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Healing and Suffering |
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This article is copied, author is unkown at this time.
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Healing
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I'm sure that we would all love to believe in the existence of Devine, miraculous, healing and the existence of the gift of healing for today. But, is it like that? Certainly God can heal us today and He does heal today. The question is, can the healing of God be commanded of Him? Do certain people have the "gift" and can invoke God to perform instantaneous healings? The purpose of this discussion is not to refute the claims of the chrismatics, but to only consider the question of healing.
Spiritual believers in all past generations have experienced divine favor, healing included, but that does not necessarily mean the "miraculous" healing. Certainly we would be wrong to put a limitation on what God can and cannot do. God can do anything, which pleases Him and His will. The claims of so-called divine healers, however, assume and imply that to secure such healing it is needful to go to them. At least seven errors are nevertheless to be found in their teaching, and these should be taken up separately.
1. "Healers" alone control God's healing of the body. But any company of spiritual believers, if asked to do so, would testify of divine curing far beyond the claims of professional healers. Has God limited Himself only to the actions of certain appointed persons to achieve the healing process? Of course not. We all have been granted to privilege to boldly approach the throne of grace, by prayer, to seek His Divine help in the time of troubles.
2. Healing was provided in the atonement. It is taught that Christ bore diseases as He bore sins on the cross and therefore healing may be claimed absolutely by faith and without fail. Such error will mislead, for few are prepared to refute these fantastic claims. Doubtless so great an issue should be fully sustained by Scripture, but it is not. It rather should be recognized that the body is not yet redeemed. The believer awaits a redeemed body. Romans 8:23 clearly states this:
"And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." The physical man will be redeemed at the return of Christ, as the Scripture foretells: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Rev. 21:4). Extremists do not dare claim redeemed bodies themselves, while they themselves all increase in age and limitations.
If Christ bore all sickness the healing in answer to true faith should of course never fail, but it does. Isaiah 53:5 in this connection reads: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Reference here may well be to spiritual healing. The Old Testament, indeed, teaches both spiritual healing and physical healing (cf. Ps. 103:3). In Matthew 8:1617 reference is made to Isaiah 53:4, for Christ healed because He fulfilled the prophecies concerning Him. Jesus indeed bore all our afflictions. It is indeed a matter of faith to call upon the Lord and to know that He can heal, but the matter is still very much in the hands of God. There is no simple no-fail formula or ritual which we can follow that guarantees Gods bending His will to ours.
Many divine healers base their authority to heal the sick on Matthew 10:8, which reads:
"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give," but there the command is given as well to raise the dead, heal leprosy, and cast out demons. The kingdom gospel was to be accompanied with wonders and miracles like these, but no such command for the supernatural ever came with the gospel of grace. This particular verse is in reference to the limited commission, which Jesus gave to the twelve (including Judas). The great commission in Matt 28, makes no mention of any other activity than to make disciples, baptize them and to teach them to obey all the things which Christ has commanded. The former commission was limited to a certain group of men for a certain period of time. The later commission now stands for all time until the return of Christ.
It remains to be noted that Paul's thorn in the flesh was not healed in spite of all his faith (2 Cor. 12:19), and that he with sadness left Trophimus sick at Miletum (2 Tim. 4:20). Epaphroditus, however, was healed as a direct mercy of God (Phil. 2:2630; cf. Ps. 41:3; Gal. 4:13).
3. Sickness is from Satan and never in the will of God (cf. Deut. 32:39; Job 12; Hos. 6:1). But, by taking this position the whole field of divine chastisement is rejected. A man was blind from his birth that the glory of God might be seen in him, and Paul had a thorn in the flesh, which was sent directly from God. It cannot be proved that Satan is the one cause of sickness or that disability may not be the will of God in some instances.
4. Anointing from the healer is as essential as faith (anointing = the applying of oil). In all His healings, nonetheless, Christ anointed but once in so far as the record goes (Mark 6:13), and it is not mentioned again for curative purposes in the New Testament except in James 5:14. The Jewish rite of laying on of hands seemed to be observed at times. Peter cast a shadow and some were healed, but he never went into the shadow-casting business. Multitudes are healed today because it is directly in the will of God for His children apart from anointings, laying on of hands, or Peter's shadow.
5. Remedies are against the will of God. But, the question may be raised, then why has God made medicine available to man if he were not to resort to their use? The natural healing properties of plants and herbs are not man made but God made and provided. Medicine, to be sure, is usually the supply of elements needed in the system for its recovery. Hence to use remedies for healing is no different in principle than to feed the body with food or to clothe it for warmth.
Healing for the believer is within the Father's care of His child as also all financial support, or for that matter every good and perfect gift. Would we say then that planting a garden is against the will of God, or living in houses, which we have provided, be against the will of God, or the manufacturing of clothes against the will of God?
Two Old Testament types are evidence of divine cure. Each secured physical healing and for a reason: (1) leprosy (Lev. 14:157) and (2) the serpent bite (Num. 21: 59). The healing in both cases was absolute and becomes clearly a figure of the remedy for sin, which healing is in the death of Christ and never fails in answer to faith.
6. Christ must heal because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He may be the same Person, beyond all question, but not always have the same purpose. The Apostle, if his example means anything, prescribed wine for Timothy (1 Tim. 5:23). And, it is very unwise to assert that Jesus MUST do anything.
7. Personal faith is required. This demand provides the divine healer's way out of difficulty when he fails to help. To put it back on the afflicted for lack of faith is cruel and unscriptural. Many sufferers are driven to spiritual collapse by this treatment. In the Bible the question of faith and whose faith is very vague, certainly the Bible is not clear enough to make any assertions on this point. One instance is actually recorded where healing failed because of unbelief on the part of those who would cure (cf. Matt. 17:1421).
In conclusion, it may be asserted that it pleases God to heal His children of physical diseases when it is in the will of His parental dealing with them. It was said by David: "This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles" (Ps. 34:6). The death of Christ provides no absolute cure for physical ills, though it does so provide for spiritual ills. One might as well claim financial prosperity from the death of Christ according to 2 Corinthians 8:9, as to claim present-day physical healing from the Scriptures on the basis of the death of Christ.
See Acts chapter 3 for the classical demonstration of healing, its method and purpose.....
The miracles of the New Testament, including healing, were all given for a specific reason. The point might well be made that miraculous healings were not for the personal benefit who received it. The individual was secondary, the purpose of God is primary. It is not for their welfare (either primarily or personal) that miracles were done, it was done for the gospels sake, and all the others who would come to know these things. It is a demonstration of the power of God and the credentials of the Word of God. Is there healing today from God? Absolutely there is. It does not matter to the child of God if he is instantaneously healed or healed through the more deliberate process medical, he still see the hand of God in it and that God has answered his prayer. The faith of the Christian is just as strong and sure in either case.
Suffering
The doctrine of suffering divides naturally into two sections, one for each Testament. In the Old Testament division appear two main points: the sufferings of Christ as seen in type and prophecy and the sufferings of godly men as seen in the book of Job pre-eminently.
The Book of Job, earliest of all the books of the Bible perhaps to be written, is devoted to the knotty problem of suffering. Any little child who has had the advantage of discipline can tell why bad people suffer, but to tell why a good person suffers is a far different matter. Job did not suffer because he was sinful. This contention was the wrong interpretation placed on his sufferings by the three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, their contention being that he was afflicted as a punishment for evil in conduct. When Job's sufferings were completed, Jehovah refused to have anything to do with the three friends until the patriarch lovingly offered sacrifices for them. Jehovah's declaration made it plain that they had not spoken the thing which was right (Job 42:7). In the light of the obvious fact that much interpretation of Job's affliction by the commentators has been to present him as an evil person needing to be punished, one wonders who will offer sacrifices for the commentators. It should not be forgotten that, at least three times, Jehovah testified to the spiritual maturity or perfection of His servant Job (1:1,8; 2:3). To him therefore was given the high privilege of defending the worthiness of God apart from all benefits, as against the presumptuous claims of Satan to the contrary. Beginning with chapter 32, furthermore, in the progress of all the discussion presented, a young man named Elihu interrupts to set forth his theory that suffering is educational or a discipline; by it a good man, he said, may become a better man. Apparently this was quite all that Job ever recognized in the value of his suffering (Job 42 :56). Right here the patriarch, to be sure, very closely approaches the New Testament doctrine of suffering, which may be divided as follows:
1. The sufferings of Christ were infinite. They came from two sources, a. What Christ suffered from the Father, in which no other can share (2 Cor. 5:2 1). b. What Christ suffered from men, in which others may share (John 15:1820).
2. The believer may suffer with Christ (Matt. 10:25; John 15:18-19; Acts 9:15-16; Rom. 8:16-18; 9:1-3; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:24; 2 Tim. 2:11-12; 1 Pet. 4:12-16). In Romans 9:1-3 suffering with Christ is seen to be a sharing of His burden for lost men. Suffering with Him proves a natural phase of a Christian's life and experience, for he is sojourning in an enemys land, is called to be a witness against its sin, and is summoned to labor that souls may be saved from its evil and darkness. "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:1819). To those who did not believe on Him, on the other hand, it was said: "The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testily of it, that the works thereof are evil" (John 7:7). "It is enough for the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" (Matt. 10:25). "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (John 17:18). "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Pet. 4:1213).
So, also, as can be learned from these passages too, suffering with Christ here is the only possible path into the reward of being glorified together with Him over there. This does not mean working to earn salvation, for salvation cannot be gained by any degree of human suffering. It is rather that effort for which the glorious crown and reward will be given to the faithful because of their co-partnership with Christ. Such a truth is brought out by the following passage: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:5-11).
Here it is implied, as the Apostle continues, that the believer should allow the mind of Christ to be reproduced in him by the power of God (Phil. 2:13), for the seven successive steps in the path of Christ from His native place in the glory to the felon's death on the cross were doubtless reviewed by Paul in order that such steps may be admitted in the Christian's life, as one who is to be "as his Lord" even in this world. It is also implied that, simply because of close relation to Jesus in suffering, there will be an identity with Him in all His glory. "The Spirit itself beareath witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:1618). "It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us" (2 Tim. 2:1112).
Suffering was the ministry to which Paul was appointed by the Lord through the disciple Ananias, when the Lord commanded him to visit Paul: "Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake" (Acts 9:1516).
Hence it may be concluded that, while all the mystery of suffering is not explained and probably cannot be, it is an essential part of the believer's life and union with Christ in this world and likewise of identification with Him in the glory.
3. The believer may suffer because of having to be chastened of the Father. This may be something
- a. Preventative (2 Cor. 12:110; cf. Rom. 8:34).
- b. Corrective (Heb. 12:315), having as possible results both holiness and the peaceable
fruit of righteousness (cf. also John 15:2; 1 Cor. 11:2932; 1 John 5:16).
- c. Educational. Christians may be enlarged in their spiritual life by suffering (John 15:2).
Even though a Son, Christ learned obedience by the things, which He suffered (Heb. 5:8).
4. All men should not expect that the sowing of sins will go unnoticed or without reaping. Indeed there are sufferings brought about by our own doing. Are such sufferings retribution, or simply the fruit of unrighteousness coming to fruition? Probably a little bit of both depending on the spiritual state of the individual, in either case sin will haunt all of us with loss and suffering.
5. Lastly is the case of common suffering by the nature of the curse on this creation. It is a fact of life that problems will come upon all, none are immune. Disease, acts of nature, accidents, and tragedies of all kind may strike at any moment. For the child of God, He permits or shields the faithful from these. However, life will eventually run its course with everyone of us. The Faithful understand this and accept it in faith and comfort knowing God is present. Not so with the lost who face life and death with a terribly loneliness and consequence.
Matthew 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we
be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of
all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
And for those who do seek the Kingdom of God first, the promise is made:
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
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This page last updated December 14, 2005
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