Christ’s Manner of Healing
[
The Desire of Ages, 823-825
(1898).]
This world is a vast lazar house, but Christ came to heal the sick,
to proclaim deliverance to the captives of Satan. He was in Himself
health and strength. He imparted His life to the sick, the afflicted,
those possessed of demons. He turned away none who came to receive
His healing power. He knew that those who petitioned Him for help
had brought disease upon themselves, yet He did not refuse to heal
them. And when virtue from Christ entered into these poor souls they
were convicted of sin, and many were healed of their spiritual disease
as well as of their physical maladies. The gospel still possesses the
same power, and why should we not today witness the same results?
Christ feels the woes of every sufferer. When evil spirits rend a
human frame, Christ feels the curse. When fever is burning up the
life current, He feels the agony. And He is just as willing to heal the
sick now as when He was personally on earth. Christ’s servants are
His representatives, the channels for His working. He desires through
them to exercise His healing power.
In the Saviour’s manner of healing there were lessons for His
disciples. On one occasion He anointed the eyes of a blind man with
clay and bade him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.... He went his
way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”
John 9:7
. The cure
could be wrought only by the power of the Great Healer, yet Christ
made use of the simple agencies of nature. While He did not give
countenance to drug medication, He sanctioned the use of simple and
natural remedies.
To many of the afflicted ones who received healing Christ said,
[31]
“Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”
John 5:14
. Thus He
taught that disease is the result of violating God’s laws, both natural
and spiritual. The great misery in the world would not exist, did men
but live in harmony with the Creator’s plan....
40