The Authority to Heal
They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in
jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed, and the
number of men grew to about five thousand. The next day the rulers, elders
and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there,
and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's
family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question
them: "By what power or what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with
the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are
being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and
are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of
Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified
but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.
He is "'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.'
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given to men by which we must be saved." When they saw the courage of Peter
and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were
astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since
they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there
was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the
Sanhedrin and then conferred together. "What are we going to do with these
men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an
outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from
spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no
longer to anyone in this name." Then they called them in again and commanded
them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John
replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey
you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and
heard." After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to
punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened.
For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
(Act 4:3-22)
Jesus’ Conflict with the Health Authorities
Jesus was the most revolutionary person to ever walk on earth. The claims he
made in regard to himself were a direct threat to the Jewish authorities.
The ruling class that had power over the people during his day was a group
of highly educated religious leaders. But Jesus was a common man, the son of
a carpenter who had no formal religious training. Few seemed to know about
his miraculous birth, or that his birthplace was Bethlehem, the city of
David, and the place where the Messiah was to come from, according to Old
Testament prophecies.
So when Jesus began his public ministry, he seemingly just appeared out of
obscurity. He came from a town called Nazareth which was not considered a
significant town. Jesus claimed that he was the Son of God and the
fulfillment of prophecies regarding the Messiah, the Jewish King who was to
come from the family of David and lead the Jewish people.
So how did this common man with no formal education and seemingly no royal
heritage become so popular among the people that he very quickly became a
threat to the ruling authorities? It was primarily through his miracles,
most of them miracles of healing. His miraculous life validated his teaching
and claims as to who he was. Jesus taught with great authority, and he
backed up what he taught by casting out demons and healing people, and in
some cases even raising dead people back to life.
This was a huge threat to the ruling party for a variety of reasons. The
most obvious threat, of course, was that people were claiming that he was
the Messiah, the rightful heir to the throne of David. So the ruling party
looked for ways to discredit Jesus both in his actions and in his words.
Some of the ruling party were Sadducees, and did not believe in the
resurrection of the body. So when Jesus raised people back to life
(particularly
Lazarus who was quite well-known in the capital city of
Jerusalem), it was a direct attack on their teaching and authority.
The most prevalent threat against their authority, however, was probably the
authority to heal and declare people “well” or “cured.” This authority was
given to the priests under the law written by Moses. We see, for example,
that when Jesus healed a man with leprosy in Matthew chapter 8, that he
tells the man not to reveal who healed him, but to go show himself to the
priests, who were the only ones allowed by law (see
Deuteronomy 24:8 and
Leviticus 13-14:32) to declare someone clean and
“cured” from leprosy:
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you
are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched
the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of
his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But
go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a
testimony to them."
(Matthew 8:2-4)
Jesus had a three year public ministry, and he avoided confrontations with
the Jewish leaders as much as possible until towards the end of his
ministry, as his popularity increased, and he knew that his time had come to
be executed. He then let his disciples carry on his work under his
authority. The gospels give us some glimpses into these controversies with
the religious rulers who were in charge of health care. Apparently they did
not work on Saturdays, the Sabbath, so when Jesus performed a healing during
the Sabbath, they were especially upset.
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man
with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they
asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He said to them, "If any
of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take
hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!
Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then he said to the man,
"Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely
restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted
how they might kill Jesus. Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place.
Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell
who he was.
(Matthew 12:9-16)
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman
was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent
over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her
forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." Then
he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised
God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler
said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on
those days, not on the Sabbath." The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites!
Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and
lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of
Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on
the Sabbath day from what bound her?" When he said this, all his opponents
were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things
he was doing.
(Luke 13:10-17)
The Jewish leaders and priests who ruled during the time of Jesus apparently
were not all that effective in healing people. The Old Testament law gave
specific instructions regarding healing, and the Jewish people were to trust
in God alone to heal, and not the pagan doctors of the world. As I have
written in other articles,
it is important to understand how the word “doctor” was used in the ancient
biblical language and culture, as it was quite different from how we
understand the word “doctor” today in 21st century western
culture and medicine. The concept of a physician dealing
only with physical health and sickness was foreign to most ancient
cultures, even the Greek culture which was the foundation of empiricism and
much of our western cultural values of academia and “science.” The Greeks
called upon their gods to assist with healing, and most “doctors” would have
worked in the neighborhood temple rather than a “clinic” or “hospital” as we
have today, where the current medical system generally gives no thought to spiritual matters and how they
affect health. The Jews were strictly forbidden to seek out these “doctors”
for healing, which would have involved going to pagan temples. The
synagogues were the community centers for Jewish teaching, worship, and
healing.
So we have one story in the gospels of a woman who apparently was not healed
by the Jewish priests, and turned to these non-Jewish pagan doctors instead.
It is important to understand that such an action by a Jew was a desperate
act, as it represented a denial of their faith and risk of being excluded
from the religious community centered around the synagogue. She spent all
her money on these pagan doctors and actually got worse. So in desperation
she looked for Jesus who had quickly gained a reputation of being a master
healer:
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve
years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had
spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she
heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his
cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."
Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed
from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.
He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" "You see
the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can
ask, "Who touched me?'" But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done
it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his
feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her,
"Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your
suffering."
(Mar 5:25-34)
Jesus’ power and authority to heal was stronger than both the Jewish priests
and the pagan doctors. And he constantly demonstrated that power and
authority.
In a story told in the Gospel of John, we see an example where a man born
blind is healed by Jesus, and then is promptly excluded from the synagogue
by the leaders. They even intimidated his parents to testify against him,
even though it was obvious that Jesus had performed a great miracle of
healing:
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day
on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath.
Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He
put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see." Some of
the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the
Sabbath." But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So
they were divided. Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have
you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a
prophet." The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had
received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. "Is this your
son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that
now he can see?" "We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know
he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't
know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself." His parents said
this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided
that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of
the synagogue. That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
(John 9:13-23)
Jesus’ Authority to Heal Passed on to His Disciples
The threat that Jesus presented to the ruling Jews was just too much for
them. People were going to Jesus for healing and believing that he was the
Messiah. They were quickly losing their power and control over the people.
So when they executed him, they thought their problems were over.
As the passage at the beginning of this article shows, however, their
problems were just beginning. The disciples of Jesus were claiming that
Jesus had been risen from the dead and was still alive, assuming his
position in the Kingdom of God as the true Messiah. His authority to heal
was passed on to his followers. Peter and John healed a lame man right in
the temple courts, in plain sight of thousands of people, and they were promptly
arrested. They were “unschooled, ordinary men”
and certainly did not have the education or authority to perform such
healings, especially in the temple! While the synagogues were the community
centers for teaching, worship, and healing, the temple in the capital city
of Jerusalem was the Jewish center
of worship and teaching for the entire
world. Worshippers made pilgrimages to the temple from throughout the
entire Roman empire, and beyond. The High Priest and the Sanhedrin council
were the top legal authorities in the nation, and presided in the temple. So when Peter and John healed this crippled
man who had previously been a permanent fixture in the temple courts where he
begged for a living, they were immediately arrested and locked up in jail
for the evening. The next day they appeared before all the ruling leaders,
the Sanhedrin, the “Spreme Court” of their day. When asked “By
what power or what name” they had performed the healing, they
replied:
Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account
today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was
healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the
dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is “the stone you builders
rejected, which has become the capstone.” Salvation is found in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be
saved.
(see above: Act 4:3-22)
This presented quite a dilemma for the rulers, as these men were not
following the prescribed health care plan currently in place:
"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody
living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we
cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the
people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
(see above: Act 4:3-22)
However, Peter and John were now acting under the authority of Jesus, the
rightful Messiah who had given them authority to heal under his healthcare
plan. Their response:
But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right
in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking
about what we have seen and heard." After further threats they let them go.
They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were
praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed
was over forty years old.
(see above: Act 4:3-22)
This new healthcare system under the authority of Jesus and administered by
his disciples, most of whom were common uneducated people, was becoming very
popular. So it is not surprising to read in the book of Acts that many of
the priests, the ones who were responsible for administering the healthcare
plan under the Law of Moses, became believers in Jesus and started
administering the new healthcare plan:
So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem
increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the
faith.
(Acts 6:7)
The authority of Jesus is still in place today, as is his healthcare plan.
Just as there was during the days and times of Jesus’ earthly life and
immediately afterward, there is a competing health care system in place
today that
denies the authority of Jesus, and would feel threatened if enough people
started being healed through Christ’s healthcare plan. To oppose the
authority of today’s medical system and their approved cures is to risk
punishment and even imprisonment. The current healthcare system is not a
“healthcare” system at all, but a
“medical” system designed to bring great
profit to the pharmaceutical companies and others who profit from treating
sick people. If enough people started exercising the authority of Jesus to
see cures without having to pay for medical care, it would threaten their
business, and opposition would be just as fierce as it was during the days
of Jesus and the early disciples. But will that ever happen?
The Authority to Heal Today
Jesus left his authority to heal with his disciples. The apostle James, the
brother of Jesus, wrote about the implementation of this new healthcare
system, which is still valid today:
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to
pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the
prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise
him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins
to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer
of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
(James 5:14-16)
Over the years, this verse has been misinterpreted by some to mean that only
prayer should be used in healing. While prayer is the central component
here, there is a lot more than just prayer happening in these verses. Let’s
take a look at some of the other things besides prayer in these verses.
1. If someone is sick, they should “call the elders of the church.”
This statement itself is quite radical in today’s culture. Most people
believe that if you are sick you should call the doctor first, the trained
professionals. A leader from the church might be called later to make a
hospital visit, if they are called at all. It is very obvious who our modern
day culture believes has the authority and power to heal. But
do modern day doctors
really heal people? See an
article here that
answers this question.
2. Anoint with oil.
The common carrier oil would have been olive oil, but aromatic and plant
extract oils were very common as well. They would be equivalent to what
today are generally referred to as “essential oils.” These oils were highly
valued and had curative properties. They were not regulated or patentable,
but available to all who could afford them. Their use in healing sickness
was common knowledge, and their use in healing was a knowledge and skill
available to anyone who applied themselves to learn such knowledge.
Contrast this with today’s medicines which are highly regulated and cannot
be purchased without permission from licensed doctors. They are patented and
only available to those who are licensed by the government to dispense them.
While very few plant-based oils are toxic and deaths are extremely rare (and
even then only by ingesting, and not “anointing”), side effects from
medicines are numerous and cause more than 100,000 deaths per year.
Elders of the church were expected to have the knowledge of oils required to
be used in healing, just as the priests would have had this knowledge in
times prior to Christ. Using plant oils for healing represents the elements
within nature that God has created that can be used for healing, primarily
physical healing. Hence, elders were expected to have knowledge of physical
remedies as well. The apostle Paul, who had a tremendous healing ministry,
also gave advice for physical remedies as well: “Stop
drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your
frequent illnesses.” (1Timothy 5:23)
3. Confession of sins – sins forgiven.
As I have noted in
other articles, while not all sickness is the direct result of sin,
quite often it is. If sin is the root cause of the sickness, then a physical
remedy will be of little or no effect until the sin is dealt with. The
elders are the ones to pray with the patient and discern this.
4. Prayer of a righteous man.
As noted above, prayer is the central component in healing. Prayer is
two-way communication with God, where we offer to him our requests and then
listen for the response. God directs the entire healing process. Notice that
James wrote: “The prayer of a righteous man is
powerful and effective.” This is why the sick were told to call the
elders of the church. The qualifications of elders are clearly defined in
the New Testament writings (see
I Timothy 3:1-7). “Righteousness” as defined in the New Testament is
primarily defined and measured by receiving God’s righteousness through
grace and faith in Christ, and not simply one’s own personal righteousness.
The “righteous” person was one who walked by faith and had a strong
relationship with Christ. This resulted in righteous actions as well. Although one
can be “righteous” by simply following a moral code of law
with no faith at all, a person of faith cannot be a morally
degenerate person.
Therefore, since prayer is two-way communication with God, the more faith
one had resulting in righteousness, the more clearly that person could hear
what God was saying and directing in terms of a plan of action in healing.
Only
God knows us perfectly, all the way down to our genetic code and cellular
level, and so God knows exactly what is needed in each healing crisis
situation. There are no limits as to the way God can heal. They are specific
to the needs and individuals needing healing. He can speak a word and heal
directly through the disciples of Jesus, he can reveal sin that needs to be
confessed, or he can direct to use physical remedies supplied by him through
his creation.
But there is one thing that is clear and that does not change. The authority
to heal rests in Jesus Christ, the risen Savior and ruling Messiah, and that
authority has been passed on to the disciples of Jesus. Yes, people can be
healed by ignoring this authority and choosing different methods or
believing in different authorities. This has been true throughout the
history of mankind. While the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years in
the story above did not receive healing by spending money on pagan doctors,
obviously some people did receive help from them. Otherwise why would they
continue to be in business?? One can ask the same questions of our
“healthcare” system today. Depending on which statistics you look at, drugs,
doctors, and hospitals are either the third or number one leading cause of
death in the United States. But people continue to seek them out for
healing. When healing does occur, it is still the result of God directing
the healing process, whether he is acknowledged or not. (See:
Where Does Healing
Come From?)
One reason most people choose to use the medical system for healing is
because it is the only legal one that is government sanctioned and licensed, and it is the
only one that can legally claim healing today, much like the Jewish
authorities of Jesus’ day. People are arrested and businesses are shut down
routinely for making claims of healing that are not approved by the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA). If a person were to follow James’ teaching
literally and seek healing from a leader in their church, and then receive
healing through an anointing with oil or some other non-drug approved
method, the leader in the church could be subject to arrest for using
natural means that are not approved as drugs by the FDA.
Of course I am not aware of any such stories, because I am not even aware of
any churches in America that take the advice of James and the New Testament
teaching on the authority for healing literally. While most churches will
pray for the sick, I would imagine that most believers today will seek out a
doctor first, and that elders are not trained in the knowledge and arts of
healing through natural methods such as anointing with plant oils,
nutrition, and many others. So unlike
the early church during the days when Jesus walked the earth and shortly
thereafter, Jesus’ disciples and elders of churches are not a threat at the
present time to the licensed medical authorities. The believers participate
and financially support the authority of the government and its
idolatrous practices, rather than oppose it by believing and acting upon
the authority of Jesus as Peter and John did in the story at the beginning
of this article.
How sad. Jesus has not given up his authority to heal and passed it
on to the current medical care system. “The prayer
of a righteous man is powerful and effective” is still true today.
The U.S. has the most expensive medical system in the world, but our
population continues to decline in key health statistics as compared to
other developed nations. When will the churches wake up and become the
healing centers they are meant to be? Probably when the leaders start taking
the authority of Jesus seriously like Peter and John did, and start acting
upon it, and start becoming a threat to the government sponsored health
authorities when people can be healed without paying for expensive medical
treatments that are too often ineffective and even toxic. The day when
people can walk into churches sick and leave healed by the authority of
Jesus, without participating in the government sponsored medical system,
will be the day when we see a new revolution and the fall of the current
medical care paradigm.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might
die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
(1 Peter 2:24)
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and
elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of
kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this,
you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this
man stands before you healed.”
(Act 4:8-10)
Who is Responsible for Providing Healthcare?
Medicine: Idolatry in the Twenty First Century
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