Does God heal today?

Introduction International Alpha course Delft 17 Oct. ‘14

Niek Tramper, IREF

1. Introduction:

Two stories: (1) Story of Johannes Verkuyl (former professor of Free University Amsterdam, who worked as a missionary in Indonesia). (2) Story of a lady with a severe form of lung cancer in my previous church who was healed in a miraculous way.

Does God heal today? Yes! However, He does it in his way, in his time and on his own conditions. He never does it because of magic or manipulation.

2. Looking at the life of Jesus. E.g. see Matthew 9 : 35. Three main aspects of his ministry:

• Preaching (the Good News of the Kingdom of God)
• Teaching (instruction on how to follow Him, e.g. how to pray and to love your enemies, to tell the good news to others. See in particular: the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 – 7)
• Healing (of the sick, the blind, etc. including the liberation of people who were in prison, e.g. possessed by evil spirits, demons). Many stories of healing in the Gospels.

à Notice also how Jesus did this: He saw the crowds and had compassion with them.

à Notice also in Luke 4: 18, 19 why He did this?

• Designated for it by God the Father.
• He fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament.
• He knew that He was anointed by the Holy Spirit for this work.)

3. The work of Jesus is rooted in the Old Testament (First part of the Bible).

Several examples of people who were healed by God’s intervention:

Naäman the Syrian (2 Kings 5), King Hizkia (Isaiah 38). God says: ‘I am the Lord, your healer’ in Exodus 15: 26.

God shows his supernatural power in miracles in nature and in human body throughout the whole Bible.

4. How do we look at miracles? Do you believe that miracles happen? As scientists, thinkers we are sceptic and we should be. Nevertheless did you ever experience something that you consider a miracle? Some say: Creation as such is a miracle (the design, how life develops, the existence of the earth in the midst of a silent universe etc. ). Let us define a miracle as something that we cannot explain by usual, scientific research. Popular answers:

1. Bible stories of healing are a sort of myths (illustrations) that the Bible authors have written to demonstrate the supernatural power of Jesus. Scientifically it cannot be real.
2. It is all psychological. People want to have Being greater than themselves to adore.
3. More research will bring explanations for everything what is considered a miracle now. (So called ‘God of the gaps’. In the ME people considered thunder as God’s voice…)

C.S. Lewis on miracles: the example of coins in the drawer. You only can accept something as a wonder:

(1) If you know and trust the natural order. (like Joseph accepting that Mary was pregnant in Matth. 1: 19). The disciples seeing Jesus walking on the water

(2) If you accept that there is Somebody behind who is bigger than all natural laws because He is the Maker and Owner.

(3) If you believe that miracles refer to an ultimate reality, to Gods reality that is far beyond our senses. The ‘small’ wonders that Christ did, He did to convince people of His Lordship, that they He holds the whole world in his hands and will guide this world to its final destination. A miracle is an invitation for hope.

The biggest wonder of God is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There are many witnesses that He appeared alive to them.

5. Jesus calls his followers to the same ministry of preaching, teaching and healing.

They only can do it in His name, by the power of his Spirit. Matt. 10: 7, 8. It will not be easy, it will evoke resistance (Matth. 10: 7,8).

The followers of Jesus gathered together after He has returned to the Father. This was the beginning of the Christian church. The church continues Jesus’ ministry on earth. (Acts 3: 1-10 and 5: 12-16). In the history of the church many stories of healings (St Augustine iin the 4^th century).

Many Christians ask: does the church still have the task of healing (because it doesn’t occur so much in the Western world and wisdom in medicine has grown considerably)?

Yes, we should respect the doctor and use all the means that God has given in medicines and operations. At the same time be obedient to the word of Christ in Matth. 10: 7, 8.

6. The ministry of healing according to the apostle James

The apostle James gives a clear indication how to do the ministry of healing in James 5: 14-16

• Prayer of the elders
• Anointing with oil (sign of the Holy Spirit, the Power of God)
• Prayer of faith will make him well and the lord will raise him up.
• Forgiveness of sins
• Mutual confession and forgiving
  • Lack of forgiveness, revenge, hidden pain can make somebody sick.
  • Strong relation between the spiritual and the physical.
  • Stress, bad eating and living patters, quarrels, sins of the past can exercise big influence on health