FAITH
HEALING.
BY E.P.M.
As the curse of
sin falls upon both soul and body, so the blessings of salvation are bestowed
upon both. Both were ruined, and both are redeemed. Christ comes then with a
double ministry to mankind.
“He
comes to make His blessings flow,
Far as the curse is found.”
Far as the curse is found.”
1. Opening the Old Testament we find that
sickness was an evil linked with sin, and that health, healing, and long life
were blessings promised to obedience.
For many centuries
there seems to have been no sickness. It is written that men lived so many
years and died. They seem to have died easily of old age, like going to sleep,
or “As the ripe fruit falls richly to the ground.” Probably man’s vitality, as
well as his length of life, was ten times as great as now. But the increasing
prevalence of sin, and the repeated violation of nature’s laws, gradually
brought in wasting pain, disease and contagion. Today the diseases that flesh
is heir to, exhaust the nomenclature of two or three languages.
Now we find in
the Old Testament that immunity from disease, and Divine healing, were as
distinctly promised as any spiritual blessings.-(Ex. xv:26; Ex. xxiii:25; Ps. xci:6,10,16;
Ps. ciii:3.) Mark in this last passage how “healing diseases” is inseparably
coupled with “forgiving iniquities,” and the promise is equal to both. “What
God has thus joined together let not man put asunder.”
In accordance
with this we find that leprosy and other diseases were healed by Divine power,
and that the life of king Hezekiah was prolonged fifteen years in answer to
prayer. Thus from the beginning of man’s sin and misery, two streams of Divine
mercy have flowed forth from the throne of God for his relief. Saving grace has
flowed to the soul, and saving health to the body. Thus by a double ministry of
grace man is made “ever whit whole” in his double being of soul and body.
2. In the New Testament we find the same
blended ministry to the spiritual and physical nature.
Christ found sin
and sickness linked together, and he carried a remedy for both. Himself a Being
of perfect physical health, He imparted it to others. With us diseases is
contagious; with Him health. Faith was the invisible, and the touch of a fingertip
the visible conductor, and “as many as touched Him were made perfectly whole.”
They believed and were both forgiven and healed.
Study for
example Matt. ix:2-7, and viii: 16,17.
And no let me call
studious attention to the neglected fact, that the Commission of Christ to the
twelve, to the seventy and through them to us, as clearly and positively
authorized to them heal the sick as to preach the gospel, and that they
actually fulfilled this double commission everywhere.
Study Matt. x:7,8;
Mark vi:12,13; Luke ix: 2,6; Luke x:9.
3. And now the most practical and important
question for us is, did God intend this double ministry to soul and body to
continue through our time until the end of the age? Are the sick healed now by
the prayer of faith? You may find the Divine answer in the diligent study of
the following passages which I believe pertain to the present time as much as
to any other, Mark xvi:15,18; John xvi: 12; I Cor. xii: 7,9; Jas. v:14, 15.
God has wrought
this supernatural healing through Old and New Testament times. The great
commission carries this promise and potency in it. This faith-healing power was
exercised in apostolic and post-apostolic times. I find no prophecy that it
should cease, and I believe it never has wholly ceased. If it has declined, so
has faith. “According to your faith be it unto you.” Even the apostles
sometimes failed for lack of faith. Christ healed not by Divine and sovereign
power, but by the Holy Ghost with which he was endued, and with which he
endured His followers. In the last days, as Satan rages, we may expect a
revival of the signs and wonders of the Holy Ghost to counterwork him.
We should be
cautious against fanaticism and superstition, but not too cautious.
Lukewarmness and unbelief are the great perils of the last times.-(Rev. iii:16;
Heb. iii:12.) We should, of course, pray for the sick with supreme reference to
God’s glory, and interpret the promises with the usual limitations and conditions.
The sick cannot always be healed. David’s child, like many others, died in
spite of fasting and prayer. The change in this healing ministry is in us and
not in Christ. Said one rich and titled Ecclesiastic to another, “Well,
brother, we can no longer say, with the apostle, ‘Silver and gold have I none.’
“ No,” replied the other, “nor can we say, ‘in the name of Jesus of Nazareth
rise up and walk.’” How can God do mighty works through a worldly, luxurious unbelieving
and lukewarm Church? And yet individual cases of faith-healing are constantly
coming to light, and the Church should believe in this healing power or cease
to mock God by her “prayers for the sick.” Let us believe and prove God, and
anticipate with joy the consummation of redemption where “sickness and sorrow,
pain and death are felt and feared no more.”
-Lockport, N.Y.
