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". . . . . If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God . . . . . I will put
none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians . . . . ."
(Exod. 15: 26).
"And ye shall serve the Lord thy God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water;
and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee" (Exod. 23: 25).
"Thou shalt be blessed above all people . . . . . and the Lord will take away from thee
all sickness . . . . ." (Deut. 7: 14, 15).
There is no doubt that definite Divine healing was promised to this earthly people of
God. This was repeated in the Lord's commission of the Twelve to Israel:
"And as ye go, preach, saying, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons . . . . ." (Matt. 10: 5-8).
This very healing ministry was also performed by the Lord day by day, as the Gospel
records clearly show, and the same ministry continues without a break till Israel is laid
aside at the end of the Acts. After this, Paul's healing ministry, so effective before (see
Acts 19: 11, 12), no longer obtains (Phil. 2: 25-27; I Tim. 5: 23; II Tim. 4: 20).
This divine healing was one of the foretastes of the coming earthly kingdom, where
there will not only be abundant spiritual blessing but physical health and blessing as well.
If we are aiming for truth and not wishful thinking, we shall keep this ministry where the
Bible places it--with Israel and God's earthly kingdom purposes. To wrench it from this
setting as so many have done is to get difficulty, and disillusionment, as well as
confusion in our understanding of the Divine plan of the ages.
The next of the Spirit's evidential gifts is the working of miracles, and again there is
no need to argue as to what today can be regarded as miraculous. The Acts of the
Apostles is full of what the Holy Spirit means by the working of miracles and the
following Scriptures should be carefully verified as they are too long to quote in full here.
(Acts 2: 22, 43; 4: 29, 30; 5: 12; 6: 8; 8: 5-7, 39; 9: 37-41; 12: 7; 13: 10, 11;
14: 3; 16: 16-18, 25, 26; 20: 9-11; 28: 3-9).
There can be no doubt that we do not live in such an age today. The power to work
such miracles was another earthly kingdom evidence, and to some at Corinth this divine
gift was given by the Holy Spirit. There is another reference to this gift in Paul's early
letter to Galatians:
"He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you,
doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (Gal. 3: 5).
It is important to note that these miracles were not just displays of great power which
overwhelmed or stupefied those who saw them. They were signs, that is they signified
and gave a special message; hence their evidential value to Israel who had the
countersign, the O.T. Scriptures.
The reader who has carefully perused the above list of references, cannot fail to note
the number of times the word `sign' is connected with the word `miracle'.