After the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to His Father, these healing promises of God and His Word were repeatedly confirmed in the actions of the early church, then in the New Testament writings and among believers to this very day.
Referring to events after His departure, Jesus said, "These signs will accompany them that believe; In My Name... they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17-18, KJV).
As recorded in the book of Acts, believers in the early church expected and experienced physical healing. In I Corinthians 12:9, healing is described as one of the gifts God has given to His church in perpetuity. In James 5:14:15, God again confirms the provision of physical healing for His people with instructions for the church. In addition, the fulfillment of the healing promises has been experienced by multitudes through the centuries and in our generation.
Physical healing was a part of the early church and should be no less so today. Christine Darg, of Exploits Ministry, gives these examples:
Throughout the history of the EarlyChurch, the healing ministry of Jesus was upheld as was His teaching ministry. But eventually the Church fell into the scandal of doubt and unbelief from which it is recovering in our days as we contend for the faith.
In City of God, Book 22, Chapter 8, St. Augustinetestified to the reality of the work of healing in the church: "...there are miracles at this day wrought by God, with what means He likes best, Who wrought them of yore.... "
The evidence of the 4th Century liturgies shows the expectation of supernatural cures. The Church claimed to be endowed with the charisma of healing, and her ministers regularly exercised the power to impart healing. One of the earliest known of these liturgies is the Testament of Our Lord (circa 350 AD):
"...O Christ...Who art the Healer of every sickness and of every suffering...send on this oil...the delivering [power] of Thy good compassion, that it may... heal those who are sick... for Thou art mighty and praised for ever and ever. Amen."
Notice, the above prayer did not include the doubt-inducing disclaimer, "if it by thy will."
There were many such liturgies, according to evidence outlined in Anointing of the Sick by F.W. Puller. And according to James Moore Hickson's booklet, Healing in the Early Church, the form of consecration of the oil in the Gregorian Sacramentary, compiled by St. Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604, was this: "A means of protection for mind and body, for getting rid of all pains, all illnesses, all sickness of the body...."
Here are some of the healing references found in the Holy Communion liturgies (Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, Liturgy of St. Mark): "Let not, O Lord, the communion of Thy holy mysteries be to my judgement or condemnation, but to the healing of my soul and body...." [This survived in the English Office of Holy Communion.]:
"Furthermore, O Lord, heal the diseases of our soul, cure our bodily weaknesses, O Physician of souls and bodies, Overseer of all flesh, oversee and heal us by Thy Salvation."
Thus we see that for many centuries, our Lord's original command to heal the sick was obeyed and carried out in its literal sense. The ministry of healing was unqualified with the disclaimer "if it be thy will." The Church had learned from her Master that wholeness, or salvation of both body and soul, is indeed covered by the Will of God. And this conviction found utterance in another way by the frequent address to our lord as "saviour of our souls and bodies," or, "physician of our souls and bodies." The latter was an expression common to the ancient liturgies.
For example, in the Liturgy of St. Mark, the ministry of healing is honorably upheld:
"Master, Lord and our God, Thou Who didst elect the twelve-lighted lamp of the twelve Apostles, and didst send them into the whole world to preach and to teach the Gospel of Thy Kingdom... heal every sickness and every infirmity in the people..."
The Lord Jesus continued to bestow this power to others for many years after His ascension. Twenty years after, Paul had this power (Acts 19:12); 26 years after, gifts of healing were given to ordinary believers (1 Corinthians 12:9); 27 years after, the rules for healing were laid down for the sick (James 5:14-16); 40 years after, Clement, Paul's contemporary, said, "Men received the gifts of healing."
Irenaeus
said, 110 years after, "Men healed the sick by laying their hands
on them." Two hundred years after, Origen said, "Men had marvelous
power in curing, by invoking the divine name, that of Jesus"; 1,820
years after, Dorothea Trudell, of Mannedorf, saw 10,000 healed by prayer,
and the German government was compelled to recognize and license her hospitals.
In our own day, these gifts are being exercised in every part of the world.
God is restoring His lost gifts.
All sufferers who came to Jesus were healed in His day. He is the
same "yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
Healing of the body as well as the soul is provided for in the atonement of
Jesus Christ, for Matthew, quoting from Isaiah 53, declares, "Himself took
our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." Jesus declared, "These
signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils
- they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover" (Mark 16:17,18).
If you are sick, come and get your portion of life and health from the
pierced hands of Christ today.
Jesus Christ healed when on the earth; He healed in New Testament times; He still heals today. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Call on Him now, and receive your healing from Him!