(Reply to W. L. continued.)
We will now look at the passages in the New Testament.
Matt. 8:1717That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. (Matthew 8:17). Indeed this chapter is a blessed revelation of Jesus entering in sympathy into all the sufferings of humanity. His tender heart felt it all, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”
If we turn to the place in Isa. 53, we find the distinct line drawn betwixt His life-suffering and sympathies, and His atoning death. He was despised and rejected by the Jewish nation in verses 1-3. Then in verse 4, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Then in the following verses His atonement, “But he was wounded for our transgressions,” &c.
It is a subject that gives great comfort to our souls, to see thus that He not only bare our sins, but also our griefs and sorrows; He entered into them, bare them, made them His own. Every sorrow and affliction we feel, He in sympathy bore them first. Thus in His living ministry, as in Matt. 8:1717That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. (Matthew 8:17), we see Him in tender sympathy casting out evil spirits and healing all that were sick. So in the other scripture you point out, Mark 9:2323Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (Mark 9:23); only here it is the terrible case of a child possessed of an evil spirit: and this was a case which He alone could deal with, and the father’s faith must own this.
It is a very affecting case; surely no Christian doubts for a moment that the Lord Jesus both had, and manifested His power to heal the sick, to cast out devils, and to raise the dead. Life, death, and the elements of nature were all subject to Him, for He is God over all, blessed for evermore. He acted in divine sovereignty in the exercise of this healing power. Indeed, such had been the display of miraculous power even in the prophets, as He Himself shows in the case of Naaman, and the widow of Sarepta.
We find the same sovereignty in the action of the Holy Ghost since He has been sent down from heaven. “God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.” (Heb. 2:44God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? (Hebrews 2:4).) Then also the same divine sovereignty is seen in 1 Cor. 12 “To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit.... dividing to every man severally as he will.” Thus the Godhead of the Holy Ghost is seen in connection with this very question— “As lie will.”
Thus so far we learn that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, He exercised the power of healing. And further, when He had finished the work of redemption, and, though rejected on earth, was received up to heaven, He then sent down the Holy Ghost, who, in His divine sovereignty, imparted the power, or rather, gift of healing to whom He would.
Now we must not ignore the Holy Spirit, as is often the case; and act and argue as if Jesus was still on earth in His body, as He was once, to heal the sick. We must not forget, that He, having accomplished redemption, and risen from the dead, an entire new order of things has been introduced by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. If you will look through the Acts you will find that the gift to heal the sick was limited to the apostles and a few others. Jas. 5:14-1614Is any sick among you? 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: 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:14‑16) is quite a different matter. It is the prayer of faith on the confession of our faults one to another. The church of God was then still in its unity; but now, where is either the church in its unity, or the elders of the church?
Do we see then that the Holy Ghost is pleased, in these days of sad division and utter failure, to impart to any man or men the gift of healing? Surely we might suspect any man who made such pretensions. That the Lord is pleased to answer-earnest believing prayer, is surely true, as every Christian holds.
The deduction from the above scriptures is that Christ is the Savior for the body as well as for the soul. And if the health of the body is defective, He also is the only one to restore it.” Yes, He is the giver of every grain of wheat also. But does that imply that there must be no farmers, millers, or bakers? He uses the means to supply our needs. And does He not bless the means used in infirmaries, hospitals, &c.; we do not find in the scriptures, the setting up of faith infirmaries to set broken bones, or cure sickness.
We do not doubt that every blessing to man flows through Christ’s atoning death, but that—does not imply that all medicine and medical skill must be laid aside, and that we must expect to be healed by faith, any more than that we may dispense with food and expect to eat our dinner by faith.
Yet the Lord Jesus when here below, did both heal the sick, and feed the hungry; and the Holy Ghost, who is still on earth, “dividing to every man severally as he will,” did whilst the church remained in its unity impart the gift of healing. But in these last days you find the pretension of such power more in connection with some delusion of Satan, as in spiritualism.
Only very lately a book was sent us from a spiritualist, a converser with demons, who denied the atonement of the Lord Jesus; and yet was a wonderful medium of power to heal the sick; giving you abundant cases equal to any of Bethshan. There could be no doubt this was the direct work of Satan.
Of the other scripture you name, 1 Cor. 13:88Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. (1 Corinthians 13:8) certainly shows that miraculous gifts would fail or cease. But love never faileth. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. What a blessed fact! We have not to love Him in order that He may love us. We have not to serve Him in order that the Holy Ghost may be given us. But we must ever remember we are not to judge of that love by things under the sun; for whom He loveth He chasteneth. Now in all ministry love is of immense importance. Thus betwixt the sovereign distribution of gifts in 1 Cor. 12, and their exercise in chapter xiv., we have this chapter of love (13.) coming in between. The Lord grant that we may ever follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts. We need this all the more, as Satan is busy preparing the way for antichrist. (See 2 Thess. 2:3-123Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:3‑12).) Yes, every movement of the present day is either preparing the way for antichrist, or leading the true saints of God to wait for His Son from heaven. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!”