New Salem Baptist Church

Jesus the Healer

Sept. 12, 2021

Read Matthew 9:18-31.

Jesus heals a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years. Mark reports that she had sought help from “many physicians.” Not only could they not help her, but their ministrations caused her greater suffering. Jesus heals two blind men. And, he raises a girl from the dead! What a powerful Savior we have! Among the many marvelous things that Jesus did when he walked this earth, most evident is that he was a healer. As we read the gospels we see that he healed so very many people.

In chapter 11, John the Baptist is in prison and sends his disciples to Jesus in order to confirm that he is indeed the Messiah. John was having doubts. This is how Jesus responds to the disciples of John:

And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” ^[1]

The ministry of Jesus when he was on the earth was a healing ministry. Now that he has ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father, is he still healing?

After Jesus had ascended we see disciples being miraculously healed both through the apostles and through others.

Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. ³³ There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. ³⁴ And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. ³⁵ And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. ^[2]

Peter heals a man who was paralyzed for 8 years!

The sick from the church in Corinth experienced divine healing:

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ^[3]

We see that it was not only the apostles who had the gift of healing, but others in the church as well.

From the New Testament we see that God desires to heal.

Some will say that the supernatural gifts, such as healing, were operational in the apostolic church but they are no longer operational today. The problem with this teaching is that it cannot be supported biblically. There is no teaching in the Bible that affirms this. Furthermore, when you read church history you see that healings were taking place in the time period after the New Testament was completed. (Often, those who claim that supernatural gifts have ceased will say that they ceased once the New Testament was completed.)

Eusebius, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Augustine, and Ambrose all report and advocate divine healing in the first centuries after the completion of the New Testament. Those with even a cursory familiarity with church history will recognize these great men of God.

Divine healing occurs in five ways.

[1] First, the healing of our bodies can happen, and was designed to happen, through the natural ability of our bodies to heal themselves. God created our bodies to heal themselves and they do. All people have this gift, believers and unbelievers alike. This ability is enhanced when we eat healthy foods and exercise. This is a scientific fact. This ability is diminished when we either overeat or eat unhealthy foods. I have reported to you before that 80% of our physical maladies, according to health experts, are caused by overeating. Lack of exercise also causes health problems because when you don’t exercise your blood flow is diminished and we need a vigorous blood flow to fight disease.

However, this means of healing is limited because of the fall of man. The fall adversely affected every aspect of our being. Our minds, our emotions, and our human will are depraved because of the fall. Our bodies, too, are weakened by the fall. We age because of the fall. We contract disease because of the fall.

Therefore, at times our bodies natural ability to fight disease, to heal itself, is compromised and we need other sources of healing. But God has provided!

[2] Second, we can be healed through medicine. Knowledge itself is a gift from God. The human body, how it works, understanding of chemical pathways, and the causative agents of disease processes have all been created by God.  In the past 100 years the Lord has especially blessed man with knowledge of these workings. God heals through the ministrations of researchers, doctors, and nurses. Being healed through medicine is a gift from God. When we are, we ought to thank the Lord and those who ministered to us.

[3] Third, we can be healed through the gift of healing by the laying on of hands. We just read that Jesus laid his hands upon the eyes of the blind men and they were healed. The woman with the hemorrhage only touched the robe of Jesus and she was healed.

The apostles also laid hands upon people and they were healed:

Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. ⁸ It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. ⁹ And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.^[4]

But it was not only the apostles. We see that Ananais laid hands on Paul and he received his sight back (Acts 10:9-19).

Indeed, this divine mandate is for all believers!

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” ^[5]

Clement, writing in the late 100’s AD, writes this to the wealthy:

Obtain with your wealth, as guards for your body and soul, such men as those whose commander is God. Through them the sinking ship rises steered by the prayers of saints alone; and sickness at its height is subdued, put to flight by the laying on of hands.[6]

[4] Fourth, we can be healed through prayer alone.

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. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ^[7]

Tertullian writes:

Prayer is alone that which wins [the favor of] God . . . It knows nothing save how to recall the souls of the departed from the very path of death, to transform the weak, to restore the sick, to purge the possessed, to open prison bars, to loose the bonds of the innocent.[8]

[5] Fifth, we can be healed through taking the Lord’s Table. There is not a clear Bible passage that can be read to demonstrate this. Furthermore, this is not the main purpose of the Lord’s Table. The main purpose of it is to serve as a memorial to the work of Christ in forgiving our sins. However, there is one passage that alludes to the healing  effect of taking the Lord’s Table:

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.^[9]

Taking the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner may lead to sickness and even death, according to the apostle. Therefore, it may very well be that taking the Lord’s Table with love for the Lord and with discernment (worthily) could lead to health. This passage, then, only alludes to the healing power of the Lord’s Table and does not constitute a proof of the same.

However, there are a great number of testimonies of this effect – that taking the Lord’s Table brings healing.

Dr. John Miller, a chiropractor, relates some of these testimonies. He writes:

“A car racing friend of mine had been in a bad crash, which he had survived, but which had cost him his peripheral vision. One night when he was visiting at my house, I explained the healing power of Communion to him. It was late at night, about two o’clock in the morning, when we decided to break bread together. As he meditated on the truth of healing through the wounds of Jesus, the lamb of God, his peripheral vision came back.”[10]

Again: “Troy Miller, no relation, is a pastor in Florida who had cancer of the kidney. He lay dying in a hospital bed. The Lord spoke to his mother, telling her to take the Communion elements of bread and wine to him in the hospital. When he took Communion, the cancer immediately began disappearing from Troy’s body.”[11]

About six years ago, when I first read this account about the cancer being cured, I was skeptical. So, I located this pastor in Florida and called him. I spoke to his wife. This healing happened several years before, so about ten or eleven years ago. She confirmed that he was healed of his cancer and he and his whole family were convinced that his healing was related to the Lord’s Table. He was cancer free after this. When I had called he had just recently passed away from an unrelated health issue. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe it was a heart attack. So, the Lord extended his life by several years.

There are many, many such testimonies.

We have seen that God desires to heal. He has provided four avenues of healing. If we include the Lord’s Table, then five ways. Since this is so, then why are not God’s children always healed?

We will see why next week, the Lord willing.

Presently, you must know that God’s heart is for your healing. Seek healing if you need it. In fact, right now we will have a time of healing. Those who need healing are invited to come forward and someone will lay hands upon you and ask for the Lord to heal you. We have not done this for a few years. The last time that we sought the Lord for healing as a church there were several who were healed! We expect the Lord’s mercy and grace again to be shown to us in this way. Come.