Power and Authority to Cure Disease
By William Samuel Sadler
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases." Ps. 103: 2, 3. THE power that forgives sin heals disease. God is just as surely and truly the healer of disease as He is the forgiver of sin. He "forgiveth all thine iniquities," and "healeth all thy diseases." Many who would shudder at the thought of seeking forgiveness of sin and healing of soul at the hands of man, will go to a doctor in full confidence that he is able to heal their diseases and save them from the results of physical transgression. There is but one divine Law-giver. Spiritual and physical sin are transgressions of laws from the same source. There is but One who can save us from the results of sin, whether physical or spiritual. To be forgiven and healed either physically or spiritually, requires the life-giving ministry of Him who died that we might live. The same power that forgives sin, heals disease; and just as surely as God only can forgive sin, so He only can truly heal disease. Doctors, nurses, medicine, treatments, have in themselves no power to heal disease. At best they are simply means that may be intelligently utilized to co-operate with the healing power of God which, to a certain extent, is constantly operating within the body. Power and Authority to Cure Disease.
"Then He called His twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases." Luke 9: 1. The power and authority to cure disease,—to heal the body,—has the same source and channel as the power and authority over wicked spirits. The power that heals the sick is the power that saves from sin. It11is the same power manifesting itself in a different sphere of human need. If you should find an unsaved soul in moral peril, and succeed in leading him to recognize his lost condition, and then pass through the blessed experience of seeing him born into the kingdom of God, would you for a moment think that you had forgiven his sins, or healed his soul? Not for an instant would you entertain such a thought. You were simply a willing instrument used by Providence to point out the way of life to an erring fellow, as did John the Baptist who cried, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1: 29. You brought the sin-sick soul to Jesus; his sins were forgiven; his soul was healed. Your prayers and words were simply a means in the hand of God, and under His blessing, of leading this erring one back to the path of obedience to God's law. Here is another sufferer, a different kind of sinner; one out of harmony with God physically; one who has violated the laws of health and begun to suffer the consequences. He needs physical forgiveness and healing, just as the other soul needed spiritual healing. A physician comes along and helps this physical sufferer by telling him what he did that made him sick, and how to get back into physical harmony with God. He labors with him, as it were physically, and helps him to return to the divine way of living. The man ceases to transgress the laws of life, begins to cultivate health, and by and by gets well. Who healed the sick man,—the doctor, or the power of God? It is evident that the physician did for this one physically no more than the minister did for the other spiritually; that is, he simply pointed out the cause of his troubles, told him of the forgiving and keeping power of God, and helped him, by means of advice and treatment, to get back into harmony with Nature's laws, just as the minister helped the sinner, by his counsel and prayers, back again into harmony with God and the moral law. In either case, it was by way of the same cross and through the blood of the same Jesus, that pardon and peace were secured. The Nature of True Healing.
"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved." Jer. 17: 14. Real healing of disease must proceed from God. Powerful drugs may paralyze the nerves, remove symptoms, and deceive the patient, but when the sick recover, either by the ordinary healing process of Nature, or by miraculous means, it is the man himself who has been healed, not merely his malady modified. The forgiveness of sin (and after all, sin is the real cause of all affliction) is a matter wholly in the hands of God; likewise the healing of disease, which is but the effect of sin, is the work of God, a thing that God only can perform. Divine healing is a transformation by the aid of God's power, from the sphere of disobedience to that of obedience; from the realm of sin and death to that of righteousness and life. Healing is a process whereby man is able, both physically and spiritually, to get out of a wrong state into the right one, after having secured a disposition to make the change. The healing power is from the same source, whether manifested mentally, morally, or physically. To the Christian, divine healing is but a continuation of the miracle that was wrought when the soul returned to God, and first tasted the sweets of Heaven's healing grace.