Healing Is an Integral
Part of the Gospel
G
OD STILL HEALS! He is the Great Physician. His knowl- sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:17-18). Listed among the
edge of the human mind and body is complete. He can gifts of the Spirit for the present-day church are “the gifts of heal-
do more for the sick and diseased than can all earthly ing” (1 Corinthians 12:9).
doctors and surgeons combined. Since He created us, it
is certainly reasonable and scriptural to believe that He
Healing in Bible Times
can heal us when we are sick. Our belief in divine healing is not God gave the first recorded promise of divine healing soon
a fad or idealism. It has been a vital part of our message since our after He brought the Israelites out of Egypt. He told them, “I am
inception as a church. the Lord that healeth thee” (Exodus 15:26). Psalm 103:3 describes
Sickness is always regrettable but probably inevitable at some God as the One “who healeth all thy diseases.”
stage for all of us. In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul says that “our outer The Old Testament records a number of miracles of healing
man is decaying” (NASB). Only in the resurrected state will we be and even the raising of the dead. For example, God used the
completely free from illness and pain. prophet Elijah to restore a dead child to life (1 Kings 17:22).
Through the prophet Elisha, He raised a child to life and brought
The Provision for Healing
cleansing to Naaman the leper (2 Kings 4:32-35; 5:1-14). God
Christ’s suffering and death purchased spiritual, physical, and healed King Hezekiah in response to his prayer and added 15 years
mental healing for us. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and car- to his life (20:5-6).
ried our sorrows. . . . With his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4- The New Testament records many healings in the earthly min-
5). This prophecy definitely includes physical healing, for the istry of Jesus, and He performed many that are not individually
Gospel of Matthew says this passage was fulfilled
by Christ’s healing of people who were sick: “He
“No sickness stymied
recorded. “Jesus went about all Galilee . . . healing
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease
cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all
His ability to heal.
among the people” (Matthew 4:23). The divine
who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which Healer set people free from every incurable disease.
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He
The blind received their
No sickness stymied His ability to heal. The
Himself took our infirmities and bore our sick-
nesses’” (Matthew 8:16-17, NKJV; cf. 1 Peter 2:24).
sight, the dumb spoke,
blind received their sight, the dumb spoke,
and the lame and paralyzed were given strong,
The healing ministry of Christ did not end
and the lame and
healthy limbs. Many were cleansed from the
with His earthly life; it is part of His work in the awful scourge of leprosy. He dried up the wom-
church today. He promised, “These signs shall
paralyzed were given
an’s issue of blood with just a touch, and with-
follow them that believe; in my name shall they ered hands were stretched out and made whole.
cast out devils . . . they shall lay hands on the
strong, healthy limbs.”
Funeral processions were even interrupted and
6 EVANGEL • FEB 2010
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