Questions commonly asked when it comes to the ministry of healing are:
- Can we always expect God to heal us?
- Should the ministry of healing be a regular part of the church’s ministry?
- If I’m not healed physically what does it indicate?
In answer to these questions, the bottom line is that healing is to advance the mission and message of Christ. Sometime this is done through making the sick person well, and sometimes it is done by empowering the sick person to live well. To explore this question further, let’s take a deeper dive into Acts 3:1-4:4. This gives one of the best descriptions of God’s purposes in healing, and then serves as a springboard to answer some of the challenging questions.
God’s Purposes for Healing
1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.
Many of the Jews prayed three times a day. This practice developed when the first Jewish temple had been destroyed in 586 B.C. Nonetheless, the practice continued after the temple had been rebuilt. Peter and John, fresh off the heals of Jesus’ resurrection, continue in this custom as seen in verse 1.
2Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.
Often times, if not most of the time, people undergo physical illness or defects for no detectable cause. We can’t say, in many cases, cancer, miscarriages, diabetes, asthma, etc. was caused because of something a person did or did not do. The only causal connection goes back to Genesis 3 where sin entered the world bringing physical suffering. That is where this guy is in this story. He was “lame from birth.”
Not only is he born this way in physical suffering; he is in social suffering, as well. He does not have a social net of support. There is no Medicaid, no SSI, no public assistance. He has to put food on the table through begging. Nonetheless, he is strategic and resourceful. He begs at a highly trafficked area at the gate of the temple where people entered and exited to worship. People would have been going to the temple with money to give. This probably made some more charitable. It is also important to note that because of his defect he is not allowed into the temple courts. He was excluded from worship to God.
3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
As this man begs for money, Peter, in essence looked at him saying, “Read My Lips.” This guy does not grasp what is about to happen. At best, he is hoping for a generous gift. He is not believing in faith for a miracle. He is not claiming his healing. He is not sending in $200 to a TV ministry. When Peter says to look at him he wants him to grasp the message behind the miracle. The miracle can be viewed as signposts to a deeper message. We see three signposts that this healing miracle points:
Signposts # 1: Healings point upward.
6Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
What we will see is that Peter does not even pray for this guy’s healing. This miracle is to authenticate the message of Jesus which the apostles are now proclaiming. The ultimate goal is not healing, it is the glory of God through highlighting the message of “Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” Healing is secondary. Through the attention that this healing brings, Peter is able to proclaim to the crowd at the temple:
15You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.
The focus was not on the man’s physical recovery, as wonderful as that was. Rather, it was to highlight and authenticate the message of the apostles regarding Jesus as the Savior. The writer of Hebrews reinforces this point:
3This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Hebrews 2:3-4
Signpost # 2: Healings point forward.
Going back to Peter and John’s interaction with the lame man, notice Peter’s initiative.
7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
There is no longer an exclusion from the temple. This man is now healed physically, but it points to a new reality all of the world gets to look forward to–restoration physically, socially and physically. If you go to the movies you usually encounter sneak previews: short promotional trailers which give a taste of what is to come. Miracles, including healing, show what is to come. They point forward to the kind of restoration that Jesus was going to bring to the whole world with his coming rule and reign on the earth. The prophet Isaiah, approximately 700 years before Jesus, describes this world in which the Messiah will usher:
5Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
Isaiah 35:5-6
It is key to understand that the miracles done by Jesus and his followers were not pure displays of power but displays of his coming restoration which the Old Testament has prophesied. Other than Jesus’ ascension he never flew like Superman; he didn’t just use Jedi telekinesis to move objects at the Last Supper; during his suffering before and during the crucifixion, Jesus did not heal like Wolverine. (There is nothing for comic book geeks and nerds to get real excited about in the Gospels.) Jesus did nothing on the level of magic tricks, daredevil stunts, or awe-inspiring displays of showmanship. The reason is that he was wanting to transform hearts and minds toward his kingdom.
When the Savior healed leprosy, cured blindness, stopped storms and even raised the dead, these kinds of miracles show us that God is no happier with the brokenness of the world than you and I are. God did not create the world with pain, storms, blindness, disease or death. All of this came through the corruption of sin. Miracles, which include healing, give a sneak preview to the world as God will make it to be again. That is Peter’s concluding statement to the watching crowd:
“Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.“
Acts 3:21
Healings point downward.
Moving on the Acts 4:1-4.
1The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.
There is no reward, nothing like a CNN interview, no Time magazine “Man of the Year” cover story. Instead, it is go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. The miracles in Acts often get the miracle worker in trouble. The lame man gets to walk; Peter and John get confined to prison. The same was true of Jesus’ ministry. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead John writes, “From that point on they determined to kill him.” (John 11:53) Tim Keller observes, “By taking Lazarus out of the grave, he put himself in.” When Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood who came up behind him and grabbed his garment, the power “went out” from him. Healing for the world will come as life and power and money and opportunity—go out from us.
What do we learn about healing?
Be willing to pay the cost.
When God gives power to heal others, it makes us vulnerable. It costs. We’re supposed to pour out our money and power and opportunity as genuine sacrifice. Sometimes we must preach unpopular messages and opposition comes, but that should be done in the midst of outpourings of love and healing. Our community should say about us, “We don’t believe what those crazy people teach, but thank God they’re here because they do so much good.”
4But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.
Pray for biblical priorities.
God glorifies himself through making sick people well, and other times he does it through empowering sick people to live well.
Does God always heal? Yes, but not in the timing and way we always pray for healing. Aren’t we healed by his stripes, according to Isaiah 53:5? At times we do experience sneak previews of the kingdom world to come through miracles and healings, but the Bible has already given us the ultimate spoiler alert. Ultimate healing will be experienced with the new and resurrected bodies. Christ overcame death, but we decay and die. But there will come a day that we will not die.
God glorifies himself through making sick people well, and other times he does it through empowering sick people to live well. I believe we should pray for the sick with the idea that God will heal. I think we should do it more often that we do. But we need to pray and believe with a kingdom focus. Sometimes healing is a process as we pray, love, serve, visit and care. Through someone’s illness community is built, and the church becomes tighter with God.
Press for biblical proclamations.
The miracle is that he brought the man from the outside into the inside. He was outside the temple—separated from access to God. The physically healing allowed him access to God. There are plenty of people who are in perfect physical health—selfie obsessed with amazing bodies–but their lives are empty, unhappy and worst of all condemned by sin. If someone falls off a bicycle and breaks a leg, he can go to the hospital and get it fixed. You stagger around on crutches for a while. Eventually, he starts to walk normally again. You can fix a broken leg, but you cannot fix a broken relationship with God. That is accomplished through the gospel.
Story of Grace 