a glorified, undying form (1 Cor. 15:42). This great emphasis on physical resurrection in the Scriptures underscores the importance of the body in the sight of God. It is a vehicle for expressing the will of God in this life, and for this reason it is not to be abused. God is interested in the welfare of our bodies.
The next question that comes, then, is whether God is willing to heal our bodies while we live in this world so scarred by the marks of the Fall.
It is God’s nature to heal. A great Old Testament title used to describe an aspect of God’s nature is found in Exodus: “I am the LORD, who heals you” (Ex. 15:26). The Hebrew, ’Ani Yahweh roph’eka, could also be translated “I am the LORD your Physician.” Roph’e is translated in other Bible passages as “physician” (Jer. 8:22, for example). Its form is an active participle, used to emphasize that it is indeed God’s nature to heal. Ka is singular and draws attention to an individual, personal relationship. Certainly, if it was His nature to heal then, it is His nature to heal now. He does not change.
Psalm 103:3 speaks of the one “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” However, again, active participles are used, so that literally it reads, “the Forgiver for all your sins [misdeeds, injustice, causing of harm or trouble, falseness], the Physician for all your diseases.” There is no disease that He cannot heal. It is His nature to move against all that afflicts and torments those who come to Him believing.
God’s healing propensity may be understood in still another way. God is the Giver of Life. Frequently in the Old Testament, episodes of supernatural healing carry the expression “live” to describe the physical recovery. This is appropriate, since God is the Creator, the Source of life itself; and as such, He is the true source of healing. The devil destroys; the Lord God delivers. He makes alive. The Father sent the Son that we might have life, and that more abundantly (John 10:10).
God is love (1 John 4:8). It is His nature to love. God heals because it is an act of love. God’s reason for delivering Israel, for loving them as a nation, was not because they were such a great or wonderful people, but because of His love. He had promised to be faithful to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and His covenant-keeping character was therefore displayed (Deut. 7:7–8). Deeply woven into this relationship God had with His people was His love, so much so that a good rendering of the term for “faithfulness” in the Old Testament is “steadfast love.”
God, the great Physician, is our Healer because He is Lord of the universe. He is sovereign over His creation. He has power to wound and to heal (Deut. 32:39). God can employ sickness for His own ends, although one must always bear in mind that He is not the author of sickness. Miriam was made sick, then well, as an object lesson in judgment to the people (Num. 12:10–15). King Jehoram was permitted by God to suffer a fatal illness as a matter of judgment on sin (2 Chron. 21:18–19). Job was permitted to undergo a severe physical testing, but it is clear from the biblical record that the disease and trouble that plagued Job were brought upon him by Satan. God, the Sovereign of heaven and earth, merely permitted this satanic activity within prescribed bounds for a higher purpose and actually used it to win a victory over Satan (see Job 1:20–22; 19:25). Important to bear in mind is that God stood above and beyond the works of the adversary, ultimately displaying His delivering power.
Sin brought with it sickness and death. God by nature is against sin, sickness, and death. His love and grace made a way for deliverance from the penalties of sin. Through the atonement wrought by Christ at Calvary not only was the curse of sin broken, but our deliverance from sickness was also cared for. Healing was in the plan of God from before the dawn of time.
Since God is the Great Physician, Yahweh roph’eka, it is not strange that under the Law provision was made for forgiveness and for both spiritual and physical restoration. The Law gives special attention to the priests, whose ministry points to our great High Priest, who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities (and thus sympathizes with our weaknesses; Heb. 4:14–15).
The priests, through the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices, made atonement for the sins of the people. An examination of the atonement in the Hebrew Bible shows that in most cases it refers to a ransom price paid for redemption and restoration. This points to the redemption through Christ, His shedding His blood in our behalf and in our stead. “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood” (Rom. 3:25). He would be the One who would protect us from God’s wrath by taking away our sin.
The phrase “sacrifice of atonement”4 translates the Greek hilastērion, “a means of expiation or making atonement in order to remove the guilt of sin.” The same Greek word is used also of the place of propitiation or making atonement. It is used in this sense in Hebrews 9:5 and in the Septuagint (Greek) versions of Exodus 25:17 of the “atonement cover” (“mercy seat,” KJV; that is, the place from which mercy was extended). This was the solid gold lid placed on the top of the ark of the covenant.
The reference to the Atonement and atonement cover (“mercy seat”) has its background in Leviticus 16, which deals with the annual Day of Atonement provided in the Law. On that day the high priest went to sprinkle the blood of a sin offering on that solid gold cover of the ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, the heart of God’s covenant with Israel. These commandments the people had broken; the broken Law called for judgment and death. But when the blood of a spotless lamb5 was sprinkled, representing the sinless life of Christ, God saw the sinless life instead of the broken Law and could give mercy, blessing, restoration, and healing.
The primary purpose of the atonement was cleansing from sin (Lev. 16:30).6 It is also clear, however, that atonement brought release from the penalty and consequences of sin in order to bring restoration of God’s blessing and favor.
When the people complained after the judgment that followed the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, God sent a plague on the Israelites. Moses then sent Aaron out into the congregation to make atonement for them, and the plague was stopped (Num. 16:46–48). We read also that when the men of Israel were numbered, they were to give one-half shekel atonement money for their redemption and prevention of a plague upon themselves (Ex. 30:12,15). Atonement, then, provided for the consequences of sin, including sickness. The Bible makes it clear that there is no way an individual can pay a sufficient price for personal redemption, so God, out of His love and for the glory of His own name, provided the atonement (Rom. 3:25–26; cf. Ps. 65:3; 78:38; 79:9; Rom. 3:21–28).
That this atonement provided not only for the sin but also for its consequences is pictured by Hosea buying back his wife at a great cost to himself when she had deserted him, gone after false gods, and was to be sold in the slave market (Hos. 3:1–5; 13:4,14; 14:4). This atonement is further illustrated by the bronze serpent hung up on a pole in the desert when God’s judgment causes poisonous snakes to bite the Israelites. All the people had to do to live was look at the bronze serpent (see Num. 21:9). All this found its fulfillment and was accomplished through Christ at Calvary (John 3:14–16). There He made a full Atonement for the whole person. The New Testament speaks of this as redemption, which has essentially the same meaning as atonement. Through Christ we have received redemption and the forgiveness of sins (Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:15). Again, atonement provides for the consequences of sin. Even where sickness is not the direct result of sin, it is still in the world because of sin. Therefore it is among the works of the devil Jesus came to destroy (1 John 3:8) and is thus included in the provisions of the atonement.
The Bible indicates, however, that until Jesus comes we—along with the rest of creation (affected by the results of Adam’s sin)—groan because we have not yet received the redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8:22–23). Only when the dead in Christ rise and we are changed do we receive the new bodies, which are like His glorious body (1 Cor. 15:42–44, 51–54).
In the parallel between redemption and atonement, we see that the provision for our bodies is the redemption spoken of in Romans 8:23. We receive the forgiveness of sins now in connection with the redemption of our souls. We shall receive the redemption of our bodies when we are caught up to meet the Lord and are changed into His likeness (1 Cor. 15:51–54; 2 Cor. 5:1–4; 1 John 3:2). Divine healing is a foretaste of this and, like all the blessings of the gospel, flows from the atonement.7
The Book of Isaiah, called by some “the Old Testament Gospel,” clearly predicted that the benefits of the atonement would extend to physical healing. In the great fifty-third chapter of this wonderful Old Testament book, Christ is presented as the Suffering Servant, who in His own person becomes the penalty offering for sin, making atonement even for those who despise and reject Him. Isaiah 53:5 gives us this wonderful prophetic announcement: “By his wounds we are healed.” The context of this verse demands that it not be spiritualized to cover “soul-sickness” only, for the preceding verses speak vividly of physical suffering.8
Matthew gives a more literal rendering of verse 4: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases” (Matt. 8:17), “infirmities” including all kinds of sickness. For Isaiah, the coming Messiah who would make atonement for His people would cure diseases not only of the soul, but of the body as well. The passage in Matthew is a definite link between the Old Testament prophecy and the ministry of our Lord Jesus. Matthew records that during Jesus’ Galilean ministry, He “healed all the sick,” which “was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah” (Matt. 8:17). Clearly the Holy Spirit inspired the Gospel writer to declare that the ministry of Jesus was an anticipation of the benefits of the Cross and was the realization of the promise given about seven hundred years before.
The apostle Paul saw in the death of Christ a remarkable fact. Christ was made a curse for us so that we might be set free from the law’s curse on sin (Gal. 3:10–14). The implications of this truth are staggering! Those who by faith reach out to appropriate the full dimensions of their salvation in Christ can receive in their own bodies deliverance from the curse. Death itself is the last enemy to be destroyed, and death will be the common lot of believers until the time of the resurrection and Rapture, when we shall all be changed and our new bodies become immortal and imperishable, no longer subject to death, sickness, disease, or decay (1 Cor. 15:53–54). But deliverance from the ills that plague the body presently is an aspect of the curse that God has put into subjection to the faith of the believers.
Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel. It flows from the Atonement. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” (John 19:30), the work necessary for the redemption of the whole person—spirit, soul, and body—was complete. The ministry of Christ was a healing ministry, for He bound up broken souls and bodies. Divine healing was “not something peripheral” in His ministry, but was an important witness to His identity (see John 10:37–38).9 He went about preaching, teaching, and healing. Provision for all to enter into this ministry and its benefits was made possible by Calvary (Matt. 10:7–8; Mark 16:15–20; Luke 4:18–19; 10:9).
It is God’s will for believers to enjoy the benefits of divine healing today. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He and His disciples healed all who came to them (Matt. 8:16; Acts 5:12,16). Jesus carefully selected a group of followers to whom He entrusted the task of carrying on His ministry, for He fully intended that greater works (in the sense of more numerous works) than He had done should mark the lives and ministries of His disciples (John 14:12–13). Just before He ascended to heaven, Jesus gave this ringing promise to His faithful apostles and disciples: “These signs will accompany those who believe in my name … they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:17–18).
The Apostolic Church practiced divine healing, as Jesus clearly intended. (The authority of Matt. 10:1 was never rescinded.) It was expected that supernatural deliverance from physical disorders should characterize the normal assembly in the first century. The Book of Acts shows it did. Not for two centuries or more did the practice of divine healing disappear from the Church. It was one of the last vestiges of supernatural power that the decaying church lost as the years wore on.10 Eventually the medieval church distorted the practice laid down in James 5:14 by making the biblical provision for healing into a sacrament of last rites, which they named “Extreme Unction.” Instead of encouraging faith for healing, all it was supposed to do was help a dying person through the pains of death.11
James sets down the principles believers in all ages should observe for receiving divine healing (James 5:14). It is useful to notice that healing was to occur within the local assembly—it was not necessary to travel to a great shrine or a great healer. The “prayer of faith” speaks of the conditions necessary for receiving healing. It is by grace through faith that all God’s gifts and blessings are received. Prayer is the avenue of communication between heaven and earth, the key that unlocks the resources of God for needy people. The sick are to exercise the initiative, calling for the elders of the church to pray with and for them.
A further condition for healing is supplied in this very important passage. Though the Bible does not say that every sickness is caused by sin, some are. Therefore, the provision is made that if candidates for healing have sinned, they are to confess their sins. This indicates that the way must be clear, cleared if need be by confessing sin, for receiving blessing from the hand of God. Our relationship to the Lord is not mechanical, it is personal. Anything that hinders personal fellowship with a holy God stands in the way, jeopardizing the reception of the fruits of Christ’s atonement in our lives.
It is important to notice also that no one in the New Testament demanded healing. People came to Jesus asking Him for it. They did not look on healing as their right, but as a gracious privilege extended to them. It is clear also that as the privilege of believers, the promise of healing did not rule out suffering for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s. And whenever such suffering becomes necessary, we are expected to be prepared to follow His example (Heb. 5:8; 1 Pet. 2:19,21; 4:12–14,19). Nor are we to look at divine healing as a substitute for observing practices of good physical and mental health. Jesus recognized the need of the disciples to get away from the crowds and rest awhile (Mark 6:31). Jethro saw that if Moses did not delegate some of his responsibilities to others, he would wear out (Ex. 18:18).
Divine healing is not a means of avoiding the aging process. Although it is true that Moses retained his natural strength and a clear eye until the day of his death (Deut. 34:7), this privilege was not granted to David or Elisha (1 Kings 1:1–4; 2 Kings 13:14). The gradual breakdown of old age, pictured so poignantly in Ecclesiastes 12:1–7, is the common experience of believers as well as unbelievers. And although healing is still available to the aged, the part that is healed usually comes to age like the rest of the body; an eighty-year-old who is healed is still eighty years old. We do not yet have redemption of the body. However, the Bible does not tell us this to discourage us; it tells us this to make us realize that we must encourage and cultivate our life in the Spirit, for the Spirit gives life to our mortal bodies, ultimately through resurrection, and resurrection is our real hope (Rom. 8:11). In fact, even though “outwardly we are wasting away [gradually dying], yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). Actually, it is this inner renewal that makes us best able to have the faith to claim the privilege of divine healing. To the woman healed of the issue of blood, Jesus said, “‘Your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering’” (Mark 5:34). Great faith then receives healing through the simple word of the Lord.
But Jesus did not turn away from those who had little faith or weak faith. Those who are sick often find it not easy to express faith, and Jesus did a variety of things to help them. Sometimes He laid His hands on them or touched them (see Mark 5:23; 6:5; 8:22–23; 10:13; Luke 4:40; 13:13). Once, He put clay on the eyes of a blind man and gave him the opportunity to express obedient faith by washing in the pool of Siloam (John 9:6–15). At other times people expressed their faith by touching Him or His clothing (Matt. 9:21; 14:36; Mark 3:10; 5:28; 6:56; Luke 6:19). In the Book of Acts, Peter took hold of the right hand of the cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to help him up, “and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk” (Acts 3:7–8). Later, there was a time when people were healed when Peter’s shadow fell on them (Acts 5:15–16). At Ephesus, “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs [sweat cloths] and [work] aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and evil spirits left them” (Acts 19:11–12).
There was no magic or virtue in the means used to encourage faith, however. Their faith had to be in the Lord, not in the clay, the shadow, the work aprons, or the practice of the laying on of hands. This seems to be the reason for the great variety of means used, lest people get their eyes on some particular means rather than on God himself.
Problems have arisen when some have taught that all sickness and disease is caused by demons. The New Testament recognizes that demons do cause sickness and disease and can cruelly torment people.12 But Jesus did not treat all sickness and disease as the result of demon possession or demon activity. The demon-possessed are distinguished as a separate class, distinct from those “who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain … those having seizures, and the paralyzed” (Matt. 4:24). It is obvious also that when Jesus touched the leper and said “Be clean!” that no demon was involved in the leprosy (Luke 5:12–13). The paralyzed man brought to Jesus by His friends did need to have his sins forgiven. Even so, the forgiveness did not automatically bring healing. It was when Jesus spoke the word that the man was healed (Luke 5:24–25). For all that, there is no indication of any demon power involved in his paralysis. “[M]any passages make a clear distinction between sicknesses and diseases not caused by demons and those caused by demons (Matt. 4:24; 8:16; 9:32–33; 10:1; Mark 1:32; 3:15; Luke 6:17–18; 9:1, etc). In none of these examples is there any indication that any of these sicknesses caused by demons were of people in right relation to God. We must remember also that all of these examples took place before Pentecost.”13
It should be noted also that though demons can tempt and harass Christians, they cannot read our minds nor can they possess, inhabit, or “demonize” any true believer, one indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 6:15).14 When demons do attack us, we are not told to cast them out. Rather, we are to put our armor on, take our stand, and the shield of faith will extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, all of which come from outside us (Eph. 6:10–16). We have the power to resist the devil, who will then flee from us (James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8–9). We have been armed with divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4). Jesus defeated Satan with the Word (Matt. 4:4,7,10). We too can win victories with the Word, the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). Finally we note that “Christ’s enemies accused Him of having a demon. It is a subtle trick of the devil that makes sincere people accuse Christians today of having a demon. Clearly, there are deliverances, but calling them deliverances from demon possession is unscriptural.”15
HEALING AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
Others have tried to set divine healing in opposition to or in competition with the medical profession. This need not be so. Physicians through their skills have brought help to many. It is true that the Lord is the great Physician. It is also true that the Bible condemns King Asa because “even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians” (2 Chron. 16:12). But Asa had already sought help from Syria in an act of unbelief and disobedience, refusing to rely on the Lord (2 Chron. 16:7). In other words, the emphasis is not that he consulted physicians (which in this case may have been heathen physicians), but that he refused to seek help from the Lord. It is evident that physicians had an honorable place in Israel (Jer. 8:22). Jesus also presented the medicinal use of oil and wine by the Good Samaritan in a favorable light (Luke 10:34). Luke the doctor was a dear friend of the apostle Paul (Col. 4:14). When the woman with the issue of blood was healed, we are told she “had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse” (Mark 5:26). If it were wrong for her to go to physicians, this would have been the perfect place for Jesus to have said so. But He did not. Instead, He accepted the faith she then expressed and commended her for it. Even today God has performed many miracles for people given up by doctors.16
Jesus also sent the ten lepers back to show themselves to the priests (Luke 17:14). Under the Law the priests were in charge of diagnosis, quarantine, and health (Lev. 14:2ff; Matt. 8:4). In effect, Jesus recognized that human diagnosticians have their place. The priests, however, were agents of the Lord, and in this sense it is possible to take all healing as divine, whether instantaneous or gradual (cf. Luke 5:14; 17:14). On the other hand, those healed in the Bible did not testify to divine healing until the healing was actually accomplished by divine power.
We recognize that there have been abuses of the doctrine and practice of divine healing today. But we must not let that cause us to retreat from a positive proclamation of the truth of the Scriptures. The apostles were able to say to the lame man, “What I have I give you” (Acts 3:6).17
It is instructive to observe that as part of the provision God arranged for in the Church was the ministry of “healings,” listed as one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:28). Each local church is expected to have the manifestation of the power of God present. It is God’s gift to the Church.
Actually, there are two major purposes for divine healing to be exercised in the Church today, just as there were in the Early Church. First, divine healing attests the power of God. Jesus healed on many occasions to arrest attention, to authenticate His message. In fact, in that day it was expected that divine healing would be the credentials of the Messiah (Luke 5:23–24). The Apostolic Church also established its credentials by the demonstration of the power of God (repeatedly), which frequently was displayed through physical deliverances (1 Cor. 2:4). Signs and wonders (which included healings) were attendant marks with which God blessed the preaching of the gospel in the first century, confirming the Word (Heb. 2:3–4).
Second, divine healing attests the love of God. Christ healed, to be sure, to authenticate His message, but He also healed because of His great compassion on suffering humanity (Matt. 9:36; Mark 1:41). It is God’s nature to love. Healing is a breakthrough of that love in a world bound by the curse of sin. On the one hand, Jesus won a victory over death through His resurrection. On the other hand, its effect will not bring an end to death for believers until the time of our resurrection or (if we are still alive at that time) our being caught away for the meeting with the Lord in the air. In this way the victory over death has been assured and the chains of sickness can now be broken. God’s love is exhibited in His provision within the church for divine deliverance from physical suffering.
As has been observed, it is important to develop doctrine (teaching) from Scripture and not from human experience. Some who shrugged their shoulders in the opening years of the twentieth century, saying that Pentecostal manifestations were not being experienced, argued that they were obviously not for the present day. Thank God there were hardy souls, filled with faith and with a profound belief in the Word of God, who dared to believe that the practice of the Church should not be the determining factor in developing doctrine or deciding what was truth. Just so, simply because many are not healed should not be the determining factor in one’s doctrine or teaching today.18 There are mysteries that transcend our understanding in this realm. Some answers we must leave with God. But we do know that it is God’s nature to heal; we know that healing has been provided for in the atonement of Christ. We know that Christ committed to the church not only the ministry of reconciliation but of healing.
Faith is the key that unlocks the door to divine blessing. When we have done our part, we must leave the rest to God. As someone has wisely said, “Where there is a greater atmosphere of faith, there will be more healings.” Even the Lord Jesus did not perform many miracles in an atmosphere of unbelief (Matt. 13:58). The provision is available. Positive preaching and teaching encourage faith. The Church must be alive in faith to experience the supernatural today.
We humbly admit that we do not have all the answers to why some people are not healed. But we know and have experienced the biblical truth that God does heal today.19
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What is the relation between sickness and sin?
2. For what is Satan responsible in terms of sickness?
3. What is the meaning of the name Yahweh roph’eka and why is it significant for us today?
4. Does God ever use sickness as punishment? Explain.
5. What is the significance of the atonement cover (“mercy seat”) with relation to divine healing?
6. What is included in the atonement that Jesus accomplished on Calvary?
7. What part did healing have in the ministry of Jesus on earth? In the ministry of the disciples?
8. What is the significance of the oil in James 5:14?
9. What is wrong with “demanding” healing from the Lord?
10. When will we receive the redemption of the body and what will that redemption include?
11. What is the value of such things as anointed handkerchiefs and prayer cloths?
12. What are the two major purposes of divine healing? How should they affect our prayers for healing?
_______________
1 See Hugh Jeter, By His Stripes (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1977), 25.
2 See Gen. 47:30; Deut. 31:16; 1 Kings 1:21; Job 14:13–15; Dan. 12:2; Heb. 11:19,35.
3 Plato records Socrates speaking of being “entombed in this which we carry about with us and call the body, in which we are imprisoned like an oyster in its shell” (Phoedrus, 250c). Plato, vol. 1, trans. Harold N. Fowler (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914), 485.
4 “Propitiation,” KJV.
5 The Heb. uses the word “lamb” for a young goat as well as a young sheep. The sin offering here called for a goat.
6 Cf. Rom. 5:11, where “atonement” (KJV) is the same word translated “reconciliation” in Rom. 11:15 and 2 Cor. 5:18–19.
7 The previous material was adapted from Where We Stand (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1990), 47–50.
8 Infirmities (“griefs,” KJV) is the same word used of physical sickness and disease in 2 Chron. 16:12; 21:15,18–19; Isa. 38:9. “Sorrows” is the same word used of physical pain in Job 33:19.
9 Where We Stand, 45.
10 Jeter, Stripes, 57–59. See also Joseph Pohle The Sacraments, vol. 4, ed. Arthur Preuss (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1945), 1–2, 44–45.
11 Vatican II has since changed the name “Extreme Unction” to “Anointing of the Sick.”
12 See Matt. 9:32–33; 12:22; 17:14–16; Mark 9:20–22; Luke 13:11,16. Demons can take possession of the bodies of unbelievers and even use their voices to talk (Mark 5:15; Luke 4:41; 8:27–28; Acts 16:18).
13 Where We Stand, 19–20.
14 For a biblical discussion of the whole matter of demon activity and demon possession see Opal L. Reddin, ed. Power Encounter: A Pentecostal Perspective (Springfield, Mo.: Central Bible College Press, 1989); “Can Born-Again Believers Be Demon Possessed?” in Where We Stand, 15–23; and “Power Over Satan and Demons” in The Full Life Study Bible, Donald C. Stamps, ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1992), 80.
15 Where We Stand, 23.
16 See Gordon Wright, In Quest of Healing (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1984), 88–98.
17 Much of the preceding material was adapted from Where We Stand, 50–54.
18 For additional discussion on this topic see Wright, In Quest, 115–136.
19 See “Hindrances to Healing,” and “Earnestly Contend for the Faith,” in Jeter, By His Stripes, 92–99, 189–195; and “Divine Healing,” in Study Bible, 20–21; Wright, In Quest, 137–159.