Back in the late 1800s, Albert Benjamin Simpson had been suffering for 20 years of nervous prostration and asthma. He had been served as the pastor of churches in His health finally came to be broken to the point where he was told that he had only a few months left to live. So in that time he went with his family to a conference at Old Orchard Beach, Maine. It was there that he heard the testimony of one young man who told about his having been healed from imminent death. He also heard other testimonies of from others who had received healing simply by faith in the word of Jesus. His need was so apparent to himself that he was driven to the Bible. As he studied the scriptures, he then accepted the truth of healing as a part of the gospel without question and made a covenant with God. He took the Lord Jesus for his physical life, for all the needs of the body, and agreed to use the blessing for the glory of God and for the good of others. So the next Sunday he gave his testimony to having taken the Lord Jesus for his physical life, and his trust that the Lord would faithfully take care of him. Then, on the next day, he took the journey of faith, of the his stepping out upon what he had claimed and that to which he gave his testimony of faith. The next day he climbed a 3000 foot mountain, when climbing stairs before had been a struggle. And thereafter, he burst out in years of strenuous labor, with tremendous energy and strength, when he had been diagnosed as having only a few months to live.
One of the most striking things about all four of the gospels is the frequency and details of the healings of Jesus. All four gospels devote a great deal of space to the healing miracles, and they take up about as much space as his teaching when the gospels tell about the ministry of Jesus This shows that for the authors of the New Testament and the early church that what Jesus did was considered as important as what he said, that his healing miracles were considered as important as the teaching. While the teaching is what Jesus had to say to us, the healing miracles show us much more the depth of the compassion, mercy and power of Jesus. His healings show us for all time genuine actions that demonstrate the compassion of Jesus for human suffering, his tenderness and concern as he dealt one on one with people, and his saving power and authority over disease as well as sin and death. Despite some in the past having tried to separate the healing miracles from the gospel accounts as being unnecessary or unscientific, they are genuinely part of the whole scriptural portrait of the almighty Christ, the Son of God, who is worthy of all our faith. They show us the Lord who is utterly trustworthy, the Lord who is the whole Christ of the scriptures. They show us the more of the full revelation of the Lord who is the basis and center of a strong, mature and well-grounded faith.
The healing miracles, then, are a crucial part of the revelation of the Jesus of salvation. The New Testament and the gospels show us the Lord who is conqueror of sin and death by his crucifixion, but also the Lord who is the conqueror and disease and infirmity as well. The gospels and the rest of the New Testament resonate to show us the Lord gives physical life, power for holy living by his resurrection power through the Holy Spirit, and then how he is the ascended Lord with almighty authority and power. This then forms the basis of our faith in him as the living Lord who continues to work compassionately today in the lives of his people, and how the same Jesus who performed healings then is the same Jesus that we need to know also. Certainly we need to know him first and foremost as the Lord of our eternal salvation, through faith in him for salvation from sin and death, but the fulness of the Jesus of the New Testament is also the Lord of our physical life, the Lord to be known as Savior, Master and Teacher, Power and Holiness, who is also revealed through his own Word as our Healer.
“And when Jesus had come into the house of Peter he saw his mother in law stricken with illness and feverish. And he took hold of her hand, and the fever left her. And she stood up and started to serve him. When evening came they brought to him many who were demonized; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and he healed all those who were suffering. This was to fulfill that which had been said by Isaiah the prophet, when he said, ‘He himself took up our infirmities, and he carried away our diseases.’” (Matthew 8:14-17, Dale’s sight translation; other versions here.)
The power and authority of Jesus is effective against all human suffering. The power of the Son of God is more than sufficient in this world and in this life against whatever comes against us. He has come to us and remains with us as the Lord who is the answer to our sufferings – physical, mental and spiritual. First of all, the power and authority of Jesus is effective against all illness, infirmity and disease. His almighty power has already been demonstrated in the lives of real people, in all situations, against all kinds of mental and physical suffering.
The ministry of healing from Jesus to the mother in law of Peter shows his power against all infirmity and disease. “And when Jesus had come into the house of Peter he saw his mother in law stricken with illness and feverish. And he took hold of her hand, and the fever left her. And she stood up and started to serve him.”
After a time of extraordinary teaching early in his earthly ministry, Jesus headed to the house of Peter in Capernaum. He had already demonstrated his authority and power over the tyranny and terror of the demonic has he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum earlier that same day. With that he had demonstrated an authority like no one else, the authority of the Son of God himself. So toward the end of the day of ministry Jesus came to the house of Peter. It’s noteworthy that Peter still kept his house for his family, and that the call of Jesus did mean for him leaving his normal livelihood, and not a radical misunderstanding of renunciation of private property. So Jesus then came to the home where Peter’s family lived, and where he was caring for his mother in law. And through his acquaintance with Peter, Jesus went to his house, perhaps to be his guest overnight. And he came to Peter’s bedridden, feverish, mother in law. There’s no modern diagnosis of the precise illness, but whatever it was, it seems to have been incapacitating. Speculation is that it may have been malaria, but that’s unsure.
Whatever the precise illness of Peter’s mother in law, Jesus gave her an immediate cure. He lifted her up, and she immediately began to serve him. What she did was probably to serve Jesus and Peter the already prepared Sabbath meal. And note that he touched her hand despite the frowns of the Pharisees who were standing by. But Jesus went went beyond the Law to do the will of the Father, and in his healing ministry he habitually touched the untouchable, to heal those who needed healing. And when he healed Peter’s mother in law, that then set off a round of healings that evening after sunset, after the Sabbath was ended.
Earlier in the gospel of Matthew, the apostle gave this summary of the healing ministry of Jesus: “And he went about in the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. And the news went out to the whole of Syria; and they brought to him all who were sick and all who were tormented by pain and demonized and insane and paralyzed, and he healed them” (Matthew 4:23-24). The power of Jesus was available for all diseases, but for a moment I would like to focus on one thing that the scripture mentions here: the healing of the insane. Since the late nineteenth century, the days of Sigmund Freud, who in fact started as a neurologist, there has been a tendency to go to the psychiatric profession for relief of mental illness. This has meant going to therapies such as talk therapy / psychoanalysis for problems such as schizophrenia and PTSD and complex trauma which are now known to be highly intertwined with the physical body and especially the brain structures, pathways and chemistry, or other therapies such as electroshock and lobotomy which pretty much did much more harm than good. Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds.” Where someone has undergone abuse and trauma, where there have been physically related problems which affect thoughts, emotions and actions, this is where we need to look more for the healing touch of Jesus. The heart didn’t mean just the emotions nor romantic feelings and attachments in the use of the term in the Bible. Rather, it was more of a synonym for the soul: mind, emotions, desires and will. What the Psalmist is speaking of is those with broken and wounded souls. That could include those who have suffered deep romantic disappointments and abusive, broken marriages which broke and wounded them, for example. But it would go on to be applicable to anyone with a broken and wounded soul. And we should likewise be praying for them as well. I heard the testimony years ago of a pastor whose son was suffering from severe mental illness, and he and his wife found no help for him with psychiatrists in those days. So they started praying daily for his healing, and he improved steadily as they prayed on, and within a course of several months he was certified to be completely well. So we should also be doing this in our day also.
The almighty power of Jesus Christ, then, is still available today for healing those who are suffering. His healing power is sufficient against every human ailment and disease, and the testimony of his previous healings invites faith in him for healings that people need now. Even in our day this testimony of having received healing from the hand of the Son of God, from his power and authority can lead others to trust him and find out his trustworthiness and to glorify him afterward by serving him. Note that the proper response to healing then to use the healed body in service to Jesus. This is the proper way to honor the Lord who heals, the Lord for the body:
“I urge you then, brothers and sisters, through the mercies of the Lord, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1)
“Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, and you are not yourselves? You have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body”( I Corinthians 6:19-20).
Note that later Jesus delegated authority to heal to the apostles and anoint with oil for healing in Mark 3:14-15 and 6:12-13: “And he appointed twelves, whom he named as apostles, that they might be with him and so that he might send them to preach and to have authority to cast out demons . . . And when they [the apostles] went out, they proclaimed that people should repent, and they cast out many demons, and they anointed with oil many sick people and they recovered.” And then this healing authority to anoint the sick is further delegated to the elders of the church in James 5:14-15: “Is there anyone sick among you? Let that person call for the elders of the church, and they will pray for that person once they have anointed that person with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise that person up; and if that person has committed sins, they will be forgiven.” It’s this way that believers have considered over the ages to be the normal way for themselves to receive healing: call the elders for anointing and prayer in humility and soul searching penitence.
It was in fact a number of testimonies that influenced A. B. Simpson in understanding how Jesus continues to heal today. One of the great influences on Simpson was Dr. Charles Cullis. He had long been meditating over the promise in James. He had had a Christian missionary lady under his care for a tumor that was to be operated on. But then he read the promise to her, and he agreed with her to trust God. He then anointed her with oil and prayed with her. And then the tumor gradually, but quickly disappeared.
But even with the power and authority of Jesus being effective against all diseases and infirmities, the power and authority of Jesus is also effective against all spiritual affliction and suffering. There is a horrible reality of demonization, of oppression in all ages, blatant and not so blatant works of the enemy, and this has brought real suffering to people around the world, but all that falls before the sovereign authority of Jesus Christ. This is what happened as the day wore on, as it continues in verse 16: “When evening came they brought to him many who were demonized; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and he healed all those who were suffering.”
The gospel writer, well attested to be Matthew the apostle, makes a special point to bring out how the authority of Jesus was effective against the demonic oppression in the area, as it had been earlier in the day with the demonized man at the synagogue. The events of that day continued to be a special showcase for the power and authority of Jesus throughout his earthly ministry. His ministry relieved human suffering from the demonic with the simple, awe inspiring exercise of personal authority with a simple command Not only was his ministry very different from the intricate, extensive, and unreliable exorcism rituals and formulas of that time, but his ministry was effective in a way that theirs was not.
The power and authority of Jesus is still effective today against the reality of demonization where it occurs. He delegated his authority over the demonic to his disciples to use, through the power of the Spirit, against every work of the enemy, such as deception, temptation, influence, oppression, and possession. This ministry was the sign that the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, and that continues today. He also delegated that same authority to the apostles in in Mark 3:14-15: “And he appointed twelves, whom he named as apostles, that they might be with him and so that he might send them to preach and to have authority to cast out demons.” And further, when he sent the seventy on their mission (the number seventy was symbolic of the number of the elders) in Luke 10:19, he delegated that same authority to them: “See, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and by no means will anything hurt you.” For a fuller discussion of that authority and how it may be used both by elders and every believer, see Authority Over Spiritual Darkness in This World.
So the power and authority which Jesus exercised against all physical, mental and spiritual suffering during his ministry is still available and effective today; the risen Lord who has lost none of his power and authority nor any of his compassion for human suffering. He will still response to the faith of his people, who follow the guidance of his Word, who come to him in faith, who pray to the Father in his name for the glory of God. And there will then be a continued expression of witness to the continued life and ministry of the risen Lord, since he remains the Lord before whom we can bring the impossible cases. So the power and authority of Jesus then and now against disease and human suffering was not simply something that was an optional add on to his ministry. Rather, it was a revelation of his mission for all ages.
The healing ministry of Jesus in all ages reveals him as the Lord who takes away human disease and suffering. His healing ministry then and as it continues reveals him, through his life, his ministry, his atoning death upon the cross and resurrection as the conqueror of disease and suffering as well as the conqueror of sin and death.
The healing ministry of Jesus is part of his revelation of himself as the Messiah of Israel. When he healed and continues to heal, he fulfills the promise from the prophets about the person who would come, and he shows his credentials according to Old Testament prophecy: “This was to fulfill that which had been said by Isaiah the prophet, when he said, ‘He himself took up our infirmities, and he carried away our diseases.’”
In verse 17, the apostle explains how the healings fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. He quotes the; prophecy taken from Isaiah 53:4, and that prophecy has historically and convincingly considered to be primarily about the crucifixion and resurrection and ascension (see Preview for a fuller discussion of Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12). In the quote, it seems like there’s a word play upon the word translated bearing or took away in the application to the healing ministry. Through the healing ministry, before the crucifixion, he was bearing away the diseases by healing the diseases, but it also seems to be pointing to his bearing away our infirmities and diseases in his ministry as it culminated through the cross. Note also that this is a full apostolic endorsement of the Isaiah passage to point to physical diseases and not to spiritualize the application of Isaiah 53:4. So this indicates that Jesus bore away sin and disease during his ministry through his commands of healing and forgiveness, and then in a fuller way he bore away sin and death and disease in his crucifixion through suffering and dying on our behalf. Furthermore, the apostle, one of the key eyewitnesses on this day, explicitly related the freedom from sin to healing in I Peter 2:24, in a way which further reinforces the significance that this would mean physical healing: “[Jesus] himself bored our sins in his own body upon the wood, so that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose wounds you have been healed”. This shows us the prophetic and Messianic significance of the healings in the context of Old Testament prophecy: these healing+s are the deeds of the promised Messiah, the signs of the kingdom of God, the compassion of God in person for the suffering of his people, and the beginning of redemption from disease and infirmity, sin and death. In I Peter 2:24, one commentator also noted that in the context, where Peter is speaking to the situation of Christians who were slaves in the Roman empire, that Peter may have been reminding them of times when they suffered from mistreatment such as physical beatings, but that Christ healed them from those wounds and injuries by his own wounds and injuries during his suffering for them in the path of his crucifixion.
This verse of scripture, then, is a part of the scriptural teaching that gives the indication for the basis on how believers in Christ are to seek God for physical healing: upon the basis of the suffering and death of Jesus on our behalf. We seek physical healing in our day as the love and compassion of God for the forgiveness of sin and the conquest of sin and the conquest of death centered in the cross, also the love and compassion of God for healing. It’s entirely legitimate scriptural and historically for believers to recognize physical healing as a covenant privilege for believers now and until Jesus comes. Moreover, it’s also entirely legitimate to see healings continuing as a continuing witness to Jesus as more than a wise man, prophet, teacher, but the long promised Messiah of Israel and almighty Lord over all human suffering. This then calls for the reverent acceptance of his authority, in faith and submission, as the compassionate Lord who continues to heal today.
Therefore, the understanding of Jesus as Healer in his earthly ministry, his taking away our sins and our diseases and infirmities through his death calls for faith in Jesus as our Healer. This means faith in Jesus as our Healer on the basis of his suffering and death that took away our diseases and infirmities. It means our reception of him as our Healer as our Lord and Savior, as part of his full salvation, just ad reception of his forgiveness, eternal life, as Lord and Savior, through his death and resurrection
It still must be emphasized always when we discuss healing that the most important part of the gospel is the reception of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, upon the basis of his atoning death and resurrection. The priority will always be need to get right with God and to receive eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ. The issue of one’s eternal salvation is always the most important issue to be settled, but then healing remains one of the covenant privileges of believers. But the balance needs to be kept, that we will not be perfectly and always healed in this life, just as we do not believe in perfect deliverance from sin in this life. But for the believer in Jesus who knows the Lord and looks forward to eternity with him, the Lord has never failed if healing may not be received in this life, since there will always be the best waiting, eternity with the Lord Jesus, and resurrection to be like him, and that will always be the ultimate healing.
Therefore, for those who know Jesus Christ as Savior, he offers himself as healer, as one of the benefits of his atoning death. So to receive his saving compassion for your body, let him be Lord of your body and your life. But first be certain of the assurance of your own salvation, that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. The first and greatest need is always to be assured of your eternal destiny and to be right with God before the healing of the body. Moreover, no one can expect healing if living apart from the known will of God and especially not if living in defiance of the known will of God from the scriptures. There’s a story from the late pastor Richard Harvey about a woman from his congregation who was dying with cancer. She came to the point in what were presumed to be her last days that she asked for forgiveness for the criticisms she had been spreading about him, and then she began to be healed from that time. This is something that is too often overlooked, the need to confess sins and restore fellowship with God to receive healing. Indeed, there are some situations where people have been praying for someone’s healing for some time for difficult and even mysterious ailments and no healing seemed to be manifest where it was revealed that that person had been engaged in and covering egregious sins for some time. Certainly there does need to be the communication that asking for healing from the Lord who died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins first of all that whoever is trusting God for healing needs to confess and part from hidden sins however embarrassing and horrible that they may be. In addition, there needs to be that expectation that the person seeking healing does not plan to act out sins, especially premeditated and habitual sins, in the future with the healed and restored body.
One of the continuing issues with trusting Christ as one’s healer is the role of modern medicine and physicians. I’ve often been surprised how many believers seem to be ignorant of the common sense statements that came from Jesus himself on doctors and medicine. These statements alone should settle any totally unnecessary debate on whether believers should follow modern medicine and physicians once they have trusted Jesus as their healer. For instance, the Lord himself said that the sick need a doctor in Mark 2:17: “Those who are well aren’t in need of a physician, are they, but those who are sick?” In addition, the Lord himself also mentioned that care of the sick is expected from his people in in Matthew 25:36: “ . . . I was sick and you watched over me . . .”
So from the scriptures, there is definitely no need to forbid medicine and the care and consultation with physicians. Rather, trusting Jesus as one’s healer would rather discourage entire trust in medicine and physicians, as if they would succeed without the Lord who created us and continues to heal. The best counsel I’ve found is always to go to prayer for guidance and healing before going to physicians and using medicine. There is no presumption in the use of medicine, but there is presumption in throwing away medicine before the Lord indicates that the time has come or that there is realization of his healing. God may indeed heal us through consultation and collaboration with physicians and modern medicine.
I myself believe that I have experienced the healing touch of God in consultation and collaboration with physicians and modern medicine. Back in October 1980, during my first year in seminary, I suffered a torn cartilage in my right knee while I was working with a friend to assemble bookshelves in the seminary library. After a trip to the emergency room and a number of visits to two orthopedic surgeons, arthroscopic surgery was scheduled in late June 1981. During that time two churches had been praying for my healing but the problem with the knee jamming due to the torn cartilage persisted. So while continuing in trust and prayer, I went to the operation. Once the operation was over, I went back to the visitors’ apartment at the seminary where my parents took care of me for the rest of the day and the next one. Though I had a prescription for Tylenol with codeine, I didn’t feel the need to take any pain medication. A nurse told me later that this was quite unusual and that the expectation was that there would be a lot of pain following the operation. And when I went to the follow-up appointment with the surgeon, he told me about how everything went exactly right during the surgery, how the machinery and everything else went well. Over the course of time, the knee was evaluated as having over 90% functionality restored, and I’ve never felt any problems with a lack of functionality afterwards. Rather, I’ve walked and run many miles in physical jobs and exercise, and I can testify that it looks like the operation was more than a success, that it was a definite healing where God worked along with the surgeon, the surgical team and the surgical equipment.
THE LORD OF SALVATION IS THE LORD WHO GIVES A COMPLETE SALVATION. HIS SALVATION IS FROM SIN AND DEATH AND DISEASE AND INFIRMITY AS WELL THROUGH HIS DEATH FOR US, AND; THROUGH THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION HE LIKEWISE GIVES ETERNAL LIFE AND GLORY AS WELL AS PHYSICAL LIFE TO SERVE HIM NOW. SO THERE IS THAT INVITATION THAT HE GIVES TO US TO HAVE HIM TO BE LORD OF OUR BODIES AND TO TRUST HIM AS OUR HEALER, AS WELL AS LORD AND SAVIOR FOR OUR ETERNAL DESTINY. EVERY GENERATION NEEDS THE LIVING CHRIST, THE CHRIST OF SCRIPTURE, AND IN OUR DAY AND AGE WHEN SO MANY ARE SUFFERING PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY AND SPIRITUALLY THEY NEED THE HEALING LORD AS WELL AS THE SAVING LORD.
The first and greatest need in our lives is always Christ as Lord and Savior. He calls us first to the submission of our lives before him, to receive him by faith in him alone for our eternal salvation. The forgiveness of sins, eternal life and acceptance with God is the first thing which needs to be settled. Therefore this eternal need of ours calls us therefore to repentance for sin and to turn to God, to open faith in and acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior first of all.
Christ as Healer is then available for those who have faith in him as Lord and Savior, who have been born again of his Spirit; this calls for a conscious acceptance of him now as Lord of your body, and faith in him for the health and life of your body now, even if you aren’t sick now, until your time on earth is done
Christ as Healer is available now, in our day. Prefer to seek him now through the prayer of faith and the anointing of oil as part of the ministry of elders in a church which believes in the Bible as the Word of God and accepts this promise as part of his continuing ministry to his people now. Understand that seeking his healing or the current ministry of healing is not something to be treated as a ritual or an act of magic. Rather he gives healing when his people obey his command in faith to receive his healing power. It to be received, just as the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, with a clear conscience, coming to him having confessed sins and received his forgiveness and cleansing by the blood of Christ.
Preaching Point 