If you read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series of articles, hopefully you are convinced that it is God’s will to heal people today. After all, Jesus is the same today (Hebrews 13:8) as he was when he walked the earth, healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). This article examines what the Bible says about God’s motivation for healing people.
If we want to join our Lord in the ministry of healing, it is important for us to think as he does.
The more our hearts align with his, the better will be our understanding of his ways, and the easier it will be for us to walk in agreement with him.
And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. 1 John 5:14-15 (NLT)
The first reason why God heals people is that it is part of his essential nature to heal and restore those he loves. One of the Old Testament compound names of God was Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals you.
He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.” Exodus 15:26 (NLT)
God healed those who were faithful to him in the Old Testament. Under the New Covenant, blessings come to us because of the faithfulness of Christ. He is the One who earned our healing for us, and he paid a great deal for it.
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. Isaiah 53:5 (NLT)
My first article in this series goes into great detail regarding the proper interpretation of this verse.
Once a bill has been paid, nothing more is owed. We do not have to earn our healing in any way. It is a gift from a very gracious God whose nature is to heal and restore those he loves.
Compassion for those who are suffering was and is a primary motivation for Jesus to heal people. Once when Jesus was tired from ministry to the crowds who thronged him, he tried to get away for some rest and recuperation. Instead, he found large numbers of people waiting for him when his boat reached the shore. Rather than being disappointed or irritable, this is what the Bible says about Jesus’ attitude.
Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Matthew 14:14 (NLT)
Sickness and disease are part of the aftermath of Adam’s first sin. Death entered the world, with sickness being an ever present threat to diminish or end our physical lives.
God promises that in the new heaven and earth that is coming, there will be no sickness, death, suffering, pain, or even sorrow! (Revelation 21:4) As we wait for that glorious day, when God will permanently remove the horrible consequences of sin, our Lord is not content to leave us without remedy. It is his compassionate desire to give us relief through gifts of healing. (1 Corinthians 12:9)
Jesus demonstrated God’s heart in this matter very clearly during his short earthly ministry. (Acts 10:38) He instructed his disciples to operate in the same way.
Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received! Matthew 10:7-8 (NLT)
After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven, the early church continued to demonstrate God’s love to people through preaching the gospel of reconciliation to God and performing compassionate healings. A reading of the Book of Acts confirms this. The disciples understood that Jesus’ mission of demonstrating God’s love to people was ongoing, and, since Jesus never changes, he expects us to keep it going.
This leads us to another powerful reason God continues to heal today. He uses healing and other miracles and signs to confirm the truth of his promises and the gospel.
Jesus urged his hearers to pay attention to the miracles and healings he performed, because these things testified to the truth of his words and his identity of the Messiah.
Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do. 12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! John 14:11-14 (NLT)
Knowing how strong our propensity to unbelief is, Jesus graciously performed signs and wonders to release people from their spiritual blindness. It still works today for many.
Notice that the latter part of the passage attests to the fact that healing is still for today. Two times while teaching a series on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in Honduras, God used significant healings to help the people believe in my message.
I believe healing is part of the God-given arsenal of spiritual weapons given to teachers.
This doesn’t happen here in the USA as much because there tends to be more unbelief. There the people were open to God working through someone they did not know. As Jesus said, a prophet is not esteemed in his own country. Oh that God would release healing in a powerful way to break off the chains of unbelief!
Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. Matthew 9:35 (NLT)
Jesus said that certain signs, including healing, attest to the reality of the Kingdom of God in our midst.
Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’ Luke 10:9 (NLT) God never expected people to believe solely based upon our words, as important as they are. The gospel was designed to come to people through preaching and the demonstration of the power of the kingdom of God.
For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 (NLT)
I believe it is disingenuous to claim that these signs and wonders only continued until the publication of the text of the New Testament. The early disciples also had the Scriptures, although limited to the Old Testament. Nevertheless, the gospel can be fully preached out of the Old Testament scriptures, as shown in the book of Acts.
All Scripture is inspired by God and full of power to change us on the inside (Hebrews 4:12); nevertheless, God backed up those infallible words with tangible demonstrations of the Spirit’s power in the physical realm.
He does the same today. His strategy has not changed. What has changed is the way people interpret God’s Word. Instead of taking it at face value, as the early church did, many try to limit the meaning of the Scriptures to what they have personally experienced or can conceive to be true. This is simply another form of humanism, in which we seek to make ourselves the measure of all things. We must allow God’s word to measure and change us: not the other way around.
Jesus warned that we must know both the Word of God and the power of God in order to avoid error.
Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. Mark 12:24 (NLT) We must repent of this sin of diluting God’s Word and get back to a God-centered interpretation of the Bible that includes the power of God being released through his people by means of the Holy Spirit.
