The miracles of Jesus and the benefits of his death on the cross are a focused reflection of God’s heart for his hurting children. We are totally dependent on him for the power to heal us and to save our souls into heaven with him but God has decided already what his will is on the matter; and that will is clearly revealed in the character and ministry of his Son, Jesus. He was always willing to help all and this consistent disposition is a reflection of the Father’s heart towards all of us.
It was always so. Even before New Testament times, before God was fully revealed to us in Jesus, the people of God always knew that he was an unlimited healer and rescuer of souls:
Psalm 103:1–6 (NIV)
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
If we believe that we must prayerfully find out about God’s will through hearing or witnessing miracles of healing and saving, then we have not seen clearly enough that God has already revealed his will in his Son. Anyone thinking that they must determine the will of God afresh as to whether he will or not heal/save the supplicant will have problems maintaining any sort of consistent ministry of divine rescue. The implicit belief that God’s will might change, depending on the individual case, only serves to produce doubt in the hearts of both the minister and the supplicant, interfering with the consistent flow of good results.
Hebrews 2:9 (NIV)
But we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
John 3:16 (NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Perhaps surprisingly to many of us, (we all think we’ve got it right!), we need to cultivate a much more Christ–centred view of salvation. We can be assured that all who came to Jesus received from him and we must be alive to the fact that God’s will on the matter has been settled in heaven and revealed in his word.
Mike Endicott
