The Works of God

The Lord upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.

My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Psalm 145:14-21

God used the apostles to heal:

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. . . The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.  Acts 5:12, 16

Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.  There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.  And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. Acts 9:32-34

This is one of those dangerous places where some are tempted to say, “see that! We can expect healing, too!”

My response is that God can certainly heal people if chooses.  But he doesn’t always choose to do so.  And he is still kind and strong and gracious and merciful.

And we should not confuse what Jesus was able to do with what the apostles were able to do.  Jesus healed out of his own authority and power over creation, always in perfect obedience to the Father.  The apostles needed God; in themselves they had no power and no authority and no ability to change anyone’s physical condition.

Very early in his pastoring at Bethlehem, Pastor John addressed the issue of healing:

That is my theology of sickness in a nutshell. First, in this age all creation, including our bodies, has been subjected to futility and enslaved to corruption. Second, there is a new age coming when all those who endure to the end in faith will be set free from all pain and sickness. Third, Jesus Christ came and died to purchase our redemption, demonstrate its character as both spiritual and physical and give us a foretaste of it now. Fourth, God controls who gets sick and who gets well, and all His decisions are for the good of His children even if they are painful. Fifth, we should pray for God’s help both to heal and to strengthen faith while we are unhealed, and should depend on the Holy Spirit’s intercession when we don’t know which to pray for.

Finally, we should always trust in the power and love of God even in the darkest hour of suffering.

John Piper, Christ and Cancer, August 17, 1980.

Amen! We can always trust God.

We often see in the Bible that people pursued Jesus for healing, either by the person with the illness or disability or by his or her family members or friends.

But sometimes Jesus took all the iniative:

In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.  One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. John 5:4-9

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.  And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.  We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.  John 9:1-7

For the man who was an invalid, he didn’t even answer the question Jesus asked.  The man born blind doesn’t say a word until John 9:9!  Yet both were healed.

Even better, after each is healed, Jesus pursues them again to make sure they received an even better message:

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” John 5:14 (No, this isn’t about his getting another disability if he sins)

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”  Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”  He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.  John 9:35-38

The unasked-for healings were certainly gifts.  But seeing Jesus as God – that’s a gift that lasts beyond this lifetime!  And knowing Jesus like that is all gift; nobody comes to that conclusion without God giving spiritual eyes to see.

I thank God for his gracious initiative in granting saving faith!

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.”  And he said to him, “I will come and heal him. . .”   And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.  Matthew 8:5-7, 13

Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” And he went with him. . . Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.  Mark 5:22-24, 41-42

It is worth reading the entire accounting of each healing: the faith of the Centurion and Jesus healing Jairus’ daughter.

But the point remains, people brought their requests on behalf of other people to Jesus.  Let us do so as well!