"Gifts Of Healings."

by G. PRASHER, JR. | Category: Miracles And Miraculous Gifts: | Aug 1952

Saints in every age have rejoiced in the gracious healing-power of their God. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." He knows the mysteries of the human frame, and has so often heard the cries of His people for deliverance from sickness. In many cases God has blessed the use of remedial measures, as when the healing virtue of a cake of figs was prescribed to heal a boil which was draining away the life of king Hezekiah (Isaiah 38.). On the other hand, He has many times been pleased to allow His most devoted saints to bear the trial of sickness for years. According to His sovereign will, God has equally been glorified in allowing continuance of sickness as in removing it; see in illustration, 2 Corinthians 12. 7, 10; and 1 Timothy 5.28.

As set forth in detail in earlier articles, God granted miraculous power to men for very limited periods. Among those powers, the ability to heal the sick or raise the dead was prominent in the days of Elijah and Elisha, and in the times of the Lord and His apostles. There is no record of this power having been given to men at any other period. It is important to grasp clearly the distinction between God intervening in sovereign healing-power when human aid seems vain, and the very different matter of His giving His servants ability to heal or raise from the dead by a touch or a word. In every age His sovereign power to heal the sick in response to prayer has been shown to the joy of His saints. In our own brief experience we have so often seen such cases. With all the resources of modern medical science, the doctors have abandoned hope. Earnest prayer has been made, and recovery has resulted. The doctors themselves have been the first to agree that only God's working could have saved the patient. It cannot be overemphasized that this type of experience is quite different from the bestowal by God of a miraculous gift of healing such as was granted to the apostles in Matthew 10.7-8, or during the period covered by the Acts of the Apostles.

Let us first try to discern the principles governing the exercise of the gift of healing in apostolic days. We shall have to focus our attention on the Acts of the Apostles, and learn from illustrations there, for the epistles give no detailed information about the exercise of this gift. The well-known portion in James 5.13-15 is generally regarded as referring to another aspect of healing-power, since a certain responsibility was laid on the elders of the Church, but elders were not endowed with the gift of healing (see 1 Timothy 3.1-7 for essential qualifications of an elder).

Four illuminating principles emerge from a study of the gift of healing in the Acts of the Apostles

1.The principle of discernment in the healer.

With the power to heal in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ went the ability to discern when it was God's will to heal a person. This discernment was an essential part of the gift of healing as exercised by the apostles. For it was a guarantee that the Name of God would not be dishonoured by an attempted healing which did not materialize. In Acts 3. Peter fastened his eyes on the lame man; in Acts 14. Paul stedfastly beheld the impotent man of Lystra, and beheld that he had faith to be made whole.

2.The principle of unfailing and absolute restoration.

"This perfect soundness in the presence of you all" (Acts 3.16). The Holy Spirit's description of the complete healing of this lame man might be taken as the true hall-mark of all divine healing. It was a perfect and complete healing, manifestly evident to all. One who had been well known as a life-long cripple was walking and leaping and praising God; and the following day he was still perfectly healed! (chapter 4.16). Examples could be multiplied there was the palsied man of Lydda (Acts 9.); the cripple of Lystra (Acts 14.); the victim of fever and dysentry in Mileta (Acts 28.). In every case the disease or infirmity was clearly defined, evident to all, and instantaneously and fully cured.

3.The principle of Divine sovereignty.

The man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple asked for alms and received miraculous healing. He did not ask for healing. It was gratuitously bestowed in God's sovereign grace, much as the Lord cured the sick man at the Pool of Bethesda. While there was often earnest seeking and ardent faith on the part of those healed, these two illustrations show that it was not necessarily so. Faith was indispensable on the part of the healer; some, who showed little faith, were cured.

4.The principle of the modest exercise of the gift of healing.

Very frequently the Lord charged those He healed that they should not publicize what He had done for them (e.g., Matthew 9.30; Mark 1.34; 5.48; 7.36; 8.26; Luke 5.14). Nor did the apostles use healing as a means of publicity. It was an incidental witness to the grand objective of bringing the truth of God home to the heart. The gift was exercised when the Holy Spirit made plain to His servants that God would be glorified by a miraculous

expression of healing power. The danger of its indiscriminate use is powerfully illustrated in Acts 3.12 and 14.11. The eyes of the people were so readily focussed on the human instruments of healing grace rather than on the deeper spiritual purpose of the miracles wrought that Paul and Barnabas "scarce restrained the multitudes from doing sacrifice unto them."

Now it would be quite unmistakable if God were to grant a modern recurrence of such gifts of healing. Those given such gifts would be known by their fruits; They would never attempt to heal any unless they were assured that God wished to heal them at that time. They would have power to effect instantaneous healing by laying their hands on those crippled from birth. They would never elude their personal responsibility by blaming the patient's lack of faith as an excuse for their own lack of. discernment or power. They would never publicize their healing powers, but would use them in wisdom as God directed. They would never use this power as a means of financial gain. They would be sound in doctrine (healthful teaching).

When tested by these Scriptural principles, the modern epidemic of healing in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ is seen in its true light. The movements concerned bear none of the essential characteristics of the glorious purity of the healing-power as exercised by the apostles. They are unmistakably stamped with the charlatan features of Satanic imitation. Typical of the Adversary's subtlety, there is sufficient reality to delude the credulous. Yet none need be deluded! Contrast the alleged healings with those in the Acts of the Apostles ! Where is it ever seen that hopelessly crippled people are instantaneously raised to perfect soundness? Instead of such indisputable evidences of divine power, we hear of long-time sufferers from much less evident troubles receiving a" healing touch "from the Lord, and medical examination may confirm that they are better, but how far they fall short of their Scriptural precedents! They are illustrative of the limitations of Satanic power. Jannes and Jambres went so far in their imitations. They could do much. Yet their best fell far short of God's power.

Added to the fact that the modern miracle workers achieve nothing which is truly comparable to the apostolic miracles, they annul other principles of the exercise of the gift of healing as illustrated in the Scriptures. They do not show divinely-given discernment as to those they should attempt to heal. A ready excuse puts the blame on the patient if healing is not forthcoming; the patient has insufficient faith! This is a cruel perversion of the truth, since the slightest evidence of faith was always rewarded by the Lord and His apostles (Mark 9.22-24). They also publicize their healing powers as a main feature of propaganda, and exploit the weakness of miracle-seeking masses as a means of gain.

Revealing as all these failures are, it is even more serious when absolutely wrong doctrine is advanced in support of the permanent

bestowal of the gift of healing. An outstanding example of such teaching is that healing is in the atonement." This theory implies that, in His vicarious sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ not only atoned for the sin of the soul, but also for the sickness of the body. Therefore, just as the believer may claim forgiveness of sin through faith in the atoning work of the Saviour, he is said to be entitled to claim health of body on the same basis! This view is freely taught by many who have exalted the cult of bodily-healing beyond anything that is warranted by the Word of God. Nothing could be further from the truth. Saints both ancient and modern have learned that His grace is sufficient in bodily weakness; a thorn in the flesh has often been to the sanctifying blessing of God's children. The redemption of our body, its being perfected into the likeness of His glorious body, must await the day of the Lord's return. The far-reaching effects of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ are touched upon in such verses as Colossians 1. 20. In so far as the " whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together" as a result of sin, and the sin question was dealt with on the cross, it is true to say that the Saviour' 5 sacrifice had a bearing on the believer's ultimate redemption from sickness. We repeat, however, that this aspect of the believer's redemption will be put into effect when the Lord comes. Until then, Christians are heirs with others of the weakness of the human frame: "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" (Romans 8.28).

It is also relevant to point out that the gift of healing in apostolic times was allied to the ability to raise the dead. This power would perhaps more accurately be regarded as the "working of miracles" than a " gift of healing," but it is appropriate to draw attention to the matter in this chapter. Dorcas was raised by Peter in Acts 9., and Eutychus by Paul in Acts 20. Indeed it is highly significant that in the era of Elijah and Elisha, as in that of the Lord and His apostles, there were several instances of the raising of the dead. It may justly be asked, therefore: "Why is this power not available to those who claim the renewal of the miraculous gifts of New Testament times ?

In all fairness the fact must be faced that in such Scriptures as Mark 16. 17, 18, the Lord Jesus Christ taught the disciples to expect that miraculous signs would follow their witness for Him. Those signs certainly did follow, as the Lord said they would. Then they were withdrawn, as the voice of history proves. Multitudes of devoted believers, many sealing their testimony with the blood of martyrdom, have borne noble witness to the truth in their generation ; yet they have never seen the signs of Mark 16. 17 following their faith in the Saviour. This withdrawal of miraculous healing power is in close harmony with the withdrawal of miraculous gifts after the limited periods of Moses and Joshua or Elijah and Elisha.

As for the Master's words in John 14. 12, we ask ourselves, What did the Lord mean by saying that those who believed in Him would do greater works than He had done? He could not be referring to acts of healing, or miracles of any other kind. For the apostles did not do such great things as the Lord; their miracles were confined to the body, whether in blessing or judgement, whereas the Lord Jesus could still the raging sea, and feed the multitudes from five loaves and two fishes. We can only conclude that the Lord was referring to the spiritual achievements of His disciples. His own work had been confined to Israel. Their testimony in His Name would overflow the narrow bounds of His ancient people, and reach the uttermost parts of the earth, bringing those of all nations under the Lord's authority.

In conclusion we may rest assured that the gifts of healings were not perpetuated, but were limited to the apostolic era. Nor have they so far been manifested again among God's people. The many imitations which abound to-day only emphasize the truth of our conclusions. They fall short of the exercise of "gifts of healings by the apostles.

G. PRASHER, JR. | Aug 1952
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