The young girl was brought to Children’s Hospital by concerned family members hours before her death with a tumor the size of a basketball which had destroyed her upper leg. The cancer had spread throughout her emaciated body. Unable to move because of the pain, she was helpless. Her condition shocked even members of the Pediatric Oncology team causing one person to remark: Why would God allow this to happen? The fact was that the girl’s parents believed in faith healing and had been praying for the child along with other members of their assembly for months. What happened? Had God failed the young cancer victim and her parents? Was there unconfessed sin in their lives or did they lack faith? Was it simply not God’s will to heal her, and they would understand it better by and by? How one answers these questions can have a profound effect on one’s peace and joy. Has God promised to divinely intervene in our circumstances? If not, why not? Scripture, rightly divided, must be our sole guide here, not our desires, traditions or emotions. God’s Word teaches that we are Adam’s fallen progeny (Romans 5:12) living in a world cursed by sin (Genesis 3:16-19). Believers are not excluded from the physical effects of this situation. In fact, Paul addresses Roman believers and states: For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:22-23; (NKJV throughout)). Our outward man is perishing, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day. We are groaning in our present corruptible, mortal tent, awaiting our incorruptible, immortal building of God. (2 Corinthians 4:16; 5:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:42,54) Since we will not receive our redeemed bodies until the rapture, we will groan and labor in pain until then or death (1 Corinthians 15:42-44,51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). It is clear that we as believers suffer the same physical calamities as all members of the human race for nature does not distinguish between the regenerate and the unregenerate. Does God place or allow special trials, illnesses, or injuries in our experience to teach, correct, or punish us? Certainly in Old Testament times He did. Two noteworthy examples are Job (Job 1:6-22) and David (2 Samuel 12:13-15). God also frequently used the miraculous as a sign of His deity and power: ...and My signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am the LORD. (Exodus 10:1-2) However, 1500 years of Divine intervention proved to be a poor teacher due to the hardness of man’s heart. Numbers 14:11,22 states historically and prophetically: ...And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? ...all these men who have seen My glory and the signs...and have not heeded My voice. God provided for and blessed His chosen earthly people Israel when they were faithful, and cursed and punished them when they were not. God had clearly spelled out to them through Moses their responsibilities -- and His blessings were conditional (Deuteronomy 28). (See Note 1 below). Throughout this time, the prophets foretold of the coming reign of Messiah, characterized by the miraculous. Israel got a brief taste of this coming age in the Gospels and Acts period. These people did not have a completed canon of scripture and the ultimate purpose of God was hidden from them. God selected Paul to complete His word and make known His divine purpose and wisdom (Ephesians 3:3-10; Colossians 1:25-27). (See Note 2 below). This point cannot be stressed enough -- prior to Pauline doctrine, believers did not have the written word that they needed to bring them to maturity by teaching them the manifold wisdom of God. BUT NOW WE DO! God tells us that scripture alone is all-sufficient for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). No other method is needed -- for through Bible doctrine, we can be mature, complete, (KJV-perfect) and thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:17). To say that God needs an additional method of teaching or correcting us is to deny these plain statements. If God cannot teach the believer through His Word via the dynamic of the indwelling Holy Spirit -- giving us leukemia, maiming our spouse in an accident, or allowing our child to contract crippling rheumatoid arthritis, etc., is not going to teach us. (In fact, comparing John 6:25-29 with 6:59-67 demonstrates that the majority of people were not seeking Christ because He had the words of eternal life but because they sought the physical comforts of His miracles.) So how should a believer respond to illness or injury? First, we need to know what time it is. In this, the Dispensation of Grace, we are essentially spiritual beings with spiritual provisions (Ephesians 1:3; Philippians 4:19 (...according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.)). Our power source is not an external law or extrinsic divine energy but Christ within (Galatians 2:20). It is in this present Grace Age that our Lord can say to Paul: My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). The external, visible miracles and interventions of prior ages are gone after the Acts period, replaced by a superior, spiritual provision. Evidence of this is amply demonstrated in the circumstances of Paul and his colleagues -- faithful men who were often cold, hungry, beaten and abused, shipwrecked, and frequently sick. It is not insignificant that in the notable case of the divine healing of Epaphroditus, God explains why He heals him -- so that Epaphroditus could minister to the Philippians in Paul’s absence and to reduce Paul’s sorrow (Philippians 2:24-30). Paul’s situation was indeed unique as the dispenser of Grace. In 2 Corinthians 12:6-7 God allows Paul to be stricken with an eye ailment (cf. Galatians 4:14-15) by a messenger of Satan, so that in his role as the Grace Apostle, he would not be personally exalted by others. Compare this to 1 Corinthians 10:13, where God tells us: No temptation (or trial) has overtaken you except as is common to man;... This is in stark contrast to the wholesale miraculous healing found in the Gospels and Acts period, which was a long-predicted Kingdom sign (1 Corinthians 1:22). Isaiah had predicted these healings 700 years prior to Christ’s Advent: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. (Isaiah 35:5-6a) That this prophecy was literally fulfilled is repeatedly confirmed in Matthew -- and He healed them all (Matthew 4:23-24; 8:16; 9:35; 10:1,8; 12:10,13). (See Note 3 below). During Israel’s foretaste of the millennium, healings were complete, undisputable and non-discriminatory -- all who came to Him or the Apostles were healed. Was this because they had more faith than we do? Hardly; the same nation that received the healing rejected the Healer and crucified Him! Healing was simply a sign that Christ was the Messiah and the Kingdom was imminent. However, the Kingdom program began to break down in Acts as Israel refused God’s offer of Christ as Messiah-King, and the healing sign broke down with it, eventually passing from the scene. When Christ returns to deliver Israel and establish His millennial Kingdom, healing will resume. One need only look around to see that believers today are not being divinely healed or provided for physically. Many may balk at this statement because in America we live in relative affluence -- but what about the millions of believers murdered in the last nineteen centuries? What of the myriads of children who have starved to death, been beaten, abused, died of infections and congenital abnormalities? What of the millions of children slaughtered in the womb? Why do those who claim healing only claim it for inward, non-visible maladies? Why are we not seeing the child with severe cerebral palsy instantly and completely healed, leaping like a deer? We need not make excuses for God nor skirt the issue by claiming that for various reasons we dont qualify. Understanding dispensational truth allows us to deal forthrightly with scriptures that deal with miraculous healing. Passages such as James 5:14-15 are not addressed to us. James writes to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, and not to the body of Christ. While we should study James and learn from it-- we cannot arbitrarily take promises from a book written to Jews which will have its greatest relevance during the tribulation, when God begins to deal with National Israel again. The plain teaching of scripture is that in this Dispensation of Grace, God is providing for us spiritually -- He has not promised to provide for us physically. Yes, His eye is on the sparrow and He knows the very number of hairs on our heads but He is also no respecter of persons. Millions of faithful Christians throughout the ages have suffered, their prayers for physical deliverance unanswered. This in no way suggests that God does not care for us -- but simply that He has given us a new, infinitely better provision. Immaturity in us can and does initially rebel at this until we grasp the infinite power of Christ within. Is this putting God in a box, i.e., limiting Him? Absolutely not! In fact those who attempt to cause God to move in their direction are challenging His authority. Gods sovereignty is His ability to do everything compatible with His nature and consistent with His will. His will for us today is: I have given you all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3; Philippians 4:19 (...according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.)) and made a perfect provision for you, now let Me live My life in and through you no matter what circumstances of life are yours! God is sovereign and can do as He pleases -- including healing anyone at anytime. However, in the Dispensation of Grace, we have not been promised healing and would have no way to differentiate a divine healing versus the natural healing ability of the body. Remember also in regards to miraculous healings that physicians have suspected for years and are now beginning to fully appreciate the power of the placebo effect -- the sometimes profound effect that state of mind has on physiology. Also, there is spiritual warfare taking place and Satan will use any method to turn the believers focus away from Christ (2 Corinthians 11:14-15; Ephesians 6:11-17). How many believers do you think have closed their Bibles, taken their focus off of Christ, suffered depression, anger, even bitterness toward God because of their misunderstanding of the healing issue? How many unbelievers have been turned away from Christ because of the seeming incongruity between the reality of what they see and what many healers claim? With this knowledge firmly In mind, we rejoice in the provision God has given us in this present Grace Age. Physically, he has designed our bodies with amazing reparative powers and given us a brain which enables us to use His great creation (Genesis 1:28) to cure and treat many ailments. Spiritually, He provides us with peace by showing us that our illness and infirmities are not punishment, nor due to lack of faith, unconfessed sin, or less love from Him. He shows us that sufferings are merely momentary light affliction, (2 Corinthians 4:17) and that tribulations produce patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope (Romans 5:3-4). He teaches us that we can be content in whatever situation we find ourselves (Philippians 4:11-12), and that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18). No, God hasnt promised us physical healing in this dispensation but He has given us much, much, more -- eternal spiritual blessings which can never be taken away. The proof and measure of Gods love for us is always Calvary -- that God Himself became a man, never ceasing to be God, to die in our place to pay in full the wages of sin for us -- even while we were yet sinners and in rebellion against Him! (Romans 5:8) To grasp these truths and submit to the teaching of the Holy Spirit is to come to the place where we no longer have to ask Why? Be anxious for nothing, but in [not for] 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)
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:50:16 +0000
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