God’s Will in Healing Part 4 – Commission

The main point of this article is to make a point that is so simple, it almost sounds silly.  The point is this:  if Jesus tells you to do something, then you should assume that it is His will for you to do it.  For example, if He tells you to love your neighbor as yourself, then you should never have to wonder if it is God’s will for you to love your neighbor.

Now that you already know where we are going in this article, please join me as we examine some facts that will show us God’s will concerning healing the sick.

In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we get to see Jesus walking the earth and ministering to people.  And although we see Him doing a variety of things, most of His ministry can be grouped into three main activities.

1 – Preaching and/or teaching about the Gospel of the Kingdom

2 – Healing people

3 – Casting demons out of people

There are several verses that provide a nice summary for us.  Here are a few examples:

Matthew 4:23 – And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

Matthew 8:16 – When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon–possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,

Matthew 9:35 – Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Mark 1:39 – And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.

Acts 10:38 – God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.

Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God, healed sick people, and cast out demons.  Those activities were a regular part of His ministry.  If you lived around 30 A.D., and you wanted to see Jesus, this is what you would see….preaching, healing, and casting out demons.  This is what it looked like when He was ministering.  This is how He spent His time.

Then, at a certain point in His ministry, He began sending out groups of people to act as His representatives.  The Bible shows us three times where He did this:

1 – Sending out “the twelve”

2 – Sending out “the seventy”

3 – Sending out all believers (aka the Great Commission)

We will now look at these three events, read about what Jesus said and did, and we will find that His will concerning healing will become very clear, plain, and obvious to us.

Sending out “the twelve”

Luke 9:1-2 – Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Jesus is selected a group of 12 men to acts as His representatives.  He gave them specific instructions on how He wanted to be represented.  He wanted His representatives to do exactly what He had been doing.  And He gave them power and authority to complete their mission successfully, and then He sent them out.

Their mission included three main activities:

1 – Preach about the Gospel of the Kingdom

2 – Heal people

3 – Cast demons out of people

Notice that Jesus sent them to “heal the sick.”  If you were going to represent Jesus, then healing was going to be a big part of what you were doing.

So, take a moment right now and put yourself in the position of one of these disciples.  Jesus gives you power and authority, and He tells you go to the neighboring towns and tell them about the Kingdom of God, and He tells you to heal any sick people you come across.  Your job is to believe what He said, and trust that the Holy Spirit is going bring His power and enable you to do what He told you to do.

Now suppose that you come across a sick person the next day on your journey.  Do you think you would have to wonder if it was God’s will to heal the person?  Of course not.  If Jesus told you to “heal the sick,” then you shouldn’t have to wonder about whether or not He wanted you do to it.

The instructions were very simple and plain.  “Heal the sick.”  If they are sick, then heal them.   There would be no need to wonder about God’s will or God’s timing.  Jesus said to heal the sick.  Is the person sick?  Yes?  Then heal them.  If you minister healing, then you are demonstrating His will.  If not, then you aren’t.  Simple.

Sending out “the seventy”

Not long after He sent out the first group of 12, we see Him sending out another group of people in the next chapter of Luke:

Luke 10:1 – After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go….

Luke 10:9 – “…and heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”

This is Jesus sending out a much larger group of people to represent Him.  Notice that the instructions are the same as they were for the 12.  “Heal the sick” is included in the instructions.

So again, imagine that you are in this larger group, and Jesus tells you to go out and represent Him.   You hear Him tell you to “heal the sick” as part of the instructions.  You leave and go into a town and you find a person that is sick with some kind of disease.  Do you think you would have to wonder about His will regarding the disease?  No, of course not.  If Jesus told you to heal the sick, then you should not even have to think about it.  It should be obvious.

Sending out all of the rest of us…aka the Great Commission

Let us now skip ahead to the next time Jesus sends out some people to represent Him.  This event is known as “the Great Commission.”  It is given to all of us who call Jesus Lord.  It applies to every Christian from all periods of time.  You can find portions of it at the end of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and also in the first chapter of Acts.  I am going to focus on just two of the passages, because that will be enough for us to see what we are looking for.

Matthew 28:18-20 – And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Mark 16:15-18 – And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

To help us understand what is being said here, imagine that you were present when Jesus said these things.  You have been following Him around, and you have seen Him preaching the Kingdom of God, healing the sick, and casting out demons on a daily basis.  He has trained you to represent Him by doing the same things He was doing…preaching, healing, and casting out demons.

Now He says for you to make disciples yourself.  He says that you are to teach them to do the same things that He taught you to do:  heal the sick, cast out demons, and preach the Kingdom.  Your commission is to train people to do what Jesus trained you to do.   And He says you should expect to see results in your life, and in the lives of the disciples you are training.

Can you see the pattern here?  Jesus healed all the people that came to Him.  Then He sent out 12 representatives and told them to heal people.  Then He sent out a larger group of representatives and told them to heal people.  Then He gives specific instructions to continue this practice indefinitely.  If you are going to act as His representative, then divine healing should be a regular part of what happens when you minister.

Jesus never sent out someone to represent Him without providing instructions, authority, and power to heal sick people.

If Jesus tells everyone He sends out as representatives the same thing (heal the sick), then it should be pretty easy for us to know what His will is when it comes to healing.  He told us to do it, so we know it is something He wants to happen.  Healing is God’s will.  God’s will is to heal the sick.

And now back to what I said at the beginning.  The main point of this article is to make a point that sounds so simple, it is almost silly.  The point is this:  if Jesus tells you to do something, then you should assume that it is His will for you to do it.

You have been told by Jesus to heal the sick, so you no longer have to wonder if it is His will or not.  We don’t have to be in the dark about His will.  He made it plain and easy to see.  Now we only need to choose to believe it and start acting on it.

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