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Healing Miracles In God's Word
Part Two
As discussed previously, healing is part of
God's will, and God has made provision
for healing through Jesus Christ. This section will examine different
miracles, and one thing is unchangeable,
no one can place limits on God. We cannot tell Him how
to heal, but there are times He directs people to do certain
things before a miracle. He may instruct a person to lay hands
on a sick person, or to pray in a specific
way, grants words of knowledge about a condition, and
so on.
In Part One, we saw a demonstration of the
laying on of hands. Ananias was instructed by the Lord in a vision
to go to Saul of Tarsus, and lay hands on him, so that "Paul" would
regain his sight Acts 9:10-18. God still operates through visions,
and He still operates through the laying on of hands. According to
Mark 16:15-18, those who believe will lay hands on the sick and they
will recover. We are believers living still in the New Testament
church age until Jesus returns. Its amazing how people will pick
certain parts of the New Testament as mandatory for the present day
believer, but will ignore and discount the parts they do not want to
believe or understand.
Let us
look at a healing miracle in the Old Testament. We have an account
in II Kings 5 of a healing miracle which seems contrary to
the natural mind and involves an act of obedience on the recipient's
part.
II Kings
5
1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of
Syria,
was
a great man with his master, and
honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria:
he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a
leper.
2 And the Syrians
had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the
land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife.
3
And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the
prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his
leprosy.
4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and
thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
5 And the king
of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of
Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver,
and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
6
And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when
this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent
Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his
leprosy.
7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had
read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God,
to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to
recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and
see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
8 And it was so , when
Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had
rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore
hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall
know that there is a prophet in Israel.
9 So Naaman came with his
horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of
Elisha.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and
wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee,
and thou shalt be clean.
11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away,
and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and
stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand
over the place, and recover the leper.
12 Are not Abana and
Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?
may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in
a rage.
13 And his servants came near, and spoke unto him, and
said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing,
wouldest thou not have done it ? how much rather then, when he saith
to thee, Wash, and be clean?
14
Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan,
according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again
like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Would Naaman been healed that day if he had
decided not to obey the Lord, who spoke through Elisha? Naaman had
his own idea how the healing should take place, nor was he at first
willing to humble himself. His pride almost kept him from being
healed, but he relented and obeyed the Lord's instructions spoken by
the prophet. Does it not sound wacky to instruct someone to dip
in the Jordan seven times? Or what about
Jesus putting mud and spit on some one's eyes, and telling them to
go wash in the pool of Siloam? Divine healing may not come in the way we expect it.
John 9:1-7
1 And as Jesus passed by, he
saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples
asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents,
that he was born blind
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man
sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made
manifest in him.
4 I must work the works of him that sent me,
while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As
long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
6 When he
had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the
spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the
clay,
7
And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by
interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and
came seeing.
He may tell us to do something
which sounds far out to our natural minds, but if He commands you to do
something, do it. One thing is for certain, He will never tell you to
do something contrary to His Word. So if you hear something like "The
Lord told me to have sex with another woman, since my wife is not interested",
rest assured it is not Him.
In Matthew 8, we see a man with leprosy come to Jesus. It is such
a good demonstration of His desire and compassion to heal the sick.
Jesus touched the man and he was healed. Note the lepor worshipped
Him first, then made his request.
Matthew 8:17
1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed him.
2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshiped
him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched
him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his
leprosy was cleansed.
Sometimes you hear religious circles say... "these things
happened solely to serve as a witness to others that Jesus is the
Son of God. He only did these things in His minsitry so people
would believe the gospel." You may hear some say this today, that
healing is to demonstrate Jesus to the lost. There is truth to
this, but also consider we see in James 5:14-15, in Philippians
2:25-27, and even Dorcas being raised from the dead by Peter in Acts
9:36-42...Christians being healed. It is His will to heal His
children.
Acts 9:36-42
36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which
by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good
works and almsdeeds which she did.
37 And it came to pass in
those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed,
they laid her in an upper chamber.
38 And forasmuch as Lydda was
nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there,
they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to
come to them.
39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was
come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows
stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which
Dorcas made, while she was with them.
40 But Peter put them all
forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body
said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw
Peter, she sat up.
41 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her
up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her
alive.
42 And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many
believed in the Lord.
In the account above, we see Peter prayed,
than spoke to Dorcas's dead body, and she arose. In the next
account directly below, we see the healing of blind Bartimaeus.
Notice that good people, believers in the Messiah, almost
prevented the healing from taking place that day. Satan will use
other Christians against you, whether they know it or not. Also
note, blind Bartimaeus acted in great faith, for he casted
away a garment he was wearing. During that period and in
that culture, the blind would wear garments which indicated they
were sightless. Bartimaeus had already received his healing in his
heart when he arose to meet Jesus.
Mark 10:46-52
46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went
out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people,
blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side
begging.
47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he
began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on
me.
48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he
cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on
me.
49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And
they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise;
he calleth thee.
50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and
came to Jesus.
51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt
thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight.
52 And Jesus said unto him,
Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
People sought to just touch Jesus, for power
went out of Him to heal. When the woman with the issue of blood
touched the hem of Jesus's garment He knew it, and the Word says
Jesus felt power gone out of him. Virtue means power.
Mark 5:27-30
27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the
press behind, and touched his garment.
28 For she said, If I may
touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29 And straightway the
fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that
she was healed of that plague.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself
that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and
said, Who touched my clothes?
Again we see a demonstration of healing
power going from Jesus in Luke 6:17-19:
17 And he came down with them, and stood in
the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude
of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of
Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their
diseases;
18 And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and
they were healed.
19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him:
for there went virtue out of him, and healed them
all.
On the next account, we see Jesus cast out a
devil from a child who is not in His presence:
Matthew 15:22-28
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out
of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O
Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a
devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came
and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after
us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshiped him,
saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not
meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27 And
she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from their masters' table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto
her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Jesus not only called the twelve preach the
gospel, but also gave them power over unclean spirits. Why is it
some say we are to preach the gospel but exclude the commission to
heal and cast out devils? Again, go back to Part One to see what the
present day church is commanded in regards to healing the sick.
Stephen was not one of the twelve, nor was he called a prophet or an
apostle in the Word. Also consider the account of Ananais in
Part One. Remember, the power is the Lords, but He uses people as
His hands and feet on this earth.
Mark 6:7
7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began
to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean
spirits;
Acts 6:8
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did
great wonders and miracles among the people.
It is God's will to heal even today.
According to Matthew 8:17, Jesus took our infirmities and bore our
sicknesses. This did not refer to some metaphorical non-sense,
examine the context in which it is written in the Word. One of the
most awesome examples of healing, is when God delivered the
Israelites out of the hands of the Egyptians. He not only delivered
them out of the hands of Pharaoh, but He blessed them with
resources, and healed their bodies on the way out!
Psalms 105:37
He brought them forth
also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among
their tribes.
Can you imagine how many
people got healed that day? Awesome. He never changes. In Malachi
3:6, He says "For I am the LORD, I change not" . In Hebrews 13:7, it
s written "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today,
and forever." There is so many references to healing in the Bible,
take time to research this out, and you will know and see for
yourself that it is His will to heal you. Reach out in faith today
and stand on His Word!
Return to
"Healing Miracles In God's Word--Part One" >
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