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Chapter 1 PARDON AND HEALING"But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house" (Matthew 9:6).
Man is a combination of opposing natures, he is at the same time spirit and matter, heaven and earth, soul and body. For this reason, on one side he is the son of God, and on the other he is doomed to destruction because of the Fall. Sin in his soul and sickness in his body bear witness to the right which death has over him. It is this twofold nature which has been redeemed by divine grace. When the Psalmist calls upon all that is within him to bless the Lord for His benefits, he cries, "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul ... who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases "(Psalm 103:2-3). When Isaiah foretells the deliverance of his people, he adds, "The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity" (Isaiah 33:24).
This prediction was accomplished beyond all anticipation when Jesus the Redeemer came down to this earth. How numerous were the healings wrought by Him who was come to establish upon earth the kingdom of heaven! By His own acts and afterward by the commands, which He left for His disciples, He showed us clearly that the preaching of the Gospel and the healing of the sick went together in the salvation which He came to bring. Both are given as evident proof of His mission as the Messiah: "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk... and the poor have the gospel preached to them" (Matthew 11:5). Jesus, who took upon Himself the soul and body of man, delivers both in equal measure from the consequences of sin.
This truth is nowhere more evident or better demonstrated than in the history of the paralytic. The Lord Jesus begins by saying to him, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," after which He adds, "Arise, take up thy bed, and go." The pardon of sin and the healing of sickness complete one another, for in the eyes of God, who sees our entire nature, sin and sickness are as closely united as the body and the soul.
With us, sin belongs to the spiritual domain; we recognize that it is under God's just displeasure, justly condemned by Him. Sickness, on the contrary, seems only a part of the present condition of our nature, having nothing to do with God's condemnation and His righteousness. Some go so far as to say that sickness is a proof of the love and grace of God.
But neither the Scripture nor Jesus Christ Himself ever speaks of sickness in this light, nor do they ever present sickness as a blessing, as proof of God's love which should be borne with patience. The Lord spoke to the disciples of divers sufferings which they should have to bear, but when He speaks of sickness, it is always an evil caused by sin and Satan from which we should be delivered. Very solemnly, He declared that every disciple of His would have to bear his cross (Matthew 16:24), but He never taught one sick person to resign himself to being sick. Everywhere, Jesus healed the sick; everywhere, He dealt with healing as one of the graces belonging to the kingdom of heaven. Sin in the soul and sickness in the body both bear witness to the power of Satan, and "the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8).
Jesus came to deliver men from sin and sickness that He might make known the love of the Father. In His actions, in His teaching of the disciples, and in the work of the apostles, pardon and healing are always found together. Their appearance depended on the development, or the faith, of those to whom they spoke. Sometimes healing prepared the way for the acceptance of forgiveness; sometimes forgiveness preceded the healing, which, coming afterward, sealed it.
In the early part of His ministry, Jesus cured many of the sick, finding them eager to believe in the possibility of their healing. In this way, He sought to influence hearts to receive Him as one who could also pardon sin. When He saw that the paralytic could receive pardon at once, He pardoned him, because that was of the greatest importance. Then came the healing, which put a seal on the pardon he had been given.
We see, in the accounts given in the Gospels, that it was more difficult for the Jews at that time to believe in the pardon of their sins than in divine healing. Now, it is just the contrary. The Christian Church has heard so much of the preaching of the forgiveness of sins that the thirsty soul easily receives this message of grace. But it is not the same with divine healing, which is rarely mentioned. The believers who have experienced it are not many.
Healing is not always given in this day as it was in those times, to the multitudes whom Christ healed without any previous conversion. In order to receive healing, it is usually necessary to begin by confessing sin and desiring to live a holy life. This is without doubt the reason why people find it more difficult to believe in healing than in forgiveness. This is also why those who receive healing receive at the same time new spiritual blessing, feel more closely united to the Lord Jesus, and learn to love and serve Him better. Unbelief may attempt to separate these two gifts, but they are always united in Christ. He is always the same Savior both of the soul and of the body, equally ready to grant pardon and healing. The redeemed may always cry, "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul...who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases" (Psalm 103:2)
