“He replied, ‘The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see'” (John 9:11).

 

Ron Sonius tells the story. His brother-in-law, a missionary, had contracted with a local resident to take him and his family down the Orinoco River in South America. When a fierce tropical storm began, threatening the equipment that was lashed on the little boat, the man who operated the boat said, “I will pray to my god and ask him to send the storm around us.” He went to the bow of the boat, raised his arms overhead, hands meeting as though they would split the storm, and uttered an incantation in a strange language he had never before heard.

To their utter amazement, the rain parted, coming down on both sides, and in front and in back of the little craft, which remained dry. Later in the day, another storm blew in. “Now this time you pray to your God,” said the native, “and ask him to stop the rain.” Ron said his brother-in-law prayed, but the rain came down.

Question: Has the church today lost its power? Have we abdicated the authority over the spirit world to psychics and spiritualists, and relinquished our power over disease and evil to the realm of medical science and psychology?

Of one thing I am sure. Both Israel and the Church, which was born in the cradle of Judaism, believed that God—not witchdoctors or frauds who profited from the sicknesses of humanity—had absolute power over both the unseen spirit world and the world of sickness.

In the days of the Exodus God told Moses that if they would walk in the light of His commands that He would bring on them none of the diseases which afflicted the Egyptians. “For I am the LORD, who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). David believed that God supernaturally dealt with sickness because he cried out that it is God “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3).

When a Syrian officer contracted leprosy, his wife’s slave, a young girl from Israel, suggested he go seek out Elisha, the man of God, who could heal him. “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed,” Elisha told him (see 2 Kings 5:10). Skeptic that he was, the desire to be whole was stronger than his dislike for humiliation. He went to the Jordan and dipped seven times. “His flesh was restored,” says the record, “and became clean like that of a young boy.”

The Old Testament is full of stories that are unduplicated by mythology. The dead were raised. The sick were restored. Life was given renewal. There is no explanation apart from the understanding that God stepped in and supernaturally restored life.

Jesus began His ministry by going into the synagogue in His home town, Nazareth. There he selected a scroll containing the writing of Isaiah, and from this He read what we know as Isaiah 61, which says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

Every eye was on Him as He sat down. Then He said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” It was a prelude to His performing a vast number of miracles.

Yes, we are twenty-one centuries downstream from those days, yet the reality is that people need healing—physically, spiritually, and emotionally–just as they did when Jesus walked the dusty paths of long ago. The need is still with us, but what of the cure? More on this theme on the next edition of Guidelines.

 

Resource reading: Psalm 103.