Part 2
It is finally to be noted, in all of the ten cases, while the granting of
direct healing was evidently connected with holiness of life on the part of the person healed or on the part of the person or persons praying, that such holiness was not, in itself, a sufficient cause of healing. With the exception of the persons who were insane, there was special fellowship with God being enjoyed; and it is possible, even in the cases excepted, that this was the fact, as far as the physical conditions permitted. Admitting then, that a real measure of holiness of life was existing in all of the cases, it is to be observed that the results in the two sets of cases were different and opposite, the persons in the first five cases being healed, and the persons in the second five cases not being healed. It may be stated as a fact therefore, as far as the existing conditions are known, that those persons who were not healed were as much in fellowship with God when prayer was not answered as at other times or in other cases when it was; and also, that the persons who offered prayer for the person sick were as much in fellowship with God when their prayers were not answered as, at previous or subsequent times, when they were. Speaking for myself, I am positive that I have sometimes met with God's refusal to heal when I have been most in fellowship with Him. And taking Mr. Taylor as an illustration of one who maintained, by the Spirit, a preeminently close fellowship with God, I can affirm, as a result of personal observation and of the testimony of the one who knew him best, namely, Mrs. Taylor, that the times of his physical weakness were not times of his spiritual declension, but, contrariwise, they were commonly the times of his closest communion with Christ.
I venture to give here, in closing this chapter, and in confirmation of the foregoing statement, a story which relates to almost the last physical sickness of Mr. Taylor, which finally ended with his death. It was at the time when Mr. Taylor was living, as an invalid, at Davos, Switzerland, and when the Boxer trouble was raging in China. As the news of that calamity was received by cables and letters, Mr. Taylor's heart, which was always deeply and tenderly concerned for his missionaries, suffered keenly. He said, except to God, very little; but his wife and others saw that the shocking news of suffering and death was vitally affecting the already weakened body and that his strength was failing fast. From that time on most of the adverse news had to be
kept from him. This, however, did not arrest the physical decline. At last, the beloved sufferer was so far spent that about all he could do was to lie on a sofa in his sitting room, where he was daily placed for change and rest, and patiently wait the issue, whatever it might be. While lying thus one day, he spoke to his wife as follows: "I cannot read; I cannot pray; I can scarcely think, but," he added with a smile, "I can trust!" And these memorable words characterized, not only Mr. Taylor's life in general, but also and particularly, all of those final years wherein weakness was his constant portion. It was such an one as this whom God permitted, in the very consummation of his holy living and believing, to be laid aside in great weakness and in frequent pain, until, at last, in far away China, over-fatigue was added to debility, and he quietly and peacefully fell asleep in Christ.
Chapter V; TWO WITNESSES
IN the long history of the church, subsequent to the apostolic days, there have been many saints who have held and taught physical healing by the alone power of God. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen and Clement proclaimed the fact that the age of miracles had not passed, and that God was still prepared to heal the bodies of sick saints. Augustine, Luther, Melanchthon, Baxter, Bengel, Edward Irving, Bushnell, Grotius, Lavater, Hugh McNeil and Thomas Boys favoured in teaching and practice the doctrine of healing by prayer and faith. Dorothea Trudel, Pastor Blumhardt, Pastor Otto Stockmayer, Pastor Rein and Dr. Cullis are individual Christians whose ministry is associated, by common consent and on the basis of well-authenticated facts, with the divine gift and power of physical healing. And there have been companies of Christians, such as the Moravians and early English Methodists, which have encouraged their members to accept miraculous physical healing as a divinely established truth, and, it may be admitted, "with signs following.
The ministry of the apostles, under the guidance of the Comforter, is the exact facsimile of the Master's. Preaching the kingdom and healing the sick; redemption for the soul and deliverance for the body - these are its great offices and announcements, Certain great promises of the gospel have this double reference to pardon and cure. The
commission for the world's evangelization bids its messengers stretch out their hands to the sinner with the message, 'He that believeth shall be saved,' and to 'lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.' The promise by James, concerning the prayer of faith, is that it 'shall save the sick, and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him.' Thus this twofold ministry of remission of sins and remission of sickness extends through the days of Christ and that of the apostles.
This promise given in Mark emerges in performance in the Acts of the Apostles. But it is significant and to be carefully observed, that the miraculous gifts are not found exclusively in the hands of the apostles. Stephen and Philip and Barnabas exercised them. These did not belong to the twelve, to that special and separated body of disciples with whom it has been said, that the gifts were intended to remain. It was not Stephen an apostle, but 'Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,' 'Stephen full of faith and power' that 'did great wonders and miracles among the people' (Acts 6:5, 8). We in these days cannot be apostles: but we are commanded to be 'filled with the Spirit,' and therefore are at least required and enjoined to have Stephen's qualifications. According to the teaching in Corinthians it is as members of Christ's body and partakers of His Spirit, that we receive these truths.
Dr. Simpson, in The Gospel of Healing, writes as follows:
Man has a twofold nature. He is both a material and a spiritual being. And both natures have been equally affected by the fall. His body is exposed to disease; his soul is corrupted by sin. How blessed, therefore, to find that the complete scheme of redemption includes both natures, and provides for the restoration of physical as well as the renovation of spiritual life! The Redeemer appears among men with His hands stretched out to our misery and need, offering both salvation and healing. He offers Himself to us as a Saviour to the uttermost; His indwelling Spirit the life of our spirit; His resurrection body the life of our mortal flesh.
It would take entirely too long to examine in detail the countless records of His healing power and grace, or tell how He cured the leper,
the lame, the blind, the palsied, the impotent, the fever-stricken, all 'that had need of healing'; how He linked sickness so often with sin, and forgave before He spake the restoring word; how He required their own personal touch of appropriating faith, and bade them take the healing by rising up and carrying their bed; how His healing went far beyond His own immediate presence, and reached and saved the centurion's servant and the nobleman's son, and how often He reproved the least question of His willingness to help, and threw the responsibility of man's suffering on his own unbelief.
These and many more such lessons crowd every page of the Master's life, and still reveal to us the secret of claiming His healing power. And what right any one can claim to explain away these miracles as mere types of spiritual healing and blessing, and not as specimens of what He still is ready to do for all who trust Him, is quite inexplicable. Such was Jesus of Nazareth.
Jas. 5:14: 'Is 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: and 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.'
Now, let us notice first who gives this commission. It is James who had authority to say, in summing up the decrees of the Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:19): 'My sentence is,' - the man who is named first by Paul himself among the pillars of the church (Gal. 2:9).
Again, observe to whom this power is committed. Not the apostles, who are now passing away, not men and women of rare gifts and difficult of access, but the elders, the men most likely to be within reach of every sufferer, the men who are to continue till the end of the age.
Again, notice the time at which this commission is given. Not at the beginning, but at the close of the apostolic age; nor for that generation, but for the one that was just rising, and all the succeeding ages. For, indeed, these New Testament Epistles were not widely
circulated in their own age, but were mainly designed 'for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.'
Again, observe the nature of the ordinance enjoined - 'the prayer of faith,' and the 'anointing with oil in the name of the Lord.' Now, this was manifestly not a medical anointing, for it was not to be applied by a physician, but by an elder, and must, naturally, be the same anointing of which we read (Mark 6:13 and elsewhere), in connection with the healing of disease by the apostles themselves. Any other interpretation would be strained and contrary to the obvious meaning of the custom, as our Lord and His apostles observed it. In the absence of any explanation here to the contrary, we are bound to believe that it was the same - a symbolical religious ordinance expressive of the power of the Holy Ghost, whose peculiar emblem is oil. The Greek Church still retains the ordinance. It is a beautiful symbol of the divine Spirit of life taking possession of the human body, and breathing into it His vital energy.
Peter also states that 'his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree . . . by whose stripes ye were healed.' In His own body He has borne all our bodily liabilities for sin, and our bodies are set free. That one cruel 'stripe' of His - for the word is singular - summed up in it all the aches and pains of a suffering world; and there is no longer need that we should suffer what He has sufficiently borne, Thus our healing becomes a great redemption right, which we simply claim as our purchased inheritance through the blood of His cross.
But there is something higher even than the cross. It is the resurrection of our Lord. There the Gospel of healing finds the fountain of its deepest life. The death of Christ destroys sin - the root of sickness. But it is the life of Jesus which supplies the source of health and life for our redeemed bodies. The body of Christ is the living fountain of all our vital strength. He who came forth from Joseph's tomb, with the new physical life of the resurrection, is the Head of His people for life and immortality.
Not for Himself alone did He receive the power of an endless life, but as our life. God 'gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his body.' 'We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.' The risen and ascended One is the fountain of our strength and life. We eat His flesh and drink His blood, and He dwelleth in us and we in Him. As He liveth in the Father, so he that eateth Him shall live by Him. This is the great, the vital, the most precious principle of physical healing in the name of Jesus. It is 'the life also of Jesus manifested in our mortal flesh.'
It follows from this that the physical redemption which Christ brings, is not merely healing, but also life. It is not the readjustment of our life on the old basis, leaving it thenceforward to go like a machine upon the natural plane, but it is the imparting of a new kind of life and strength. Therefore it is as fully within the reach of persons in health as those who are diseased. It is simply a higher kind of life, the turning of life's water into His heavenly wine.
Therefore, it must also be kept by constant abiding in Him, and receiving from Him. It is not a permanent deposit, but a constant dependence, a renewing of the inward man day by day, a strength which comes only as we need it, and continues only while we dwell in Him.'
Few Christians can read such words as these without being strongly and deeply moved by them. They are brave words, in days of moral cowardice; they are uplifting words, in days of spiritual declension; they are revealing words, in days when the person and power of Christ are greatly obscured. No wonder then, that hundreds and thousands of Christians have found in them comfort, hope and even healing. When a dead Christ is made a living One; when a far-away Christ is made a near One; when an impotent Christ is made an allpowerful One, what other results may follow? And these things Dr. Gordon's and Dr. Simpson's words have brought to pass.
Ernest B. Gordon writes of his father as follows:
'There were indications of a coming break, as of a straining beam upon which additional pressure is being constantly placed. His work during the month of January was continuous and intense. One might almost have believed that he was trying to illustrate the proverb. 'The
more light a torch gives, the less time it burns.' An idea of his ceaseless activity can be obtained from a mere catalogue of his engagements for the brief two weeks of the sickness which followed. He was to give addresses at Philadelphia, at Newark, at the mid-winter convention of Dr. Cullis's church, at the conference of the Christian Alliance, Boston, at Mount Holyoke College, and two addresses at Rochester, N.Y. This is addition to his church cares at home. 'I must get out from under these burdens for a little,' he would say. Yet when suggestions were offered and plans perfected for rest he could never be induced to stop. His system was thus depleted and prepared for the entrance of the disease which was to prove fatal.
Monday, January 21st, was his last day of service. In the evening he attended the annual meeting of the Industrial Home, and went thence to address the Young Men's Baptist Union on the subject of missions. Never did he speak with more delicate humour, with more captivating grace, with greater earnestness; but the lines were deep on his face, as if the graver overwork had been more active than ever, and those who sat near could clearly see that he was far from well. The next day he was unable to leave his bed. The physician was called and the disease pronounced to be grippe, with tendencies to bronchitis. Then for days did he struggle on as in a blinding storm. The fever became violent and was accompanied with intermittent delirium. Night after night he lay in the agonies of a prolonged insomnia. He complained of 'the ceaseless storm, the incessant noise as of great raindrops on a window-pane,' though all the while the air outside was as still as an Indian summer. He would groan at 'the sudden bursts of blackness' which overwhelmed him 'as if he were felled with a club to the ground.' Often in those night hours could we hear him whispering John Angelus' hymn:
'Jesus, Jesus, visit me; How my soul longs after thee! When, my best, my dearest friend, Shall our separation end?'
For with all the intense physical suffering there went along a sense of isolation and of desertion. On the Wednesday night before his death
this feeling seemed to be overpowering. He asked that every one might leave the room that he might be alone and face to face with Jesus. Then followed such a heartrending confession of unworthiness, such an appeal for the presence and companionship of the Saviour, such promises, with strong crying and tears, of renewed consecration, of greater diligence and devotion in God's service, as are rarely heard. It was as if the Gethsemane prayer were again ascending.
The next morning it was clear that he was worse. The long period of sleeplessness was fast wearing him out. Toward evening the doctor, coming in, said in a cheery voice, to rouse him from his lethargy, 'Dr. Gordon, have you a good word for us to-night?' With a clear, full voice he answered, 'Victory!' It was as if, after the typhoon-like sickness, he had passed the last range of breakers and had been given a glimpse of the Eternal City gleaming beyond.
This was his last audible utterance. Between nine and ten in the evening the nurse motioned to his wife that she was wanted. As she bent over him he whispered, 'Maria, pray.' She led in prayer; he scarce followed sentence by sentence, trying at the close to utter a petition for himself; but his strength was not sufficient for articulation. Five minutes after midnight on the morning of February 2nd he fell asleep in Jesus.'
A. E. Thompson writes of Dr. Simpson as follows:
In the following January (1918) he was announced as one of the chief speakers at a Jewish Mission Conference in Chicago, but after the conference had commenced he wired his life-long friend, Mrs. T. C. Rounds, Superintendent of the Chicago Hebrew Mission, who was secretary of the convention, expressing his regrets that he found himself unable to attend, It was a great disappointment, for every one knew that a message for the hour was burning in his heart.
During the rest of the winter he engaged in very little public ministry, and most of his other duties were laid aside. He submitted to urgent solicitation and, accompanied by Mrs. Simpson, spent a few weeks with his friends of other days at Clifton Springs, New York. He did not, as some have suggested, take medical treatment. Dr. Sanders of the
Sanitarium was an old friend and a former attendant at the Tabernacle, and thoroughly understood Dr. Simpson's position.
When the Annual Council of the Christian and Missionary Alliance assembled at Nyack in May, 1918, Dr. Simpson called upon Mr. Ulysses Lewis, Vice-President of the Society, to preside, though he himself attended most of the sessions.
Dr. Simpson had lived, as he tells us in the story of his life crisis, a lonely life. One of the secrets of his success was that he had taken his difficulties directly to the Lord, and even his immediate family knew little of the burdens which he bore from day to day. He attempted to continue to meet the pressure that was upon him during the early months of his physical decline as he had always done. The great adversary, against whose kingdom he had so valiantly warred, attacked him in his weakness and succeeded in casting a cloud over his spirit.
Even yet he did not call his brethren to his spiritual help until one of them, a short time after the Council, asked for the privilege of staying with him at night, at which time the pressure was most severe. For several weeks one or other of the brethren enjoyed what they will ever regard as the unspeakable privilege of this intimate fellowship. He would kneel at his bedside with one who was with him and pour out his heart unto the Lord. After retiring they would lie in sweet communion, quoting the great promises of Scripture and softly singing the hymns which have been endeared to the church, or the yet richer Psalms of David in the old Scottish metrical version, which he, and at least some of these friends, had sung in childhood. When the brother would say, 'Dr. Simpson, you must sleep now,' he would say, 'Yes, yes, but we must have another word of prayer.' By this time that rich consciousness of the indwelling Christ, in which for forty years he had never failed to compose himself for sleep, had returned in some measure to him, and presently he would be sleeping as a child. When he awakened in the morning, addressing the one beside him with the affectionate familiarity of a spiritual father, he would express the hope that he had not disturbed him. Again in 'psalms and hymns and spiritual songs' the day would be begun, till the brother left for his
daily duty. So several weeks were passed.
One day two of the brethren, who had been greatly stirred by the Holy Spirit for his complete deliverance, bowed with him in his library. They prayed a prayer into which he earnestly sought to enter with a real Amen. The brethren knew, as did Dr. Simpson, that they wrestled 'not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in heavenly places.' Presently they knew that victory had been given, but they longed and hoped that it also might mean perfect physical deliverance. Before they rose from their knees he said, 'Boys, I do not seem to be able to take quite all that you have asked. You seem to have outstripped me - but Jesus is so real'; and he began to talk to his Lord as only a man who has known the intimate love-life of the Man in the Glory can do.
Just before the Annual Council in May he suffered a slight stroke of paralysis, which prevented him and Mrs. Simpson from going to Toccoa where the Council was held that year; but he recovered so rapidly that none of the brethren was detained at Nyack. He sent this telegram to the Council: 'Beloved brethren assembled in Council at Toccoa: I regret not being able to meet you this year to look over the blessing of the year gone by. Although turmoil and strife have ruled the world, God has held us by His mighty hand from the many trials and evils which have surrounded us. Blessing has been poured out upon the work and the workers as they have been guided by Him. We praise His name forever. My prayer is that God will rule this blessed work which was begun in sacrifice and consecration to Him, for the spreading of the gospel into all lands. I hope soon to meet you all again as He will. My text today is John 11:4 - "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God." We are with you in spirit if not in body.'
On Tuesday, October 28th, he spent the morning on his verandah and received a visit from Judge Clark, of Jamaica, conversing freely, and praying fervently for Rev, and Mrs. George H. A. McClare, our Alliance missionaries in Jamaica, and for the missionaries in other fields, who were always in his mind. After the Judge left him he suddenly lost
consciousness and was carried to his room. His daughter Margaret and a little group of friends watched by the bedside with Mrs. Simpson till his great spirit took leave of his worn out body and returned to God that gave it, early on Wednesday morning, October 29th, 1919.
Chapter VIII; DIVINE MIRACLES
A MIRACLE is supernatural; but it is not unnatural. A miracle is above law; but it is not opposed to law. A miracle is God working on a plane familiar to Himself, but unfamiliar to men, which, transcending human thought and explanation, becomes to men a wonder, marvel and sign.
It follows that a miracle is God's opportunity to display, first, what He is in Himself, and second, what He is as compared with men. It demonstrates the fact that He is all-powerful and good; and it makes it plain that He is more powerful and good than any man. The continuation of miracles, therefore, is proof to men that there is one God, that He is from everlasting to everlasting, that He is Almighty and that He is full of truth, wisdom and grace.
The miracles of the Old Testament had in them these divine qualities and purposes; and they often produced the effects designed. They revealed God to the ancients - the Scriptures not having been written - as no other acts of His could do; and those ancients feared, revered and worshipped Him accordingly. The ten plagues in Egypt had this beneficent design in them as related to the Egyptians; and they only turned into judgments upon that people as they failed to discern and accept their intent. The miracles of the wilderness were meant to induce the Jews to believe that they had with them a near, a powerful and a loving God, and to confirm and develop their belief in Him.
When God commissioned His prophets to perform miracles, He had the foregoing objects concerning Himself in view. But additionally, He had the design of establishing His servants before men as those whom He had sent, and thus, as those who had the duty and privilege of speaking in His behalf. The miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha were of this character, and they produced the intended results. They demonstrated God, so that the two prophets were feared as those who
possessed the power of God and were revered and heeded as those who had the right to speak for God. Miracles, then, were the signs of God's presence with the prophets and the credentials of their calling. Generally speaking, when new prophets were sent to Israel, they made clear their appointment and authority by new miracles. It is to be noted, however, that the miracles of the Old Testament were comparatively few in number, and that these few were scattered over a long space of time, there being recorded but fifty in all and these being distributed through a period of about four thousand years. It is to be noted also, that many of these miracles - aside from raising the dead and making the sun to stand still - were comparatively simple in quality, these being related, for the most part, to the objects of nature rather than to the lives of mankind. Among the fifty individual cases recorded - aside from the case of the multitudes healed by looking at the brazen serpent - there are only three which had to do with the healing of the body.
The New Testament miracles are to be divided into two classes: first, those which Christ wrought when He was on earth; and second, those which He wrought, through the apostles and a few others, after He had ascended to heaven. From a general standpoint, they had the same purposes as did the Old Testament ones, that is, they revealed the presence, power and beneficence of God, and they corroborated the claim of those who performed them that they were His authorized and accredited representatives.
In addition, the miracles of Christ, as compared with those of the prophets and apostles, had about them, besides their general character, a particular and unique quality, for they were designed to prove that He was the Messiah, that is, that He was the One who, in Old Testament times, had been spoken of by the prophets, and hence that He was on earth as the fulfillment of the promise that God would dwell among men (Isa. 53:4; Matt. 8:17, 18; 11:2-5; Acts 2:22).
As the promised Messiah, Christ was related to the natural world and to humankind; to the world as its creator and preserver, and to men as their redeemer, sanctifier and benefactor.
These relationships were before Christ in all of His earthly ministry, and designedly and peculiarly in the miracles which He wrought. With
the first objective in mind, He began His miracle-working with a nature miracle, turning water into wine; and He continued it with other nature miracles such as stilling the tempest and multiplying the bread and fishes. With the second objective in mind, He began by healing the nobleman's son; and He continued such manifestations through the years by casting out demons, healing the sick and raising the dead.
Christ seems to have performed only two miracles in the first year of His ministry, the greater part of them being wrought in the second and third years. But in this later time He rapidly multiplied these signs, there being no fewer than thirty-five recorded. Moreover, He compressed all of His miracles into the short space of less than three and a half years. He thus went far beyond all previous and subsequent miracle-workers, which was consistent with His high and unique claims.
It is to be noted that most of Christ's miracles had to do with the bodies of men, either from the standpoint of maintaining life, such as providing food, or from the standpoint of healing disease, such as casting out demons, making the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak and the lame to walk. Christ did not perform one miracle upon men in judgment. On the contrary, the element of compassion predominated, this entering into all of the miracles which were wrought. But compassion was not the first or largest element in Christ's miracle-working. His main purpose was to establish the fact before God, angels and men that He was indeed the promised Messiah (Matt. 8:16, 17). This explains the message which He sent to John in prison when the prophet had come to doubt His personality and authority (Matt. 11:2-6).
These last statements are important as related to physical healing. If compassion was the main purpose of Christ in performing miracles, then we may argue that there is much need of compassion now as in the past, and may anticipate the same evidences of it as previously. If, on the other hand, the main objective which Christ had before Him was to prove that He was what He claimed to be, namely, the Son of God, then we must conclude, He having given His proof and substantiated His claim, that the special need of His working miracles,
including those of healing, passed away. This is particularly true of the time which eventually followed when the Gospels had been written and had been put into the hands of men, for then there were before them the facts of Christ's miracle-life, which was all the evidence that was needed of what He had been and was as the Son of God.
In considering the miracles of healing which Christ performed, several things are to be observed. First, Christ's healings were related to diseases which were more or less peculiar to His time and the country in which He lived, there being a decidedly ancient and Palestinian character to some of the diseases described, as, for instance, leprosy, which is now comparatively rare in civilized lands; and secondly, they were related to diseases which were beyond the power of physicians to heal. This last is specifically stated concerning the case of the woman who had the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48); and it is implied in other cases, because the diseases, such as blindness, deafness, dumbness, leprosy, lunacy and demon possession, were manifestly beyond any remedial skill which was known to men in those early times, as they are largely beyond such skill now.
To accept as true, even in part, the foregoing statements is to establish an important principle in Christ's procedure in acts of healing. He chose chiefly those cases for healing which would show His infinite tenderness and mercy by giving healing to those whom men could not heal, and also He chose those which would specially reveal His preeminent power as compared with man's comparative impotence. These two facts explain, in reference to healings, the omissions of the Gospels as well as their statements, for it is to be noted that there is not an intimation in them that Christ did what men could do, namely, set broken bones, fill decayed teeth, correct impaired eyesight where glasses were sufficient, take away headaches, relieve rheumatic and neuralgic pains, etc. It is a great principle with God, that He allows men in all things to do for themselves and their fellow men what they can do, and, usually, that he steps in and displaces them only when their ability and power have come to an end. This, apparently, was the principle which governed Christ in what He did and did not do in His earthly acts of healing. He allowed the physicians of the day to heal where they could heal; and where they had tried and failed, or where
they were, in the nature of the case, unable to act, He demonstrated, at such times, places and ways as He chose, His compassion and deity by healing those who were otherwise incurable.
When we come to the healings wrought by the apostles, two things become apparent; first, we pass out of the sphere of Christ's unique relationship to miracles, since the apostles, being only men, were not called upon to manifest personal deity (Acts 3:1-6, 12; 14:8-18); and second, we revert to the sphere of relationship which the Old Testament prophets had, since also, being but men, they were not called upon to manifest personal deity (Ex. 7:1-5; 11:1-10; Dan. 2:27, 28). This makes it plain that the purpose of Christ in working miracles through the apostles had a twofold objective, namely, the continued manifestation of His divine power and goodness, and also the giving of indisputable evidence of the apostles' divine calling and mission. This was the conception which the apostles themselves had of their empowering for miracle-working, including healing, and the claim for themselves which they made before men (Mark 16:15-20; Rom. 15:18, 19; 2 Cor. 12:12).
The above will explain several things in connection with the miracles which the apostles wrought. In reading the record of the Acts, as compared with that of the Gospels, we see a great change in respect to miracles. First, they largely diminish in frequency, and secondly, they alter considerably in kind. The miracle of raising men from the dead runs like a golden thread from the beginning to the end of miracleworking as recorded in the Scriptures, bringing the miracle-acts into unity as to their one source and common purpose. But, aside from the display of this supreme power, the apostles, like the prophets, never duplicated or even approached the record of Christ. He, in His own person and in the short space of three and a half years - I speak of the record as given in the Gospels - performed thirty-five miracles; while a dozen apostles in the course of over thirty years - I speak of the record as given in the Acts - performed about ten. it is to be noted that no apostle performed a nature miracle, such as turning water into wine and multiplying bread and fishes, these being reserved for the divine Christ. They were all, besides the two cases of raising the dead, miracles of bodily healing. And here, also, the diseases, as far as the
details are recorded, were beyond the healing power of the medical men of that day. It may be concluded, therefore, that the apostles performed comparatively few miracles, and, like their Master, abstained from healing where men could heal, displaying the power committed to them only where physicians were unable to help. This last made their miracles the more effective from the evidential standpoint.
Chapter IX; CHRIST'S SOVEREIGNTY
THE sovereignty of God is not a doctrine which appeals to the natural man. Indeed, it is repellent to him because it creates a situation which is beyond his understanding and control. Few of us take readily to the thought of surrendering our lives into the hands of another, even though that other is God. We prefer to reserve to ourselves the right of choice and thus to limit others to the right of advice. We shrink from autocracy and dogmatism, whether it is human or divine.
In no aspect of life is our human foolishness more manifest than when we assume such an attitude toward God. "God is light" (I John 1:5) and "God is love" (I John 4:8), and what more can any soul want in Him than this? If our heavenly Father's love is controlled by wisdom, and His wisdom is expressed in love, we have our sufficiency in Him. But, often, we believe in ourselves - our wisdom and love - more than in Him. Hence we are inclined to deny Him His sovereign choice and acts.
This affects ourselves, to our great and permanent loss. But it does not affect God. Whether we approve or disapprove, "He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth" (Dan. 4:35). From the beginning it has been so. To the end it will be so. And happy it is, for this earth and all men in it, that it is so. for otherwise, there would be infinite and eternal chaos.
These remarks are not aside from the subject before us, but have a direct bearing upon it. For nowhere has God's sovereignty been more pronouncedly shown than in the world of miracle-working, including the miracle of healing the body. Because this is so, I now purpose to set forth the fact in several paragraphical statements. In doing this, I shall concentrate my thought upon the person of Christ, speaking of
His sovereign will and ways.
Christ was sovereign in respect to the time in which He came to earth. It was several thousand years after man's creation before Christ came to serve mankind in redemption and sanctification. During that time, many generations of people came and went, which involved the living and dying of millions of men, women and children. We may take it for granted that the majority of these, during their lifetime, developed physical infirmities, and we know that all of them - with the exception of Enoch and Elijah - eventually passed into physical debility and death. And yet, in all of these thousands of years, Christ remained in the glory, looking upon this infinite woe, and doing practically nothing of a miraculous kind for the alleviation of man's physical pains and sorrows. It is true that He gave Israel a perfect sanitary code. But this was on a natural line of things, and also, it had almost no application to the world at large, so that the vast majority of men lived and died without more medical and surgical help than that which humanminded physicians could give. At last Christ came, in what Paul called "the fulness of time" (Gal. 4:4). But this time was sovereignly chosen by Christ.
Christ was sovereign in the race of people with which He identified Himself. No human reason can be given why Jesus should have been born a Jew. Many divine reasons, of course, may be stated, such as those which are connected with God's prophecies, promises and purposes. But otherwise, our Lord might have been born of any other godly virgin mother than Mary, and have lived as some other person than a Jew. Indeed, from our Gentile standpoint, we might well argue against a Jewish and in favour of a Gentile birth, and our argument would be strengthened by the fact that Gentiles have always vastly outnumbered the Jews. But Christ did not consult men in the matter. What He did was to exercise a sovereign choice. Hence, the Scriptures set before us a virgin who was descended from Abraham and David; and hence they present to us Jesus, the seed of David and the heir of David's throne.
Christ was sovereign in the choice of the land of His nativity and earthly living. Granting that Jesus was to be a Jew, it is not to be concluded that there are any human reasons why Jesus should have
been born in Palestine. The Jews were a widely scattered people at the time of Christ's birth, the most learned, wealthy and influential among them being in other countries than the Holy Land. We might argue, therefore, for say, Alexandria, or Babylon or Rome as a birthplace rather than the little village of Bethlehem. But Christ did not ask men where He should be born. He had said, "Thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah; for out of thee shall come a governor, that shall rule my people Israel" (Matt. 2:6); and hence, on one blessed night, the Babe lay in Bethlehem's manger. It was a case of a sovereign choice.
Christ was sovereign in the places He visited. As to Palestine, it is the general impression that Christ covered in His itineraries the whole of that land. But this is far from true. It is impossible to mark out with exactness the journeys which He took; but this may be done approximately. Doing this last, reveals the fact that Jesus kept mostly to beaten paths, going to and fro between Galilee and Judea, between Capernaum and Jerusalem. As to Gentile lands, in all of the space of His earthly service, He kept Himself from these, touching only, and that but once, the nearby coasts of Tyre and Sidon. The result of this geographical exclusiveness was that a comparatively small portion of Palestine was visited, and that the greater part of its multitudes was left untouched; and also that the great Gentile nations, stretching far away eastward and westward and having uncounted millions of people, never saw His face, nor heard His voice, nor felt His healing touch. Therefore, to say, as a certain teacher does, that Christ's healing ministry on earth was universal is far from the facts of the case. It was universal so far as individual villages and districts in Palestine were concerned, that is, at the time He was there; but otherwise, it was restricted both in space and time. In other words, Christ sovereignly chose where He would journey and where He would demonstrate His miraculous power. He was the master of His own plans and ways, never asking even the apostles where He should go or what He should do. He was thus continually sovereign in His decisions and actions.
Christ was sovereign as to the people whom He healed. Inasmuch as Christ did not go everywhere, He did not heal everybody. This is true of certain parts of Palestine as compared with certain other parts; and
it is true of the whole of Palestine as compared with the whole world. Jesus, therefore, established great differences in respect to healing between persons and persons, showing mercy to some and withholding it from others. Taking the largest possible view of Christ's healing acts and counting these, not by the score, but by the hundreds or thousands, we must recognize that what He did in the way of healing was infinitesimal in comparison with the perhaps three millions of people in Palestine and the perhaps eight hundred millions of people scattered abroad on the face of the earth. In other words, if compassion for the multitudes in connection with their physical condition was the chief constraint upon Jesus in His healing acts, His life and ministry must remain an enigma, for these were not widely effective. And if we reduce the problem from the world at large to the saints in the world, the enigma remains, for the disciples in a short space of time were greatly increased and widely scattered abroad and Christ never went to them in person, nor did the apostles reach any considerable number of them. This brings us back to Christ's sovereignty. His chief constraint in healing, evidently, was not compassion - though such was included in His ministry - but rather the setting forth of His divine Person and power; and He sovereignly chose the time, place, method, people and individuals deemed best suited for this manifestation.
First, Christ did not require that a man should be a disciple in order to be healed, as the case of the blind man attests (John 9a, 17, 25, 35, 36), and the cases of the unevangelized multitudes who thronged upon Him suggest (Matt. 4:24; 14:35, 36; 15:30, 31; Mark 1:32-34; Luke 17:11-19); second, Christ did not always demand that a man should confess his sin before he could be healed, there being no such intimation in His general acts of healing (John 5:1-15; 9:17, 24, 25, 3538); third, Christ, so far as we know, never anointed with oil, and yet He healed; fourth, Christ did not hold back healing until men had attained to holiness of life, but healed multitudes just as they were, in their spiritual ignorance and common-level living (Matt. 14:35, 36; Mark 1:33, 34; Luke 6:17-19; 8:49-56); and fifth, Christ seldom laid down the rule of a peculiar attainment of faith before healing was granted, but often responded to the simplest and most ignorant
appeals (Mark 9:25-27). In other words, the requirements for healing expressed by miraculous healing teachers are not found in the practice of Christ. On the contrary, whether there was salvation or lack of salvation, holiness or absence of holiness, special faith or want of special faith, Christ dispensed His healing according to His sovereign grace and purpose. He was chiefly demonstrating His deity, and the healing of the unjust and spiritually undeveloped signified this as truly as that of the just and sanctified (Matt. 15:30, 31). And what was true of Christ's healings when He was on earth, has been true of His healings since He has been in heaven. In the apostolic days after Pentecost, men were healed who had hardly or not at all fulfilled the above conditions (Acts 3:1-8; 9:36-42; 19:11, 12; 28:7, 8); and during modern times, healings have taken place amongst those who have not been converted or have been in a primitive development of faith and holiness, as the history of missions in China and other foreign fields indisputably attests.
Christ was sovereign in the limitations which He put upon Himself in His acts of healing. It must be remembered that Christ, when He was on earth, possessed and exercised infinite power in respect to miracles. The stilling of the troubled waters of the lake of Galilee, the walking upon those waters, the feeding of five thousand persons with five loaves and two fishes and the raising of Lazarus from the grave when he had been four days dead, indicate that He could have done whatever He might have desired on behalf of the human body. Moreover, He made this power plain by miracles related to the body, such as restoring sight and hearing, straightening out deformed limbs and restoring men from leprosy, for He thus manifested the fact that He could have done anything and everything for the physical frame of man. But nothing in the Scriptures is plainer than this, that He did not do anything and everything. For instance, He did not lengthen out the lives of those He healed to the patriarchal age, making men live from two hundred to nine hundred years; nor did He anticipate the millennial condition when there will be no more an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days, when the child will die an hundred years old (Isa. 65:20); nor did He deliver those who He healed from further infirmities, for all who were healed eventually
sickened and died. In fact, the things which Christ did not do in His various acts of healing were as remarkable as those which He did do, considering His hatred of sickness and death, His longing to consummate His redemptive and resurrection work, and His full purpose of finally undoing once and forever the ravages of sin, not only as related to the spirit and soul, but also to the body. To restrain Himself thus was sovereignty indeed wherein He deliberately chose to do in part what He intended ultimately to do in whole, and thus in spite of what these would mean to the human race He let sickness and death hold sway over the suffering sons of men, including those who were and were to be His blood-bought disciples.
Christ was sovereign in healing only those who were in immediate contact with Him. There are two notable exceptions to this statement recorded in the Gospels: the first, that of the centurion who left his servant in his house at Capernaum, sought out Jesus in some other part of the city, asked for healing and went back home to find his servant well (Matt. 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10); and the second, that of the nobleman who lived at Capernaum, had a son there lying at the point of death, met Jesus at Cana, which was about ten miles away, asked him to heal his boy, received a favourable response and went back to his house to learn from his servants that his son had recovered at the very hour Jesus had spoken (John 4:46-53). But these two exceptions are a remarkable confirmation of my statement. They indicate that Jesus could have healed at any time, at any place, at any distance throughout Palestine and the world, for time, place and distance were no more to Him then than they are now when He is healing throughout the world in spite of the fact that He is millions or billions of miles away. Yet the record of the Gospels is perfectly plain. Aside from the two cases given, He ceased to heal in a given place immediately He had gone forth from it, reserving His healings for some new place where He Himself would be. This meant that He left places where He had shown His healing power wholly destitute of further healings. It also meant that He left untouched with His healing power great reaches in Palestine and the world, which contained innumerable villages and cities with countless sick and dying inhabitants, to the common, unrelieved conditions of human life. It
would be interesting to pursue this line of thought and seek to discover why the compassionate Christ took such a course. But this is aside from our present purpose. What we would point out is this, that Christ did so act and that the basic reason was that He sovereignly chose to do so.
Christ was sovereign as to the persons to whom He gave the gift of healing. He chose the twelve apostles and imparted to them power to heal others (Mark 16:15-18); and later, He commissioned the seventy disciples and likewise empowered them to heal others (Luke 10:1-9). Thus, only eighty-two men were chosen to perform miracles of healing. Stephen, Philip, Barnabas and Paul were afterwards added to this company, which brought up the number to eighty-six.
Christ was sovereign in making the Holy Spirit sovereign in His miracle administration. This statement is true in reference to all of the operations of the Spirit, inclusive of the experience where one would least expect it to be a fact, namely, in salvation (John 3:8). To prove that this is presently true in respect to miracle-working in general, including the gift of healing, I would quote the following verses: "God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with diverse miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will" (Heb. 2:4); "God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? (1 Cor. 12:28-30); "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another diverse kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will" (I Cor. 12:4-
11). Here, manifestly, we are informed that the Holy Spirit dispenses His miracle-gifts wholly and exclusively as He chooses. Once more, then, we are brought face to face with Christ's sovereignty in His healing operations. This last consideration is peculiarly important as it brings us to present times and into present experiences.
A remarkable example of Christ's power in working miracles and His sovereignty in the display of this power is given in Revelation 11:3-12. In this passage there is told the story of the two witnesses - possibly Moses and Elijah - who live in the last days and testify against the Antichrist and his followers. Christ's miracle-power is manifested in the mighty acts performed by these two witnesses, who "have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will." And Christ's sovereignty is manifested in the way He deals with the two witnesses: first, in empowering them to perform such miracles as utterly overwhelmed their enemies; then, in allowing them to be overcome and killed, their dead bodies lying in the streets of Jerusalem and being made a spectacle to all; and finally, in raising them from death to heaven in a cloud, their enemies beholding them as they went up. Here in quick succession, as related to the same individuals, one sees Christ passing from one episode to another, with each experience different from and opposite to the other. In short, He does what He pleases with His two saints. And the two witnesses had no misunderstanding of Christ and expressed no objection to His ways. Whether used or not used, whether well or sick, whether living or dead, it was all the same to them, for they were prepared to follow the Lamb whithersoever He might go.
Chapter X; VARIOUS DEDUCTIONS
It has been my intention to strengthen conviction to the effect that God can, does, and will heal, and also, that He will sometimes choose to keep from sickness so that healing will not be necessary. Some godly men, such as Dr. Gordon and Dr. Simpson, were persons whose lives illustrated both of these facts, for they were frequently healed and generally they were granted such good health as enabled them to accomplish almost unbelievably hard tasks through many years. And
not a few others of God's serving children, such as Dr Cullis, have had either the same or a somewhat similar experience.
Paul said to King Agrippa, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?" (Acts 26:8). And I would say to my reader, If you believe that God can raise the dead, why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that He should heal and care for the body? The greater always includes the lesser. Manifestly, then, if God can raise a new and living body from an old and dead one, He can heal a body which is new and not old, living and not dead. We need to have confidence in the power of God in respect to our mortal frames, being assured that He is greater than we think. Let us lay it to heart that Christ is still a miracle-worker, with as much power as when He went about on earth healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease (Matt. 4:23). As long as we give Him the ultimate right of choice, and are as submissive and thankful to Him when He says, No, as when He says, Yes, we may freely urge our physical claims upon Him, and this with much expectation. There are many saints who are not well and many others who are not strong, simply because they have never asked God to be their physical sufficiency. This is a sad plight for a Christian to be in, and it would seem as if such a person must be a great disappointment to the heart of God.
I know a minister who is not large or strong, and who holds no particular theory about divine healing beyond that of looking to God for health and strength. He is almost constantly preaching or teaching, is frequently travelling, is daily bearing heavy administrative burdens, is often drawing heavily upon his sympathies as he gives help to those who are spiritually needy, and is fulfilling his tasks with clear mind and almost undiminished physical vigour. He is all this at the advanced age of nearly eighty years. Let us grant that this friend is an exception to divine rules and even divine grace. Nevertheless, we may regard him as an example of what God, when He pleases, can do for our mortal bodies, especially if we live in dependence upon Him. There is infinite meaning in that little word, "The Lord for the body" (I Cor. 6:13). It opens up to us a vista of divine power, love, compassion and care such as most of us have never dreamed of. We need to pray, therefore, that we may not miss privileges which possibly God has for
us.
To me it is a blessed experience, if sickness has come, not to turn first to a physician, but rather to God; to put myself wholly at His disposal, either for sickness or health; to enquire what He would have me do in seeking for healing; to ask, if the circumstances suggest this, that He will heal miraculously to seek, lacking such healing, to know His mind in respect to healing of some other sort; and finally to accept the issue of His will, whatever it may be, not only submissively, but also in trust and with praise. This order of procedure, it seems to me, is a happy one for the saint to take, because it puts God first, gives Him opportunity to work and gives Him the right-of-way all through. In taking a course like this, sometimes God has healed me miraculously; and, if not, has either used in my behalf the physician and his medicine, or given me extra grace to welcome and endure the sickness. As touching this last, it is to be remembered that the Word not only says, "The Lord for the body," but also, "The body for the Lord" (I Cor. 6:13); and, if I mistake not, this indicates that our bodies are to be put and kept at God's disposal for whatever He may choose for them.
I have said in the preceding pages that compassion for the bodies of men was not the main motive which moved Christ, when He was on earth, to dispense healing to those who were in physical need. This, it seems to me, is a statement which may be established from the Word. But granting that the statement is true, it must not be concluded that compassion was not a motive in moving Christ to heal. It is said again and again, in respect to His various acts of healing, "He was moved with compassion on them" (Matt. 9:36; 14:14; 18:27; 29:34. Mark 1:41; 5:19. Luke 7:13; 10:33). Also, it must not be concluded that Christ had compassion upon the needy sons of men when He was on earth, but has no such compassion now that He is in heaven. Christ is the eternal Son of God, and He is in His divine attributes, "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb. 13:8). If, therefore, He loved in the days of His flesh, He loves now; if He cared then, He cares now; if He healed then, He will undoubtedly heal now. It does not necessarily follow that He will do now all that He did then, or that He will do what He does now in the same way as He did then, for His purposes in some
things are different at present from what they were in the past. Nevertheless, Christ is changeless in character, and we may be sure that He is infinitely interested in us and concerned about us. Even the stern and rugged James saw the above truth, and from his lips fell this most comforting word, "Ye have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy" (Jas. 5:11). Christ has many things to think of in planning for a saint; He must have in mind what is best for the individual; what is the greatest profit in respect to his testimony; what is required in his relationship to many other saints; and what is to make most for God's present and eternal glory; and He will hold resolutely, in answering prayer, to that course which will combine in bringing the largest and most enduring good to pass. At the same time, He will never deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13); He will have compassion upon whom He will have compassion (Rom. 9:15); He will be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Heb. 4:15); He will ever be the faithful Creator (I Pet. 4:19); He will desire our bodies to prosper as certainly and as much as our souls do (3 John '2); He will encourage us to pray if we are afflicted (Jas. 5:13); and He will answer prayer, even in the lesser things of life, if He sees it is right to do so (I Thess. 5:17; Phil. 4:6; I Pet. 5:7). Let us, then, not say, God cannot heal and will not do so. Let us rather say, God can heal and He will do so if it is for His glory.
I have also said in the preceding pages that Christ's chief motive, when He was on earth and healing men, was the proclaiming of the fact that He was the promised Messiah, the Son of God. This statement, too, it seems to me, may be substantiated from the Word. In addition, I have stated that there was the lesser need of healing-miracles after the New Testament had been written than before, since Christ's earthly acts and divine claims were therein set forth. This statement also, it seems to me, may be substantiated from the Word. Let us grant, then, that the two affirmations are true. But does it necessarily follow that there is no further necessity of proving by signs of healing that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the everlasting Son of the Father?
In answering this question, two great facts are to be kept in mind: first, in the greater part of the world and amongst the largest number of peoples the Bible has never been circulated and the missionary may
make no appeal to it; and second, among Christianized peoples the apostasy of modernism has greatly undermined confidence in the authenticity of the Scriptures, so that the preacher's appeal to it is largely non-effective. The first of these facts brings us face to face with the condition which prevailed in Christ's day as a result of nonenlightenment; and the second forces us to confront a similar condition as a result of unbelief. It is, therefore, true that there are large parts of the world where healing-miracles, in proof of a living and all-powerful Christ, may well be looked for; and it may confidently be anticipated, as the present apostasy increases, that Christ will manifest His deity and Lordship in increasing measure through miracle-signs, including healings. We are not to say, therefore, that the Word is sufficient. It is so to those who know and believe it; but it is not so to those who have never heard of it, or who, having heard, have disbelieved it. To these persons, a dramatic appeal may have to be made, and on the plane where such will most easily be understood, namely, the physical. The missionary abroad, therefore, may have it in mind, in a case of the sickness of others, that God may choose to make him a miracle-worker; and the worker at home may understand that He may choose to make some sick saint, as He made the apostles, a spectacle, or - as it reads literally - a "theatre unto the world, and to angels, and to men" (I Cor. 4:9). And what true child of God will not be willing to be used by Him in these ways, as in any and every other? It is our privilege then, in respect to ourselves, to present our bodies unto God, as a living sacrifice, for this is our reasonable service (Rom. 12:1). After an utter surrender of this kind, it will be for the all-wise Christ to determine how we may most glorify Him, whether by life or death, whether by health or sickness, whether by miracle or nonmiracle. If, therefore, I understand God and His Word aright, I may confidently say that not infrequently for such an one, in case of sickness, God will set forth the fact, by a miracle-sign of healing, that there is a priest at His right hand of His own choosing (Heb. 5:5-10), and that in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily (Col. 1:15-19). Of such an One we need have no fear, since perfect love casteth out fear (I John 4:18); and upon such an One we may cast all our care, for He careth for us (I Pet. 5:7).
It is never to be forgotten that the death of Christ on Calvary's cross opened wide the floodgates of God's love to all of His dear children. God always loved; but our sin had fast closed to us the gates of His stored-up love in Christ. When, however, Christ had put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:16), then those gates were flung wide open and love was poured forth upon us in a very torrent (Rom. 8:32). Thenceforth, God's love was more than a love of compassion; it was also a love of friendship, companionship and fellowship. Even in the Old Testament times, in view of the atonement, God gave such a love to His chosen and faithful children. God said of Abraham, His friend, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing that I do?" (Gen. 18:17); and to Daniel He said, "O man greatly beloved; fear not; peace be unto thee" (Dan. 10:19). Again in New Testament times He poured out His tenderest love for His chosen ones. Christ took Peter and James and John into the mount and was there transfigured before them (Matt. 17:1, 2); the Spirit gave to John an open-eyed vision of the risen and glorified Christ (Rev. 1:12-17); and Christ vouchsafed to Paul to be caught up into Paradise and to hear there unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter '(2 Cor. 12:4). These episodes betoken intimacies of the closest kind, wherein heart went out to heart and confidence to confidence.
It was to such men that God revealed Himself as the great miracleworker. It is not difficult to understand why God let Abraham live to a ripe old age (Gen. 25:7); or why He touched Daniel when he was sick and raised him up (Dan. 8:27; 10:18, 19); or why He gave Peter and John the gift of healing (Acts 3:1-8); or why He revived Paul when he was stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:19, 20), and also why He gave him the gift of healing (Acts 14:8-10; 20:9-12). We must admit that these were special miracles, and hence special experiences. Nevertheless, they were God's tokens of trust and love to those who lived peculiarly near to Himself, and they establish the principle that He delights to manifest His power to those who are worthy of receiving and using it. We ought not to be surprised, therefore, if some of the miracle-power which flows from Calvary's cross, reaches us and bears us onward to ocean depths and breadths of experience. I do not consider healing, with or without means, God's highest expression of
love and trust. I believe rather, that ordained or permitted suffering is this (Heb. 12:6; 2 Tim 2:12). At the same time, healing is an expression of love and trust, and one of a very tender kind. We may be confident, therefore, that close companionship and fellowship with God will ensure to us beautiful and blessed surprises of grace, wherein He will make great use of us, wherein Christ will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able (2 Cor. 10:13), and wherein His deliverances will include, at such times and in such measure as His love will choose and grant, good health, and, when health has failed, miraculous healing.
I have been deeply impressed, from time to time, with the word of the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15:45. In the Authorised Version it reads: "The first Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." In the Revised Version it reads, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." Reading literally from the Greek we can phrase the words thus: "The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam a vitalizing spirit." Now, whichever of these translations we may choose, the words are remarkable. First, they signify that the first Adam was a creature, and that the last Adam was a Creator. Second, they declare that the first Adam received life, and that the last Adam gave life. Third, they imply that the first Adam, being a creature, may never rise above the creature's position, but that the last Adam, being the Creator, ever remains what He was in the act of primal creation. And lastly, they assert that the first Adam is a living one, while the last Adam was, is, and ever will be a life-giving or vitalizing One. This last thought brings us to the fact that Christ is a constant life-giver and hence connects the passage with our subject. It means that all men live, move, and have their being in God (Acts 17:28). And it signifies that this is particularly true of the Christian, for it is he who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and who has his life in Christ (I Cor. 3:16; Col. 3:4), In the face of these facts, what cannot Christ do, within the limit of His will, for one who is unreservedly His own? He can appoint him, like Paul, to the extreme of suffering; and that one will accept the appointment without cavil and with joy and praise (2 Cor. 4:7-12). Or, He can appoint him to healing, to continued health and strength, and