SPIRITUAL VERSUS PHYSICAL HEALING

he purpose of this booklet is to give hope to all those suffering from spiritual and/or physical illness. Many who read this booklet hold a deep desire to be healed. Yet there are different types of healing. Through Christ we can all receive spiritual healing. If we believe in Christ, he takes away the penalty of our sinful nature, and we undergo a spiritual rebirth. This metamorphosis of the spirit into a new nature is spiritual healing. It leads, as will be explained, to eternal life. It is a free gift from God to everyone who asks for it. All we need to do is humble ourselves and ask.

But, let’s face it, many readers are primarily seeking physical healing. It is normal to long for physical healing, whether or not you believe in eternal life. So, why should you read this booklet, which is also about spiritual healing, if your main desire is physical healing?

For one, it is generally recognized that spiritual health often affects physical health. We are whole human beings and what affects us spiritually and emotionally can have a very real effect on our physical bodies. If we are stressed, or harbor unforgiveness or malice toward ourselves or others, it may manifest itself in physical ways. Why not ensure your spiritual health in order to allow your body to work at an optimum level while fighting your physical illness?

Secondly, serious physical illness brings us face to face with death and what lies beyond. It requires that we come to terms with our body’s weakness and our fleeting existence on this earth. Therefore, it prompts us to consider or reconsider the spiritual and the eternal, and, from an eternal perspective, spiritual healing trumps physical healing.

Nevertheless, the triune God, through his Spirit, can also heal us from physical illness. Christ, the Second person in the triune Godhead, spent over forty percent of his earthly ministry healing the sick. We are told in the gospel of Mark that when the disciples preached the Word of God, signs and wonders, including healing, accompanied their preaching (Mark 16:20).

So, physical healing comes with the preaching of the Word. However, the Word is primarily preached for salvation, not for physical healing. The rest of this booklet provides some basic information from God’s Word on healing.

THE SCRIPTURES - GOD’S WORD

he Word is the Bible, the Old and New Testaments. The Word of God, according to the apostle Paul in the New Testament, “Is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit” (Hebrews 4:12). The Word is powerful, penetrating, and full of life.

This booklet uses the Old and New Testaments as its primary references. The Bible is a book of instruction, theology, prophecy, history, and poetry. The Bible consists of sixty-six books written by over forty authors from all walks of life (kings, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, scholars), over a period of 1,500 years, on three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe), in three languages. Yet it contains one integrated message system, one high and consistent moral code, evidencing its divine authorship.

When have two philosophers agreed on anything? in the Bible forty authors of different backgrounds proclaim the same moral law. There is a unity in the message that binds the whole. “All scripture is God breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Since healing often accompanies the teaching of the Word, by reading this booklet, which extensively quotes the Word, some may be drawn to God and experience physical healing. However, Jesus Christ offers everyone the ultimate healing, a resurrected body and eternal life.

God is sovereign and even though he loves us, he doesn’t heal all of us. If God doesn’t physically heal us, we may, understandably, feel upset or angry. Moreover, if we believe God is capable of healing us, but does not, it is tough to accept that he somehow chose not to heal us at that time. At this point, we have several choices. We can (1) choose to ignore him/believe he doesn’t exist; (2) choose to believe he is unloving and capricious; or (3) choose to believe that he is still a loving, omnipotent God, who happens to know more than we do and has a loving purpose in mind which we simply cannot see or comprehend.

After reading this booklet, you will learn more about God’s nature and hopefully choose number three. His plans are greater than ours. We may not wholly understand them. He may allow some to go through a season of affliction, pain, and disease. even as parents we know that authentic love must sometimes permit pain to occur. We should be comforted by knowing that whatever God decides, that decision will be absolutely just and loving. We will see that Love, Justice, and Goodness are attributes of God.Therefore, no matter what our circumstances, we can cling to him and have hope, because the God who created the universe cares for us. But, this requires much faith and meditation upon God’s Word.

Jesus Christ consistently urges us to have faith. To bolster our faith, we will examine the Bible verses documenting Christ’s claims about his deity. We will look at Christ’s promises for those who believe in him. We will look at the historical account of Christ’s healing ministry.

We will also look at other evidence for the Christian faith, such as: the Moral Law attesting to the existence of God; the numerous Old Testament prophecies Christ fulfilled, attesting to the existence of a God outside space and time, guiding human history; and the proofs of the resurrection, giving us hope of a life after death and confirmation of Christ’s claims. For maximum benefit, be sure to read the Appendices when they are first referenced in the body of the booklet.

CHAPTER TWO

THE MORAL LAW

t is important to understand God’s Moral Law because God places such high value on it. God is a righteous God, who wants us to conform to his righteous nature. God gave us the Moral Law (see “C. S. Lewis and the Moral Law” Appendix A) to lay out rules for interacting with one another and with him.

The problem is none of us is capable of keeping God’s laws. We all fall short before God’s absolute standards (Romans 3:23). Hence, the real purpose of the Moral Law is to show us that it is impossible for any of us to keep it! We all sin, and this separates us from God. We ache to reunite and end this separation.

GOD’S PERSONALITY

Throughout the ages people have had a yearning for God. We don’t normally yearn for what does not exist. We don’t yearn for unicorns or pegasus, the winged horse. Where does the idea implanted in us of the existence of God come from? Where does the notion that God exists originate? It is God who placed in our hearts the desire to know him. Without this knowledge, we are like fish out of water.

It is very important to understand God’s personality, so that we can understand his actions and why he offers us the opportunity of being spiritually and/or physically healed.

Plato, the greatest of Greek philosophers, four hundred years before Christ, in his Republic said, “The highest end of human knowledge is to know the Good” (Republic 505a). He described the “Good” as the supreme, eternal, unchangeable, and universal form. everything emanates from the Good, according to him. Plato, using God-given intuitive knowledge, considered the “forms” as the building blocks of the universe.

The forms, according to Plato, have an independent existence. For Plato, the intelligible forms include truth, Justice, Beauty, Nobility, and dozens of other concepts. The form of “truth,” for example, represents Absolute truth. It is the archetype or model for all truth. It embodies the very essence of truth and all other truths are lesser reflections of it.

For example, Plato believed that somewhere is the ideal form of a chair, a man, a woman, or a horse. All other chairs, men, women, and horses are inferior copies of their original forms. For Plato, we obtain knowledge of the world by directing our intellect to the forms, and the highest of the forms, the Good, illumines our intellect and makes the other forms intelligible.

Thus reason or wisdom for man, for Plato, comes from seeing the world in the light of the Good. God proclaimed at creation, “It is good,” but after the fall, evil entered the creation, as will be shortly explained, leading Jesus to say “no one is good – except God alone” (Mark 10:18).

St. Augustine (354-430 AD), a profound Christian thinker, considered the principal forms to be the eternal ideas in the mind of God. Since they exist in God’s intellect, he explained, they share God’s essential attributes and are eternal, necessary, and unchangeable. He maintained that God, through his grace, had given Plato an insight into his divine nature.

Love, truth, justice, beauty, goodness, virtue, righteousness, holiness, wisdom, joy, and life originate with God, according to Augustine. They are ideas in the mind of God and comprise his essence. Just like facets in a diamond, they are aspects of God’s personality. God defines truth, because he is truth. He alone determines true reality. God sets the standard of holiness, because he is holy. God sets all moral absolutes, as they are perfected in him. He embodies and defines them. Good is who God is.

When we search for ultimate truth, love, beauty, and justice, we are really seeking God, as He embodies these principles. If we want to have peace and joy, we must seek God.

Those who seek him, find him (Matthew 7:7). God blesses those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

Jesus, as God’s incarnation, affirmed this when he said, “I am the truth and the life” (John 14:6). We have seen that God is truth, and therefore God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Christ as the incarnation of God, shares God’s attributes and does not lie. When he states he is “the life,” we should fully realize that he is life itself.

Why is this information important? if we want life, we need to go to the fountain, the very essence of life, which is Christ, and he will splash us with life, bring spiritual regeneration and physical healing.

OUR REBELLION

If God is good, why is there disease and death in his creation? the Bible tells us why. God created Adam from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life. God put Adam in the Garden of eden to cultivate and keep it. God commanded Adam to eat freely from any tree in the garden, except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

He created eve from Adam as a helper. The serpent made eve doubt God’s goodness, and persuaded her to eat of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. eve gave some of the fruit to Adam and he ate.

God could have created Adam and eve to obey him as robots or automatons, but he chose to give them free will. He loved them so much that he gave them the opportunity to rebel against him. exercising their free will, they chose to eat of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Because of their rebellion, the entire creation became cursed by sickness and death. Adam and eve, our ancestors, were not created to die, but disobedience of God’s commandments (sin) brought the curse of death (Genesis 3:19, Romans 6:23). Disease accompanied and resulted in death. Disease and death have afflicted all generations since the rebellion of Adam and eve. If you are personally dealing with disease now and even the possibility of death, realize that it is the human condition. It is a curse upon us all, which none can escape.

OUR SINFUL NATURE

It is important to know how our nature differs from God’s, because until we understand the difference, we might think that we have standing before God, because of who we are or what we have done. We might feel God owes us a healing.

God is holy. God is light, in him there is no darkness (1 John 1:5). Sin is darkness. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Darkness resides in all of us. Through our own efforts and work we cannot make ourselves acceptable to God. religions, chanting, yoga, meditation, alms to the poor, donations to charitable foundations, tithing will not cleanse our corrupted natures.

To use an imperfect illustration, if God’s righteousness were the distance from the earth to the sun, ninety-three million miles (150 million kilometers), the holiest human being (the patriarch Abraham, Moses, the Apostle John, the prophet Daniel, Mother Theresa) has a righteousness of one eighth of an inch (0.3175 centimeters). In reality, God’s holiness is infinite, and our holiness is nothing in comparison. As Paul said, all our righteousness adds up to a heap of filthy rags before God’s glory (Isaiah 64:6).

We cannot bridge the gap between God’s holiness and our sinful nature through good works.

Such an attempt would be similar to trying to cross the pacific in a paper boat.

Despite this incredible chasm, God, because he is good, loves us. “God is love,” (1 John 4:8). Only God is holy and he alone is capable of taking the penalty for our sin. The Jews would sacrifice animals to atone for their sins. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him at the river Jordan, he said, “Behold! the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The perfect sacrifice had to be free of sin, and since only God is without sin, the perfect sacrifice had to be God himself.

God incarnated Jesus as a man to die on a cross to take the penalty for our sin. His blood, shed on the cross, washes our sins away, if in faith we turn to Christ and believe in him.

By believing in him, we gain eternal life, “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV). Although we have no rights before God because of who we are or what we have done, he has given us the offer of eternal life through the sacrificial offering of his Son on the cross.

PROPHETIC PROOFS FOR GOD’S EXISTENCE

God, who is outside all physical dimensions, incarnated in time and space and took the physical form of Jesus Christ, fulfilling over three hundred Old Testament prophecies made hundreds of years prior to his birth. These prophecies attest to the existence of a God outside time and space, who, through his Spirit, revealed the future to his prophets. Sixty-one prophecies regarding Christ are very specific about this.

Christ urges us to have faith in him. This is hard to do without examining the evidence for belief. By examining some of these Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ, we see that God controls all human affairs. The prophets did not predict future events accidentally, nor was their fulfillment the product of random chance. As einstein said, “God does not play dice with the universe.” he weaves the fabric of time and space.

let’s look at just a few of these prophecies:

✒ The prophet Isaiah foretold of Christ’s birth, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14 NIV). Isaiah prophesied approximately seven hundred years prior to Christ’s birth. Immanuel means “God with us.” Mary, though a virgin, gave birth to Jesus. God weaves the fabric of the universe and can certainly have a virgin give birth. To say a virgin can’t give birth or God can’t have a Son is to limit the power of God. Who are we to limit God? God does as he pleases.

✒The king and prophet David prophesied one thousand years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ that he would be betrayed by a friend, “even my close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” (Psalms 41:9 NASB). Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, his friend (Matthew 10:4).

✒ the prophet Zechariah, around 500 BC, prophesied that Jesus would be sold for thirty pieces of silver: “And I said to them, ‘if it is good in your eyes, give me my wages, but if not, never mind!’ So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages” (Zechariah 11:12). Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 27:3).

✒ Zechariah prophesied that the money would be thrown into God’s house: “Then the Lord said to me, ‘throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.’ So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord” (Zechariah 11:13). When Judas saw that Jesus had been condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying he had sinned and betrayed innocent blood. The priests and elders told him this did not concern them. He was responsible. Judas threw the money into the sanctuary (“In the house of the Lord”) and hanged himself (Matthew 27:3-5). The chief priests concluded it was not lawful to return the money to the temple treasury as it was the price of blood. Therefore, with the money, they bought a potter’s field in which to bury indigents. God had revealed this to Zechariah five hundred years earlier. Zechariah, however, was not fooled by the priests’ legal machinations to avoid the stain of innocent blood (form over substance), but placed the potter right “In the house of the Lord.”

✒ Other incredible prophecies regarding Jesus Christ are that his hands and feet would be pierced (prophesized in Psalms 22:16 and fulfilled in Luke 23:33, John 20:25), and that he would be crucified with thieves (prophesized in Isaiah 53:12 and fulfilled in Matthew 27:38, Mark 15:27-28).

The 53rd Chapter of Isaiah is a powerful, prophetic chapter regarding Jesus, the Messiah. Isaiah prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem, probably from 758 to 698 BC, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He was married with two sons. According to rabbinical tradition Isaiah was sawn in half in the trunk of a carob tree when he was ninety years old, pursuant to the order of the idolatrous king Manasseh (Smith, William, l.l.D., A Dictionary of The Bible, Thomas Nelson publishers, Nashville). Here is the 53^rd chapter of the Book of Isaiah:

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.(NASB).

This incredible prophecy of Isaiah, written around 700 BC, rings with all the truths that the life of Jesus Christ embodied, including the themes of taking on the penalty for our sins, his innocence, his humble and unpretentious nature, his gentleness, his willingness to bear injustice, his crucifixion with two criminals on either side, and his burial in the tomb of a wealthy man, the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Only a God who is omniscient and outside the time-dimension could have given Isaiah such information seven hundred years before.

David, born in Bethlehem in 1085 BC and King of Judah, wrote the following prophetic Psalm describing Jesus’s torment prior and during his crucifixion (Psalm 22):

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;

And by night, but I have no rest. Yet you are holy,
O you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted; they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were delivered; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people.
All who see me sneer at me; they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,

“Commit yourself to the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, because he delights in him.”

...For there is none to help.
Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
They open wide their mouth at me,
As a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
And you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me.
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots
(Psalm 22: 1-8, 11-21 NASB, emphasis added).

The Roman soldiers pierced Jesus’s hands and feet with spikes. Since the Sabbath was drawing near, the soldiers approached Jesus to break his leg bones, so he could no longer prop himself up on the cross to breathe, but he was already dead, and no bones had to be broken. The Roman soldiers took Jesus’s outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier. His tunic, however, was seamless and they did not want to tear it, so they cast lots to decide who would get it (John 19:23, 24). These prophecies were made by David, a thousand years before Christ’s birth.

Isaiah 53 mentions “pierced for our transgressions” and Psalm 22 mentions “pierced my hands and my feet.” At the time of these prophecies, crucifixion was not a form of capital punishment in Israel. It was the Romans who introduced crucifixion when they occupied palestine centuries later.

Looking at the fulfillment of these prophecies gives us faith. Not only are they evidence for the existence of God, but for the deity of Christ, as they all point to God’s incarnation in time and space. The fulfillment of these prophecies demonstrates that the Word is not another account of fable or fantasy. It is evidence for the existence of a supernatural God, who deserves our faith. When we are told that healing comes from the teaching of the Word, we now have hope. The fulfilled prophecies point to a God who takes great interest in human events and who controls our destinies.

THE PROPHETIC ODDS

Some of us are mathematically inclined while others avoid numbers like the plague. God, as the author of history through his holy Spirit, inspired his prophets to record events concerning Christ that were not realized for hundreds of years. Using statistical probability in Science Speaks, Peter Stoner calculates that the fulfillment of just eight prophecies is a statistical probability of 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 or 1 in 10 to the 17th power (Stoner, Peter W., Science Speaks. Chicago: Moody press, 1963, as quoted in McDowell, Josh, Evidence That Demands A Verdict. San Bernardino: here’s life publishers, inc., 1979). To help us understand this staggering probability, he provides the example of taking 10 to the 17th power silver dollars and laying them across the face of Texas. The entire state would be covered with silver dollars to a depth of two feet.

Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom. (Stoner 167).

The chance of one man fulfilling 48 prophecies is 1 in 10 to the one hundred and fifty seventh power. Jesus uncannily fulfilled at least 48 prophecies. The odds of this happening are infinitesimal. There is no explanation but that an intelligent God inspired the writing of these prophecies and then fulfilled them in the incarnation of his Son, Jesus Christ.

For those who are not mathematically inclined, just know that there is no way the string of prophecies Christ fulfilled could have happened accidentally.

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

e will now zero in on how God revealed himself to men and women by coming to earth in the body of a humble man. Why do we need to do this? Because this humble man, Jesus Christ, is the key to eternal life and spiritual healing.

God is light, and in him there is no darkness (1 John 1:5). God is clothed in light (Psalm 104:2), the light of his holiness. Light will not coexist with darkness. God’s light was brought into the world when God incarnated as a man, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

John, the beloved apostle, wrote of Christ, “he was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:2-4 NASB). Jesus confirmed this when he claimed, “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5).

Jesus relentlessly upheld the claim that he was the Son of God, the only begotten of the father. Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the father” (John 14:9 NIV).

Jesus also said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.” realizing his claim of preexistence, a claim of Godhood, they picked stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid and went out of the temple (John 8:58-59).

On another occasion, Jesus was nearly stoned again, when he told the Jews he gave his sheep eternal life and they would never perish. He then said, “I and the father are one” (John 10:30). His audience picked up stones. Jesus said he had shown them many great miracles from the father; for which were they stoning him? They told him they were not stoning him for his miracles, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33).

In John 5:19 we are told that his countrymen were trying to kill him because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My father also; from now on you know him and have seen him” (John 14:7). He is saying that by knowing him, we know the father, and by seeing him, we have seen the father. He is saying he is one and the same as the father. He further states that no one has ascended into heaven, but the Son of Man who descended from heaven, attesting to his origin in heaven as part of the Godhead (John 3:13).

By his actions as a man, Christ showed us the nature of God. Christ was loving, gentle, merciful,compassionate, sensitive, humble, just, but exposed hypocrisy and confronted evil. He healed the crippled and the lepers, restored sight to the blind, fed the hungry, delivered the demon possessed, walked on water, stilled the storm, and broke the bonds of death by resurrecting the dead. Christ himself resurrected (see “The Greatest Sign – The resurrection” Appendix B).

LIFE AND HEALING COME THROUGH JESUS CHRIST

egarding Jesus, the Gospel of John states, “All things came into being through him” (John 1:3). “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me” (John 14:6 NIV).

Jesus told Martha, whose brother Lazarushad died, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25 NIV). Jesus then went to the tomb of Lazarus, which was a cave imbedded in a hillside with a stone laying against it. John 11:39-45 (NKJV) recounts the story:

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard Me. And I know that you always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this that they may believe that you sent Me.”

Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And Lazaruscame out of the tomb, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told the people, “Loose him, and let him go.”

If Jesus had not said “Lazarus, come out,” addressing Lazarusby name, all the dead in the graveyard would have come out. Such is the power of God.

God permitted Lazarusto die, that his power might be manifested. God was then glorified when he brought Lazarusback from the grave. Sometimes God permits bad things to happen to us so that he might be glorified.

BELIEF IN CHRIST BRINGS ETERNAL LIFE

Jesus earlier said to Martha, “Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world” (John 11:26-27).

We should note that Jesus told Martha to believe, and if she believed, she would see the glory of God. Believe what? Jesus tells us…We must believe that the father sent the Son.

Jesus urges us to believe he is the Son of God: “Believe me when I say that I am in the father and the father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves” (John 14:11 NIV). He tells us that his miracles attest that in the beginning, the Word, which was with God and was God (John 1:1), became flesh. He is the Word of God incarnated.

One of the major purposes of the miracles of Jesus is that they testify to his identity as the Second Member of the trinity, the Son of God. His miracles of healing the sick, raising the dead, walking on water, stilling a storm, delivering the demonically possessed, all point to the power of God. No human being has ever exhibited such power.

Why does the Son of God desire us to believe in him? Because he loves us, he wants us to draw close to him. He wants us to spend eternity with him. Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Revelation 3:20).

OPENING THE GATE OF ETERNAL LIFE

It is not enough to intellectually agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God in the flesh, and died for our sins. It is not enough to have some type of mystical or emotional experience. Warm, fuzzy, positive feelings about Christ will lead us nowhere. We receive Christ in faith, through an act of our will. The key to salvation, eternal life, having God’s Spirit, the holy Spirit, indwell in us is to want to receive Christ and sincerely pray a prayer such as this one:

Jesus, I acknowledge I’m a sinner. Thank you for dying on the cross and washing away my sins. I ask you to be my Lord and Savior. Please come into my life and take charge. I turn my life over to you from this moment on. Thank you that your holy Spirit is now dwelling in me. Thank you for taking the darkness away, and giving me your abundant life. Give me the wisdom to know your will, and the strength to live according to your righteousness.

If you have prayed this prayer, the prophecy of Isaiah, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…a light has shined on those who dwelt in land of the shadow of death” (Isaiah 9:2), and the promise of Jesus that he came to give us abundant life (John 10:10) apply to you. You now have reason for hope.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, “God is spirit; and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24 NIV).

C. S. Lewis expounds on the father, Son, and holy Spirit relationship in Mere Christianity:

The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter the pattern, take his place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. Good things as well as bad…are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if he chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?”(Lewis 137)

By believing and trusting in Jesus, we enter the dynamic, pulsating, eternal relationship between the father, the Son, and holy Spirit. Jesus said that it is to our advantage that he went away, for when he left he would send us the holy Spirit (John 16:7). It is the holy Spirit which convicts us of our sin (John 16:8), and which then leads us to salvation in Christ.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, “who ever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14 NASB).

Jesus said that only the Spirit gives eternal life. Human effort, trying through works to justify its righteousness to God, accomplishes nothing. He said the words he spoke are spirit and life (John 6:63).

So, how do you draw close to his Spirit and the life he imparts? The answer is by drinking deep of the healing waters which Christ offers. It is the holy Spirit which draws us to these waters. And it is God’s grace which allows us to drink from them. God is the Source of life. Christ is the key to access the waters of life.

BY HIS STRIPES, WE ARE HEALED

On the cross, Christ was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, and by his stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). Christ died on the cross to take away the penalty of our sins that separate us from God. If we believe in Christ, when we stand at judgment before a holy God, he will not see our sins. Instead, he will see the redeeming blood of his Son atoning for and covering our sins, and we will not be judged. Through his shed blood, we are healed from sin, and draw near to God.

When John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he said, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples as Jesus was walking by, and said, “Behold, the lamb of God!” (John 1:36), and John’s two disciples followed Jesus. In the same manner, the blood of Jesus, for those who believe in him, gives us hope, eternal life, and, at times, even physical healing.

GOD IS THE SOURCE OF HEALING

Many of us need to pray for God’s spirit of discernment. We don’t need to be anxiously searching for miracle workers to lay hands on us and pray for us. Some have received the gift of healing (1 Corinthians 12:9), but it is the holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, who heals. We only need to trust the Lord. True deliverance from disease will come from the Lord, not from practicing positive thinking, or reciting “feel good” affirmations. Human feelings can be deceptive. Faith in God through Jesus Christ will deliver us because it draws us to the Source of salvation and healing power. God promises, “I am the Lord your God. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10).

JESUS IS COMPASSIONATE

Christ is the express image of God (Hebrews 1:3). We understand God’s personality by looking at Christ.

Jesus is compassionate, just as the father is compassionate. Jesus had compassion on a widow and raised her dead son back to life (Luke 7:12-15). Jesus had compassion on the two blind men sitting on the road to Jericho. He touched their eyes and they were able to see (Matthew 20:30-34). Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom and healed every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them (Matthew 9:35-36). They were healed. God does not heal us because we are righteous—there is nothing we can do to earn it. Healing, like salvation, is a free gift.

Jesus often paired the forgiveness of sin and the caution to stop sinning, with physical healing. After Jesus healed the man who had been sick thirty-eight years by the pool of Bethesda, Jesus warned him to go and sin no more, or something worse would strike him (John 5). When a paralytic was brought to Jesus lying on a bed, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2 NKJV). Jesus, then said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go home”(Matthew 9:6). The forgiving of sin, which only God can do, often accompanies physical healing.

FAITH IN CHRIST

Christ said he is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through him (John 14:6). The faith that saves and heals is to trust the person of Christ. By faith all things are possible.

The power is not in the amount of faith we have, but in the object of our faith, a Person, the Second Person of the triune Godhead. It is the power in Christ which throws mountains into the sea, heals leprosy, heart disease, diabetes, AiDS, and cancer. A little faith goes a long way when your God is the Almighty God.

Faith is a gift from God, given to us through grace, and there is nothing we can do to earn it (Ephesians 2:8). God is love (1 John 4:8), and his love for us is infinite. Faith, which is coming to Christ, is the result of God drawing us to him (John 6:44). Faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

Faith is made up of three elements, according to charles Spurgeon, the British 19 ^th century Baptist preacher: knowledge, belief, and trust. Faith starts with knowledge of divine truth. It goes on with belief in those things that are true, and with trust in that truth.

When we read the Bible or hear it taught, the holy Spirit reaches deep in our souls and convinces us of the truth of Christ’s claims. We then come to believe in him and are saved and in God’s perfect will, healed of disease as well. Jesus tugs at our spirit with his words, “come to Me, all you who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NKJV).

Jesus urges us to remain joined to him, and he will remain with us. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to its trunk, we cannot produce fruit unless we remain joined to Christ, the source of life and healing (John 15:4).

By remaining joined to Christ and aligning our will with his, we can ask the father for whatever we want in Christ’s name, and our prayers will be answered (John 15:15-16).

FAITH AND HEALING

The following passages from Scripture detail examples of physical healing when people put their faith in Jesus:

✒ Jesus encountered a blind man on the road to Jericho. The blind man found out Jesus was coming and yelled, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Some people told him to be quiet. But he kept yelling, “Son of David have mercy on me!” Jesus heard him and asked he be brought over. Jesus said, “receive your sight. Your faith has made you well” (Luke 18: 35-42). The object of faith for the blind man was Christ. The blind man believed that Jesus could heal him. His faith was objective and it was rewarded.

✒ A woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up from behind, and touched the cloak of Jesus. Jesus turned to her and said, “Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you,” and the woman was healed (Matthew 9:22). The woman had faith in Jesus Christ. She knew that if she reached out to Jesus and touched his cloak, she would be healed. She believed Christ had the power to heal her. Her faith was rewarded.

✒ A Roman centurion came to Jesus in Capernaum and told Jesus his young servant lay at home paralyzed and tormented. Jesus told the centurion he would come and heal him. The centurion answered he was not worthy that Jesus should come under his roof. He asked Jesus to speak a word and the servant would be healed. When Jesus heard this, he marveled, and told his followers that in all of Israel, he had not found such faith. Jesus told the centurion that because he believed, his request had come to pass. The servant was healed that same hour (Matthew 8:5-13).

Although Jesus isn’t walking this earth anymore, we can still have faith in him. Jesus instructs us to have faith in God (Mark 11:22). Having faith in God is equivalent to having faith in Jesus Christ who claimed, “I and the father are one” (John 10:30). Christ is part of the triune Godhead.

WHAT IF YOU AREN’T HEALED?

Faith is a complicated thing. Though faith was a crucial part of physical healing in the above examples, do not berate yourself for “not having enough faith” if God chooses not to heal you at a specific time. rather, immerse yourself in God’s Word so that you will become knowledgeable of his truth and receive his peace—which surpasses all understanding. Aligning yourself more closely with his will, and his nature will eventually change your prayer life and the things you ask for as well (Mark 11:24). Some people of faith have shown such courage and maturity that they completely entrust both their physical and spiritual welfare to God—regardless of the outcome.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced impending death in a blazing furnace for not bowing down and worshiping Nebuchadnezzar as God. Their reply to him was, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your Majesty. But even if He doesn’t, your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18). That’s amazing faith.

If you read the story in Daniel’s chapter 3 you’ll find out what happens. However, these fellows made that statement of faith before knowing the end of their story. Such faith is the type of faith we should have in Christ. Persist in prayer and never give up. Put your future in his hands. He is the Great physician. Although he may not always physically heal us, he loves us and will take care of us. He will be with us through any trial and he will always provide spiritual healing for those who ask and ultimately eternal life.

OVERCOMING DEATH WITH CHRIST

Jesus conquered death through his resurrection—a historical fact. He promises those who believe and trust in him, “Because I live, you shall live also,” (John 14:19). Because of his faith in Christ, the apostle Paul confidently exclaimed, “Oh Death, where is your victory? Oh Death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

Those in critical condition need not fear, as long as they believe in Christ, even if they face death (see “Death of the Body and passing into eternal life” Appendix C). David, King and Psalmist, writes, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4 NKJV). Of God’s Spirit the Psalmist recites:

Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? if I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. even there your hand shall lead me. And your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:710 NKJV).

Jesus promises us, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV).

ASK FOR HEALING

any of us are reluctant to pray to God on personal matters. We think God is too busy to listen to us or that we might be somehow disturbing him. However, we need to ask God to heal us. He encourages us to do just that (James 5:13). God heals today (see “Modern Day healing” Appendix D).

It is Jesus, God incarnate, who urges us to ask: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11 NKJV). “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24 NKJV).

If you haven’t already done so, ask for spiritual healing (salvation) first. refer back to "Opening the Gate of Eternal Life", and follow the prayer there, or just express it in your own words to God. Then, if God leads you to pray for physical healing, pray something like the following:

Lord you are a Great and holy God. Thank you for giving me eternal life through your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for your holy Spirit who dwells in me. Heavenly father I thank you that your Word says, “Do not fear, I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13). “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV). Your Word says, “I am the Lord who heals you” (exodus 15:26). Jesus, you also said that if we abide in you and your words abide in us, we can pray for whatever we desire in your will, and our prayers will be answered (John 15:7). Lord, everything came into being through you. You created every cell in my body. Thank you for loving me so much that you died on a cross to take away the penalty of my sins and the curse of death. You are the Source of life and health. Take away this________________________________ (specify illness or problem). Please heal me. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray you restore me to complete health. Thank you. Amen.

TRUST THE LORD

God is sovereign. Some of us in faith may pray the above prayer and receive a definite assurance from the holy Spirit we have been healed. We will know beyond a shadow of a doubt we have been healed. The healing may be complete, or it may be over a period of time. The holy Spirit may impress on our spirit that the healing has been given, a free gift from God.

Healing is not just an impression in our spirit or a feeling we are healed. It is objective. When Jesus healed a leper, he instructed him to show himself to a priest, to confirm the healing (Mark 1:44). When it comes to verification that we have been healed, we should not play mind games, but deal in objective reality. Have a doctor confirm your healing.

Jonathan edwards, the insightful American theologian and preacher (1703-1758), maintained that God recreates the universe instant by instant. God is very active in his creation. He continuously upholds it. If we are sick, even from the most dreaded diseases such as metastasized cancer, AIDS, or a heart which is about to fail, God is fully capable of replacing your diseased cells and organs with healthy, vibrant ones this very instant. But, regardless of whether God physically heals you at this time or not, it is important to continue to trust and rely upon him.

God sometimes allows great trials so that we may draw close to him. He tests those he loves (Hebrews 12:6), so they will seek and trust him in their hour of need, and he will deliver them. When you turn to him in need, he will answer your call. God rewards those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

Even the Apostle Paul wasn’t healed when he beseeched God to physically heal him. He had been plagued by a “Thorn in the flesh,” which he called a “messenger from Satan,” to keep him from becoming proud (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Paul prayed to God three times that this affliction might leave him, but it didn’t. The Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Accepting his affliction, Paul exclaimed, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV).

Most importantly, God can bless you with eternal life, an eternity in his glorious presence, in a place where there is no sickness, death, or sorrow. Through his Son, you can live a more abundant life. As Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 NKJV).

If we believe in God, we will prevail with God. Charles Spurgeon said that he had never been so happy in his life as when he had nothing to trust but God. During great storms in our lives, when we are sinking into a watery abyss and reach out for him, in love he throws us a lifeline.

THANK THE LORD

The Apostle Paul encourages us to “be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV). Paul rejoiced through many beatings, much suffering, and imprisonment. he wasn’t focused on his circumstances, but on God who is the fountain of joy.

Paul exhorts us to, “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20 NIV).

FOLLOW (OR KEEP SEEKING) THE LORD

We have explored the Word extensively. We have seen Christ’s claims regarding who he is and why it is important to believe in him. We have examined the concepts of grace and faith. We have looked, in the text of this booklet and in the appendices, at the evidence for faith, including: the Moral Law, at testing to the existence of God; the numerous Old Testament prophecies Christ fulfilled, attesting to a Supernatural intelligence outside space and time which directs human history; and the proofs of the resurrection, giving us hope of a life beyond death and confirmation of Christ’s incredible claims.

By now, some of you may have drawn close to God and gained salvation. Many who have come to believe in Christ and prayed in faith may have been physically healed by the holy Spirit. Perhaps some of you without any faith may also have been healed through God’s grace, causing you now to have faith. Find a church where you can fellowship with other believers, receive encouragement and continue to follow the Lord.

When we enter into an eternal relationship with the Source of life, we will be splashed by God’s living waters and can be healed. Healing is for a season, but then sooner or later we will all die.

Do not be disheartened if you haven’t been healed. If you are overwhelmed or feel alienated from God, seek out a friend, counselor or pastor to work through this issue. God cares for you and loves you. In his sovereign will he has chosen not to heal you at this time. rejoice that he has saved you, the ultimate healing. It is much more important to be saved than to be healed.

Most of all, remember God’s pledge, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you” (Jeremiah 29:11-12 NIV).

(Endnotes)

1 Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York:The Macmillan Company, 1958. 2 Smith, Wilbur M. Therefore Stand: Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1965. 3 Greenleaf, Simon.Testimony of the Evangelists, Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1965 (reprinted from 1847 edition). 4 Robertson, A.T. Word Pictures in the New Testament. New York: R.R. Smith, Inc., 1931. 5 Stott, John R.W. Basic Christianity. Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1971. 6 Roper, Albert. Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1965. 7 Edwards,William D. MD; Wesley J. Gabel, MDiv; Floyd E. Hosmer, MS., AMI, “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” JAMA, 1986.