WHAT DOES OUR BIBLE SAY ABOUT DIVINE HEALING?

Matthew 4:23-24
"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics; and He healed them.
Hebrews 13:8
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
James 5:13-16
"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."
1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-11
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all; for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
to another the working of miracles, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills."
Matthew 8:16-17
"When evening had come, they brought to Him

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many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."
Isaiah 53:4-5
"Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken and smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."

Physical sickness came as a result of the fall of Adam, and illness and disease are simply part of the outworking of the curse after the fall, and will eventually lead toward physical death. However, Christ redeemed us from that curse when He died on the cross: The passage we have just quoted from Isaiah 53 reads in the NIV: "Surely, He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows...by His wounds we are healed."
This passage refers to both physical and spiritual healing that Christ purchased for us, for Peter quotes it to refer to our salvation: "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24).
Matthew quotes the Isaiah passage in reference to the physical healings that Jesus performed as a fulfillment of that verse.
All Christians would probably agree that in the atonement Christ purchased for us not only complete freedom from sin but also complete freedom from physical weakness and infirmity in His work of redemption. And all Christians would also no doubt agree that our full and complete possession of all the benefits that Christ earned for us will not come until Christ returns: it is only "at His coming" (1 Corinthians 15:23) that we receive our perfect resurrection bodies. So it is with physical healing and redemption from the physical sickness that came as a result of the curse in Genesis 3: our complete possession of redemption from physical illness will not be ours until Christ returns and we receive resurrection bodies.
But the question that confronts us with respect to the gift of healing is whether God may from time to time grant us a foretaste

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or a down payment of the physical healing which He will grant us fully in the future. The healing miracles of Jesus certainly demonstrate that at times God is willing to grant a partial foretaste of the perfect health that will be ours for eternity. And the ministry of healing seen in the lives of the apostles and others in the early Church also indicates that this was part of the ministry of the new covenant age.
Throughout the Book of Acts, we have the record of many healings.
"Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them-walking, leaping and praising God." (Acts 3:1-8).
"And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.
Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed." (Acts 5:12-16).
"Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and evil spirits went out of them." (Acts 19:11-12)
In the passage we cited from 1 Corinthians 12:9, it is clear that the gifts of healing were given to the church.
As with other spiritual gifts, healing has several purposes.

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Certainly it functions as a "sign" to authenticate the gospel message, and show that the Kingdom of God has come. Then also healing brings comfort and health to those who are ill, and thereby demonstrates God’s attribute of mercy toward those in distress. Third, healing equips people for service, as physical impediments to ministry are removed. Fourth, healing provides opportunity for God to be glorified as people see physical evidence of His goodness, love, power, wisdom, and presence.
In the act of healing, Jesus most frequently laid His hands on the ill. In Luke 4:40, it says: "All those who had any that were sick, with various diseases brought them to Him, and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them."
Laying on of hands seems to have been the primary means Jesus used to heal, because when people came and asked Him for healing they did not simply ask for prayer but said, for example, "come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live" (Matthew 9:18).
Another physical symbol of the Holy Spirit’s power coming for healing was anointing with oil. Jesus’ disciples "anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them" (Mark 6:13).
In the passage which gives instructions to the Body of Christ to pray for those who are sick, James tells the elders of the church to anoint the sick person with oil when they pray: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (James 5:14-15).
The New Testament often emphasizes the role of faith in the healing process---sometimes the faith of the sick person (Luke 8:48), but at other times the faith of others who bring the sick person for healing. When the four men let down a paralytic through a hole in the roof where Jesus was preaching, we read, "And when Jesus saw their faith..." (Mark 2:5). At other times Jesus mentions the faith of the Canaanite woman regarding the healing of her daughter (Matthew 15:28), or of the centurion for the healing of his servant (Matthew 8:10,13).
In discussing the subject of divine healing, we should know that not all Christians believe that the age of miracles and healing still is a part of the ministry of the Body Christ today. They believe that miracles ceased when the age of the apostles ceased.

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Before discussing the position held by the cessationists, let’s present the reasons why we believe that God still works miracles and healings in the church today.
God performed miracles in redemptive history. They are recorded from Genesis through Revelation. There seems to be no reason or Biblical statement that would clearly state that miracles ceased with the apostles. In the Healing Covenant of the Old Testament, Exodus 15:26, it is definitely stated that if the children of Israel would "diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord...and do that which is right in His sight...and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes" the Lord would put none of the diseases of Egypt upon them and would be their Healer. Thus, healing and health were based on obedience to the Lord. But this was exactly the basis for the forgiveness of sin, under the Mosaic economy. So healing and the forgiveness of sins were on the same basis in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, forgiveness of sins and healing are also on the same basis--faith in the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases" (Psalm 103:2,3).
God has not changed! "For I am the Lord, I do not change" (Malachi 3:6). "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). If the miracle-working God has not and does not change, then why would miracles cease?
Jesus spoke of continuing miracles. He said, "Anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12). In His commission as recorded in Mark, Jesus said that miracles would accompany the gospel as it went out (Mark 16:17-18).
Miracles manifest God’s glory and greatness. "Jesus said to her (Martha at the tomb of her brother), "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40) Miracles communicate God’s message to His people. "For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? (Hebrews 2:2-4).

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For those who believe that miracles and healing ceased when the apostles died, 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 is the proof text. It reads "Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect is come, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
The phrase...WHEN THE PERFECT IS COME...is the statement on which the cessationists build their argument. It is their position that this refers to the completion of the Scriptures, and/or the inclusion of the Gentiles into the Church, and/or the "maturity" of the Church. The cessation view concludes, based on both the Scripture as they see it, and the facts of history, that extraordinary sign gifts, such as the apostles exercised, have not been possessed by any since their time. While special gift miracles have ceased, the fact of miracles has not necessarily vanished. The cessation view notes that there are three characteristics missing in the acts performed by any modern miracle worker which do not parallel with the miracles of Christ and the apostles.
(1) When Jesus or the apostles performed a miracle, the results were always immediate.
(2) A New Testament miracle never failed. There is no record in the Scriptures that tell us that the person who received the miracle ever relapsed into the previous condition.
(3) The New Testament miracles were successful on all kinds of conditions. Unlike the miracles of apostolic times, modern miracles do not confirm new revelation.
Is it a historical fact that miraculous gifts ceased early in the history of the Church as the cessationists maintain? Answer! There is increasing historical evidence that miraculous gifts were occurring throughout the history of the Church in greater or lesser degree even when exaggerated or evidently spurious claims are discounted.
Writing in 165 A.D., more than sixty-five years after the death of John, the last of the Apostles, Justin Martyr says: "For

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numberless demoniacs throughout the whole world and in your city, many of our Christian men, exorcising them [casting out] in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, have healed, and do heal, rendering helpless and driving the possessing devils out of men, though they could not be cured by all the other exorcists, and those who used incantations and drugs."
Writing in 192 A.D., Irenaeus declares: "...Those who are in truth the disciples receiving grace from Him do in His name perform miracles so as to promote the welfare of others, according to the gift which each has received from Him...Others still heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made whole. Yea moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and remained among us for years."
Writing in 250 A.D., Origen testifies: "And some give evidence of their having received through their faith a marvelous power by the cures which they perform, invoking no other name over those who need their help than that of the God of all things, and of Jesus...For by these means we too have seen many persons freed from grievous calamities, and from distractions of mind, madness, and countless other ills which could be cured neither by men or devils."
John Wesley, speaking of the period after Constantine, says: "The grand reason why the miraculous gifts were so soon withdrawn was not only that Faith and Holiness were well nigh lost, but that dry formal orthodox men began to ridicule whatever gifts they had not in themselves, and to decry them all as either madness or impostures."
I have this deep conviction that men’s opinions do not change the truth of God’s eternal Word!
Hebrews 13:8 is still true! "Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the ages)."
Now, in closing, let us come back to a point which I talked about early is our lesson. It has to do with healing in relation to the atonement. No doubt it is entertained regarding Christ’s ability to heal, but the heart of the matter centers around the question: Did Christ make special provision for the healing of the body? Is this blessing included in the Atoning Sacrifice which He made on Calvary’s Cross?
The great Redemption chapter of the Old

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Testament, Isaiah chapter fifty-three, teaches that Christ bore our sickness, as well as our sins, on Calvary.
Through the eye of prophecy, Isaiah is describing the events which were to take place on Calvary hundreds of years after he wrote. Verse four reads: "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows..." The word translated GRIEF means SICKNESSES. In Deuteronomy 7:15 we read: "The Lord shall take away from thee all sicknesses."
The literal translation of Isaiah 53:4 is:
"Surely He hath borne our sicknesses, and carried our pain." Rotherham’s translation reads: "Yet surely our sicknesses He carried, and as for our pains He bore the burden of them."
The word BORNE is the Hebrew verb NASA, and the word CARRIED is the Hebrew SABAL. It means to bear in the sense of suffering punishment for something. How did Christ bare our sins?; vicariously, as our Substitute. If He bare our sins vicariously, He must also have borne our sicknesses in the same way. The same verb is used for both! The verb carried (sabal) also means to bear something as a penalty or chastisement. "He [Christ] shall see the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied...for He shall bear (sabal) their iniquities" (Isaiah 53:11). How did Christ bear our iniquities?; vicariously, as our Substitute. In the very same way, then, He also bore our pains (Isaiah 53:4). Isaiah continues to describe the scene about Calvary in verse five: "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." The word STRIPES is literally BRUISE. It signifies the entire wounding, or bruising of Christ, including the stripes that were laid on His back, the buffeting, the plucking out of His beard, the nails driven into His hands and feet, the crown of thorns on His brow and the spear thrust into His side. All of His bodily sufferings were in order that we might be healed. Peter bears this out when he quotes Isaiah 53:5: "Who 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." The word HEALED in the Greek is IAONAI which always refers to physical healing!
Our church believes that Christ can do anything that is within His sovereign plan for us, and thus we pray to Him when we are sick and leave the results in His hands. Perfect healing is guaranteed in the resurrection!