A MESSAGE OF HEALING by E. E. A.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 21, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 15.

A MESSAGE OF HEALING

By E. E. A.

The Gospel, Rightly Understood, Heals Both Body and Soul—The Commission to Heal the Sick as Well as to Teach and Baptize—What Hinders Healing Power

AN ARTICLE by Dr. Theodore Christlieb, on medical missions, quoted in the Missionary Review of the World for August, 1888, contains the following beautiful statement of the relation of healing to the gospel:

"'All genuine missionary work must be in the highest sense a healing work.' So writes that vigorous missionary pioneer, Mackay, from that newest martyr land of missions, Uganda. As certainly as sin disintegrates soul and body, and these are most strictly conjoined, so certainly also must a complete redemption extend itself over the whole personal life, and therefore finally over the body. Therefore forgiveness of sins, or preaching of the gospel, and bodily healing, are only two sides of the same comprehensive salvation, brought nigh to man in Christ, although its realization in the two spheres may be widely divergent in time."

THEY WERE COMMISSIONED TO HEAL

"Therefore we see Christ not merely Himself preaching and healing as He goes around, but also sending forth the disciples 'to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick,' giving, on the one hand, especial power to the twelve 'to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease,' and, on the other hand, commissioning the seventy (Luke 10: 9) to heal the sick and to announce that the kingdom of God was at hand, here even giving the commission of healing the precedence."

"Nor is this power of healing given merely as a sign confirmatory of their mission, but as a manifestation of 'the universal compassion of the gospel,' which brings help for every harm."

ESSENTIALLY A MESSAGE OF HEALING

The gospel message is essentially a message of healing. It is truly good news of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ's method of preaching this glorious gospel must certainly be the best method that could be employed. In sending forth His disciples, He said: "Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." John 20: 21. They were to go forth into the world to do the same work He had come from the Father to this world to accomplish.

Jesus well knew that it was utterly impossible for them to carry out His instruction, to do the work He had been doing, without a special enduement of power from on high; so "when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Verse 22.

"YE SHALL RECEIVE POWER"

While giving them His final counsel just before He ascended to heaven from Olivet, He said to them: "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1: 8. This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, in the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the waiting disciples, and the scenes of Christ's ministry were repeated in the work of the apostles. "They went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." Mark 16: 20.

Is it not the divine plan that this same blessed work should be continued? As Christians, our watchword to-day is, "The gospel to all the world in this generation." Shall we not therefore follow the same methods so successfully employed by the disciples of our Lord? It seems quite clear to me that in the work of the gospel, teaching and healing are never to be separated.

GOD-GIVEN SCIENCE OF RATIONAL MEDICINE

Undoubtedly God has led in the development of the science of rational medicine, and intended that this should be employed in the work of the gospel. Men and women are to be taught how to retain their health, as well as how to regain it; how to protect themselves against the encroachments of disease, as well as how to overcome its ravages after it has invaded the sacred precincts of the body temple.

But is this all that we are to expect? Luke, "the beloved physician" was a faithful coworker of the apostle Paul's; but Paul did not, because he had a physician with him, abandon the work of healing by prayer. However, Luke's skill as a physician was undoubtedly employed with great profit in their gospel work.

PRESENT OUR SICK AND SUFFERING BEFORE GOD

In an article that appeared in the Review and Herald, of Washington, D. C., July 19, 1898, Mrs. E. G. White very forcibly sets forth the duty and the privilege of the child of God, and especially of the gospel minister, in the matter of healing by prayer, in the following impressive language:

"Why do we not present our sick and suffering before God in the arms of our faith? Why do we not teach them to believe in the great Healer? Why do we not lay hold of the promises, and bring the sick to God, praying for His healing power to be revealed? Why do we not plead the promise, 'These signs shall follow them that believe'? This is the privilege of God's children, and faith should lay hold of all that it is possible to have as an endorsement of faith."

"Christ's promises are just as strong and trustworthy now as they were in the days of the apostles. Some have carried the matter of faith healing to an extreme, and this has greatly hurt the subject. But the need of faith in God should be kept before the church. The realization of our privileges has become almost extinct. Let this part of the commission be brought into our practical life. It is of as much importance as the preaching of the Word."

"THESE SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW THEM"

"These signs shall follow them that believe on Christ as a risen Saviour, who proclaimed, over the sepulcher of Joseph, 'I am the resurrection, and the life.' But if the workers neglect to link themselves in divine connection with God, the electric current of reviving, life-giving, spiritual energy can not flow in full, rich streams to the people. The church needs to be awakened. When Christ was on this earth, trying to reclaim souls, to restore the moral image of God in man by warnings, entreaties, appeals, by a perfect example of obedience to His Father's will, He could not do many mighty works in some places He visited, because of their unbelief. This is why we do not now see more of the deep moving of the Spirit of God upon human minds, more of His power manifested in healing the sick. Unbelief is the barrier between us and God."

SHALL WE DISAPPOINT GOD?

"How sad it is that God is disappointed and robbed of His glory because those who minister the Word do not realize their privilege, and fail to increase in faith and charity! Bring your sick to God in faith. Humble your hearts before Him, confessing your sins. Then pray earnestly, trustingly. You will see the practical working of God's power, and it will be said: 'God hath chosen the foolish

things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.'"

GOD LOOKING FOR HEARTS PERFECT TOWARD HIM

To-day "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." 2 Chron. 16: 9. The rich treasures of grace and of power are accessible to every believing soul, and God is only awaiting our demand upon His exhaustless resources.

We are living in the time of the latter rain, when God would do great things for His people. Let us pray that God will unseal the fountain of grace, and pour upon His people copious showers of the latter rain. How much we need to-day to see the stately steppings of Israel's God walking in our midst, to hear the voice of the mighty Healer as He bids the sick arise, and says to the troubled heart, "Thy sins be forgiven thee;" to know the power that begets a new life in the soul, and girds it with strength for the battle! Let us pray that God will give us "a living faith [that] means an increase of vigor, a confiding trust, by which the soul becomes a conquering power."

E. E. A.