Post #4 Principles for Miraculous Healing - Patterns For Divine Healing Today, Further Remarks About Cessationism vs Continuationism In The Miraculous Gifts

 

Introduction:

      In our last message we looked at various principles related to miraculous healing from Jesus’ ministry. We defined a miracle as follows:

A miracle is an infrequently occurring act by God in a spiritually significant setting that confirms His messenger and message.

We had looked at the healing of the leper in Luke 5:12-16. We noted two principles that can aid us when praying about healing or in understanding God’s healing power related to prayer.

1. Pray by the will of God. Luke 5:12-13

2. Patience by the Word of God. Luke 5:14-16

        We learned that it is appropriate to pray according to God’s will for healing. That is, to pray “if it be your will” is not unbelief. Modern faith healing often neglects the Bible’s designations of God’s unrevealed and revealed wills. There are aspects and purposes of God’s will that are unrevealed, for which we cannot know. To pray in faith recognizes that I won’t know everything with certainty, thus it is Biblical to yield oneself to God by praying “if it be your will”. 

    The leper asked Jesus “if your are willing, you can make me clean” in Luke 5:12. Then a second principle, “patience by the Word of God” meant we exercise patience by God’s Word by obeying it and praying according to it. God’s Word is to be our guide. In today’s post we will look at the patterns of Divine healing we find in the world today.

 The patterns of God’s healing today.

     I had mentioned in the last message that I take what is called a “cessationist view” of the miraculous gifts. We find over 250 miracles in the Bible of all sorts, with roughly 90 or so involving healing of different types (spiritual maladies, psychological ailments, and physical diseases). I wanted to at least clarify where I land on this issue before we move on to the text before us in Luke 5:17-26. Below focuses upon miracles of healing.

 

        I hold to a “cessationist” view on the miraculous gifts, meaning that the manifestation of genuine miraculous giftings and offices like Apostles and Prophets ceased at the end of the Apostolic era in the first century. God certainly still heals today, mainly in answer to prayers and the working of His providence. 

    Those who would disagree are called “continuationists”, who believe to one degree or another, the route of miraculous gifting has not ceased, but continues. What do we see in the Bible pertaining to the pattern of miraculous giftings for healing? Were there periods where it stopped and then started again? Or has it always continued alongside the normal route of healing in answer to prayer?

In the Bible, we find large stretches of time where no miracles occurred, interspersed with sudden bursts of them. In the lives of the Patriarchs in Genesis, God would heal the infertility of Sarah, Rachael, and Rebekka (2,000 b.c.-1,800 b.c.), enabling them to bear forth children. Another 400 years would pass until Moses’ ministry in 1440 b.c., where only once do we see him perform a miraculous healing (Exodus 4:6-7). Another 300 year period would pass, with Gideon the Judge complaining in Judges 6:13 that it had been centuries since any miracle transpired in Israel from the days of Moses.

From Gideon’s time in 1150 b.c. or so we wait fifty or so years until God heals Hannah of her infertility for she and her husband to give birth to Samuel in 1 Samuel 2 in roughly 1100 b.c. From that point we pass by another two hundred years before we see the healing of King Jeroboam’s hand (1 Kings 13:4-6) in 930 b.c. Over a century would pass again until the ministries of Elijah and Elisha in 850 b.c. 

A century or so would pass again until the healing of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:5-7 by the prophet Isaiah applying medicine on his wound in 750 b.c. After the prophet Isaiah, another 700 years would pass where no healing miracles through individuals took place. Answers to prayer for healing went forward, yet miraculously gifted individuals would wax and wane depending upon the need for validating God’s revelation and progressive revelation.

     It is with Jesus and the Apostles we find a huge clustering of healings. Jesus performed over 15 healing miracles in the four Gospels of His 35 or so total miracles. Then the Apostles performed roughly ten healing miracles in Acts. We see periods where God worked miracles through gifted individuals in addition to the route of prayer/providence, followed by long stretches where God chose to use the more conventional route of prayer.

     Then as the Apostolic age closed, the pattern of God using miraculously gifted people would wane and cease once again. God is God and if He would ever so choose to heal somebody by manifesting a sudden gift of healing, He could do so. 

     The Biblical pattern we just reviewed suggests miraculous healing occur in our world today through the primary route of providence and prayer, rather than through Apostles, prophets, or those gifted with such miraculous gifts. Other than Paul’s letter of 1 Corinthians in 12-14 and one reference in Galatians 3:5, I find no other reference to miracles or healing gifts in any of his other letters or any of the remaining letters of the New Testament. 

    The Book of Revelation indicates that after the Rapture of the Church, in the final seven year period of history known as “The Tribulation Period”, miraculous healings, and corresponding signs will resume as one final testimony of God’s judgment. 

Closing thoughts

    We’ve observed patterns for God’s healing today. It is not unusual for God to use gifted individuals to heal in spurts of time in history, followed by longer stretches where He heals through normal Providence and answers to prayer. As I noted today and in the last post, the discussion over cessationism and continuationism ought to never cause Christians to separate from one another. It is hoped that in expressing my own understanding on these matters, readers can better understand how I approach the subject of healing. In the next post we will look at another important principle in the subject of miraculous healing: the necessity of God's power in healing, and how it is governed by various purposes He wants to achieve. 

Post #12 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed - Biblical Meaning Of The Son Being "Light of Light" In The Nicene Creed

 

Introduction:

    So far in our series on the Nicene Creed, we have looked at what theologians sometime refer to "the First Article", namely the confession of the Father as "One God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, of things visible and invisible." 

    We then began serval posts back looking at the "second article" of the Creed, the Person of the Son. The deity of the Son is affirmed in the following lines:

"And in one Lord Jesus Christ, 

the only begotten Son of God, 

begotten of his Father before all worlds, 

God of God, 

Light of Light, 

very God of very God, 

begotten, not made, 

being of one substance with the Father; 

by whom all things were made".1

     I've bolded the phrase "light of light" in the excerpt above, since it is what we want to cover in today's post. It is the middle phrase in the Nicene Creed's treatment of the deity of the Son. What we want to do to observe key Biblical passages that utilize this metaphor of "light" to explain what is meant by the Son being "light of light". We will look at four main headings to guide us through the Biblical witness.

1. The Son being "light of light" means His light refers to His uncreated deity.

2. The Son being "light of light" refers to He and the Father eternally relating within the Trinity.

3. The Son being "light of light" means He could perform redemptive acts as God.

4. The Son being "light of light" means the Father and the Son illuminating the New Heavens and Earth with unending, uncreated light as One God.

Biblical passages that reveal God being light.

    We begin with examples in the New Testament from each of the major Biblical authors in the New Testament letters. I begin here because it is this part of Scripture where the fullest revelation of the Trinity is given. I want to work back toward the Old Testament, since the New Testament authors draw so much of what they write from the Hebrew Scriptures. We will then loop back to statements made by Jesus Himself pertaining to He being the light of deity.

1. The Son being "light of light" means His light refers to His uncreated deity.

    We begin with the Apostle John in 1 John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." This usage of the term "God" refers to the totality of the Godhead, the Divine nature that is found equally in all three persons of the Trinity. James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote of the Father in James 1:17 "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." 

    Thus we are reminded that when we first talk of God as He is in His Divine essence, we cannot go far without also mentioning the Trinity, beginning with the Father. The relational source of and conveyance of the Divine nature of unapproachable light issues forth from the Father, to the Son, and then in turn the Father and Son to the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Son being "light of light" means His light refers to His uncreated deity.

2. The Son being "light of light" refers to He and the Father eternally relating within the Trinity.

    The New Testament authors squarely declare God is light, and the First Person of the Trinity, the Father, is in His Person the totality of that Divine light that characterizes what it means to be God. The Son too, being declared by the Nicene Creed as "light of light" also possess the fullness of this light of deity. Note Paul's words in 1 Timothy 6:15-16 "that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen."

    This remarkable text affirms that the Son is too the light of deity by nature in the same way as the Father. Hebrews 1:3 attests further: "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Other New Testament texts that assert what the Creed is attempting to summarize the Son to be as "Light of Light" in other words conveying the same idea: Colossians 1:16: 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 1:16-17; Revelation 21:3l; and Revelation 22:5.

How the Old Testament develops the understanding of the Divine nature through the imagery of light

    What then does the Old Testament have to reveal about God being light? Psalm 104:2 gives this striking statement about Yahweh, Jehovah, with reference to the totality of deity that is the being of God: "Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain." As we trace the revelation of God as light, we already get the sense of movement within the Divine essence of God. Habakkuk 3:4 "His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, and there is the hiding of His power." 

    If we couple Habakkuk 3:4 to Hebrews 1:3, we see the Father radiating the light of Deity, and the Son being that very radiance. In the experience of the Old Testament Jewish nation, God revealed Himself as a "pillar of fire" by night and a cloud by day (Exodus 13:21; Exodus 14:20; Nehemiah 9:12). When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, light and fire was the expression He gave as the uncreated one sustaining the bush by not consuming it (Exodus 3:1-14).  Thus, the Son being "light of light" means His light refers to His uncreated deity, as well as 

referring to how He and the Father eternally relating within the Trinity.

3. The Son being "light of light" means He could perform redemptive acts as God.

   God as light includes His revelation as the Redeemer (Psalm 27:1; Job 29:3; Proverbs 4:18). It is this same God whose light of deity will illuminate the New Heavens and New Earth to light the way for the resurrected saints (Isaiah 2:5; 60:1-2; 60:19). The final revealed book of the Old Testament in our English Bibles, Malachi, predicts what would be the forthcoming Messiah, which Malachi ascribes as "the Sun of righteousness" (Malachi 4:2). Although the Old Testament's revelation is not as sharp, we can still resolve the conceptual imagery of God as a whole, along with Yahweh of Israel or God the Father, along with a Divine Personage having that same light, whom the New Testament reveals of course as the Son, Jesus Christ. One more point about Jesus being the "light of light" as expressed in the Nicene Creed.

4. The Son being "light of light" means the Father and the Son illuminating the New Heavens and Earth with unending, uncreated light as One God.

    Light then is associated with what it means to be God. As we return back to the Gospels, we find Jesus referring to Himself as that same light we've already explored (John 8:12; John 9:1-2). Jesus in His preincarnate state was revealed already as "The Light" who reveals the Divine glory of God to all in general revelation (John 1:9). The Apostle Peter notes how salvation involves Christ calling us out of darkness and into "His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). 

    Jesus Christ the Son is "Light of Light", equal yet distinct from the Father of heavenly lights. As He shared with the Father uncreated light in eternity and in His pre-incarnate state, the same will still hold true in eternity future for Him as the incarnate Son of God. In church history, the late third century theologian Origen writes a striking set of comments on Jesus Christ being the very light and effulgence of Deity in his work "On First Principles", Book I, Chapter 1:

"For what other light of God can be named, in which any one sees light, save an influence of God, by which a man, being enlightened, either thoroughly sees the truth of all things, or comes to know God Himself, who is called the truth? Such is the meaning of the expression, In Your light we shall see light; i.e., in Your word and wisdom which is Your Son, in Himself we shall see You the Father."2 

    The Apostle John writes in Revelation 21:23 how the Son of God will shine as "light of light" for all the redeemed to see:

"And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb."

Key points about God being light from the Scriptures

    As we have surveyed the Biblical record regarding God as light, we have explored the following takeaways about the Son of God being called "light of light" in the Nicene Creed.

1. The Son being "light of light" means His light refers to His uncreated deity.

2. The Son being "light of light" refers to He and the Father eternally relating within the Trinity.

3. The Son being "light of light" means He could perform redemptive acts as God.

4. The Son being "light of light" means the Father and the Son illuminating the New Heavens and Earth with unending, uncreated light as One God.

    Before we conclude this post, we cannot forget the Person of the Holy Spirit. Scripture attests to how He as well is "Light". We know for instance when He came on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, He lighted upon those present as flames of fire. By the Scriptures which He inspired, the Holy Spirit enlightens our eyes (Psalm 19:8); our minds (1 Corinthians 2:10-13); while shining the light that shows us the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:19). 

Endnotes:

1. There two key terms in this part of the Creed that I underlined. The first as to do with the Son being "begotten" of the Father. We've spent a great deal of time in previous posts detailing the meaning of the term "begotten". The second underlined term that we will get to in later posts is "being of one substance", a translation of the Greek noun "homoousios", which was a term wrestled over in the events leading up to the Council of Constantinople in 381. The former term deals with the equality and distinctiveness of identity the Son has with the Father in the Trinity. The latter phrase "being of one substance" handles how the Son is an equal sharer, equal participate in the Divine essence with the Father, with both Divine Persons distinguished as Begetter and Begotten. 

2. CHURCH FATHERS: De Principiis, Book I (Origen)

Post #3 Principles For Miraculous Healing - Pray by the will of God when praying for healing (and a word about how I view the miraculous gifts)

Introduction:     

    In our last post we deal with the possibility of miracles in our world here Growing Christian Resources: Post #2 Principles For Miraculous Healing - The place of miracles in a world made by God.. If indeed we can demonstrate the cause of the universe being miraculous or supernatural, then we ought to expect miracles. The same God who created our universe is able to intervene in the course of affairs by His ordinary providence in history, answered prayers, and laws of nature as well. Such a God also does the same by way of extraordinary providences or "miracles". 

    In today's post I want to deal with the first principle for miraculous healing we pull from Luke 5:12-26: "Pray by the will of God when praying for healing". This of course raises a very important question: should we pray “Lord if it be your will, heal so-and-so”? 

    In the last post we saw the one extreme of skepticism, and the need to correct faulty thinking in denying the miraculous altogether. However, in exploring Jesus’ healing ministry, it is important we do “ground-clearing” on another error in our day, namely the teaching that it is always God's will to heal or that it is inappropriate to prayer "Lord, if it be your will". 

    Although some Charismatic groups, so-called 'Third-Wave" teachers, and New Apostolic Reformation authors would advocate such positions, it is recognized that not all will teach it. Nevertheless, some will even go so far to say: "it is always God’s will to heal, and if you don’t get healed, it's due to your lack of faith." 

A word about cessationism - my own personal journey on how I view the miraculous gifts.

    I think it important to grasp a little bit of the wider conversation on the miraculous gifts, and where I stand on the issue. I’m what you call “a cessationist” when it comes to the miraculous gifts. What is cessationism? John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue in their well edited work "A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth - Biblical Doctrine", page 804, define it as follows:

"Cessationism is the view that the sign gifts (e.g., the performing of miracles, gifts of healing, speaking in tongues) and the revelatory gifts (i.e., the reception and proclamation of new revelation from God) passed away when the foundation stage of the church ended." 1

    When I first became a Christian over 40 years ago, I was in the Charismatic movement for many years. When I got trained in Bible College and Seminary, I first heard of cessationism, and then later a mediating position called "open but cautious". 

    For several years after seminary I avowed a form "continuationism" that proposes that most of the miraculous gifts still operate, albeit in a lesser form than those of the Apostolic era of the first century. I do not think this debate ought to ever break fellowship between Christians. For sure, on a practical level, especially in the realm of corporate worship or in regular Bible teaching, we must be sure we interpret experience by Scripture, rather than the reverse.  Furthermore, it seems a consistent yet charitable cessationist view handles better the Biblical data on spiritual gifts as a whole. 

    Dr. Wayne Grudem, an excellent Evangelical theologian in most respects and a continuationist theologian, defines "continuationism" in his 2nd Edition of his "Systematic Theology":

    "a continuationist would say that the miraculous gifts continue today."2

    Overtime I've enjoyed the ministries of men like Dr. John Piper and Wayne Grudem, who are able exponents of this sort of mainstream, evangelical "continuationist" teaching. Dr. Piper's presentations on his continuationist views were instrumental in my younger days when I first held to that position. I have their books and to a large degree trust their handling of Scripture, despite not seeing eye-to-eye on where they land on this subject. 

    I settled into the position I hold to today, cessationism, for a number of reasons.3 I have dear Christian friends who are Pentecostal and Charismatic, and ought not think the need to break fellowship. Nevertheless, on a practical and pastoral level, where one lands on how God works in our world when it comes to healing and miracles is important whether defending the Christian faith against skeptics or praying for those needing healing.   

What cessationism teaches

     Cessationism doesn’t deny God’s power to heal nor activity of healing. I remember for a long time resisting cessationist teaching because I thought they denied God's activity of miracle working today. Despite that caricature, I then learned that cessationists do teach God's healing power as He so chooses in answer to prayer. 4

    Dr. Tom Pennington, who pastors Countryside Baptist Church in Southlake, Texas, was for years associated with Grace Community Church, pastored by the late Dr. John MacArthur.5  Pennington offered the following definition of cessationism, and contrasted it with the overall view I mentioned earlier - "continuationism":

"So what is it that cessationists believe the Spirit has ceased.  Let’s be very clear.  We only believe He has ceased one function and that is He no longer gives believers today the miraculous spiritual gifts, gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing.

On the other hand, continuationists believe either that the miraculous gifts have continued unabated since Pentecost or other sects would say, no, they have waned through much of the church age but have now been restored."  

    Cessationism seems to best explain why not every single gift, office, and phenomena witnessed in the New Testament is evidenced today. Even among the spectrum of continuationist thought, they will allow some things to carry-on into this present era, while limiting or even claiming other aspects (such as the Apostolic office) have ceased. As John MacArthur said at the Strange Fire Conference, "ultimately, even continuationists are cessationists". 

Verifying why it is best to pray for healing according to God's will

    Let's be clear. God has always used providence and prayer in every age to work healing in accords to His will. In particular eras, God used a second route – miraculous giftings in individuals. As I study Scripture and look at church history, we see God healing whom he wills through providence and prayer, with the former route of miraculous gifts having waned (see Hebrews 2:3-4). In other words, we no longer see a continuation, but rather a cessation of miraculous gifts in and through specific individuals. 

    When I was in the charismatic movement decades ago, I recall preachers discouraging people to pray “if it be your will” as a sign of unbelief. Is this true. In Pentecostal, Charismatic, and NAR (New Apostolic Reformation or Third Wave Charismatic teaching), it is assumed that it is God’s will to heal. To pray "if it be your will to heal me God" is unbelief. Is this true? 

    Notice Luke 5:12-13 “While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ 13 And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ And immediately the leprosy left him.”  

    Jesus doesn’t correct the man. The leper’s request is his way of yielding himself under whatever purpose Jesus may have in mind. Why was it appropriate for the leper to say to Jesus “Lord, if you are willing”? Let’s finish out today's post by noting three points.

A. We don’t know God’s unrevealed will. 

    Here is a question: “why do some people get healed immediately and others later on?” I’ve yet to hear the Charismatic movement mention God’s unrevealed will when it comes to the question of healing. Let us be reminded of Isaiah 55:8  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord.”  Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”  We have then God’s “revealed will” and then His “unrevealed will”. God’s will and purpose are closely related in Scripture. 

    God's will is His pleasure in bringing about whatever comes to pass (compare Psalm 115:3). Ephesians 1:11“also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.”  Thus, we don’t know God’s unrevealed will, which factors into why sometimes people don't get healed when we pray for them.

B. We know prayer is to follow God’s will.

    Praying according to God’s will in healing follows the pattern taught by Jesus about prayer in general. Matthew 6:9-10 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  We have the Biblical rationale for praying “Lord, if it be your will” when praying for miraculous healing. Let’s go further. We cannot know God’s unrevealed will, we know prayer is to follow God’s will, thirdly…..

C. We don’t know the timing of God’s will. 

    God’s will has decreed when He will heal, as well as whether He has another purpose in mind besides healing. God can immediately heal, but he may also decide to heal later or in some cases heal believers (like my late father) in heaven. 

    Think of it this way. If people were healed immediately, they may not be ready or they may easily stop relying on God. Only God knows ultimate outcomes, even paths which may never come to pass (compare Isaiah 46:10). At times the building of faith and trust in God can enable the person to see God’s glory when the healing comes later. 

    On the flip-side, God can heal immediately and thus get the glory. This mystery-side of healing and God’s will shows we do not know all of God’s purposes. God is aiming to be glorified and He is always good no matter what. 

Final thought

    Contrary to many so-called faith-healers today, it is appropriate to approach the Lord with humility, admitting our ignorance as to His purpose, and pleading His mercies for healing. Our first principle we learn from Jesus about miraculous healing: pray according to the will of God. 

Endnotes:

1. John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue in their well edited work "A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth - Biblical Doctrine",Crossway Publishers, Wheaton Illinois, 2017, page 804

2. Wayne Grudem. An Introduction to Biblical Doctrtine - Systematic Theology - 2nd Edition. Zondervan Academic. Page 1272. Note 23. 

3. Why did I settle into cessationist views on the miraculous gifts? Firstly, I did so because continuationism, seems inconsistent in viewing some of the miraculous gifts as ceased (like Apostles, Prophets) and advocating that other gifts (like prophecy or tongues) as different from their Apostolic Age counterparts. 

    My second reason for holding to cessationism is because, in my view, continuationist exegesis of Scripture feels strained. I just do not see this two-tiered view of the miraculous gifts as "full strength" in the Apostolic period and "lesser strength" advocated at all in Scripture nor strenuously in church history. 

    Then lastly, Charismatic or stronger views of continuationism admit to the discontinuity of the office of Apostle and Prophet, as well as the marked differences between so-called tongues today and claims to the gift of miracles compared to what we read in the New Testament.  

4. There are times I’ve prayed for healing, or where we’ve anointed people with oil, and God saw fit to answer those prayers. My father for instance was anointed four times in his four battles with cancer. In the third instance, the cancer disappeared, whereas in the other anointings with oil, God had other purposes in view. 

    Cessationists do advocate the definite possibility of healing, what they deny though is that such miraculous gifts are operating in individuals today as they once did in the Apostolic era. 

5. Over a decade ago, Dr. Pennington spoke at Grace Community Church's annual Shepherd's Conference, which had as its theme for that year: "Strange Fire". The conference featured a full presentation of cessationist teaching, and exposed the erroneous thinking of current Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Third-Wave movements.