DIVINE
HEALING
Joel
Finck
Scripture Reading: Acts 19:11,12; I Timothy 5:23
"Do you believe God heals today?" We have been asked this question
countless times, and our answer is always the- same. "Yes, God heals today
but not through the so-called divine healers." We also like to point out
that while God is fully capable of providing instantaneous, miraculous cures,
.these are the exception rather than the rule in this dispensation.
One of the promises God made to Israel was that if she would obey the
covenant He made with them, the Lord would "take away from thee all
sickness" (Deuteronomy TIS). When Christ came to earth as "a
minister of the circumcision (Jews)" (Romans Is:8a), He performed many
healings to demonstrate His power and authority in Israel. All of this
was done "to confirm the promises made unto the fathers" (Romans
IS:8b).
When Israel rejected her Messiah, and refused the offer of the kingdom made
through the twelve apostles (Acts 3:19-21), God raised up the apostle
Paul to go to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). Paul was given the "signs
of an apostle" (II Corinthians 2:12) to confirm that he was divinely
sanctioned.
As God began phasing out Israel's covenant, Paul was able to work
"special miracles ... so that from his body were brought unto the
sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them"
(Acts 19:11, 12). Yet only a few years later, Paul wrote to Timothy, "Drink
no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine
often infirmities" (I Timothy 5:23). When God brought down the final
curta-in on Israel's stage (Acts 28:27, 28), Paul's gift to heal
was withdrawn.
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 53:4, 5; Matthew 8:17 and I Peter 2:24
It is often claimed by "faith healers" that "there is
healing in the atonement." This is supposedly based on
Isaiah's prophecy where we read, "Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows... and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah
53:4, 5). Let us test this doctrine by the Scriptures.
Isaiah 53:4 is quoted by Matthew. After the Lord healed Peter's
mother-in-law and many other sick folks, we are told this was done ''That
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
[He] Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses" (Matthew
8:17). Notice carefully it says this portion ofIsaiah's prophecy was
fulfilled right there, not two years later when He died on the
cross.
But what about the second part of Isaiah's prophecy, which says
"with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5b)? "His
stripes" definitely point to the suffering He bore at the time of
the cross. Again, Scripture interprets Scripture. Peter quotes this verse
not in a context of physical healing but of spiritual healing. "Who
[Jesus] his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye
were healed" (I Peter 2:24).
Physical health was never guaranteed to the believer of this
dispensation. Indeed, "we ourselves groan within our- selves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body"
(Romans 8:23b). If we should be called to suffer physically, let us claim
the promise of II Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for
thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."
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