The Power of the Cross: Old Testament Foundations: Signs, Wonders and the People

That is not to say that healing is automatically available to every believer today, any more than it was when Jesus walked the earth, or in the Early Church (cf. Gal. 4:14; Phil. 2:27; I Tim. 5:23; II Tim. 4:20). It also does not mean that healing and the atonement is “in the atonement” in the same way that forgiveness of sin is. On this point Isa. 53:5 (“The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed”) has been misunderstood.⁸ Isaiah’s references to “punishment” and “wounds” in this verse are a description of the suffering servant’s substitutionary atonement (cf. Isa. 53:6-12). But the “peace” (Hebrew shalom, “wholeness”) that comes as a result, and the “healing” brought by his wounds, are primarily the healing from sin (cf. Isa. 1:5, 6) and the peace of the promised Spirit (cf. Isa. 48:16; Jn. 14:26-27), whom we have within because of Christ’s atoning work.

Healing of sickness is made possible through the atonement (“he took up our sicknesses [h‑ōlāyēnû]” Isa. 53:4; cf. Mat. 8:16-17), inasmuch as forgiveness of sin makes healing possible (Ps. 103:3; James 5:15-16; see also Peter H. Davids chapter in this book on sin and the fruits of sin). But Scripture also makes it clear that the healing of disease mentioned in Isaiah 53 will only be experienced in part.⁹ In I Corinthians 13 Paul says that in this age the church will only experience spiritual gifts, which include healing, “in part (ek merous)” until the second coming of Christ: “For we know in part and we prophecy in part” (I Cor. 13:9; cf. I Cor. 1:6-7 and 13:8-10, 12; I Jn. 3:2; Rev. 22:4).¹⁰

The apostle Peter applies Isa. 53:5 to the forgiveness of sin. Peter says of Christ, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet. 2:24; ). Just as Isaiah portrays sin as disease (Isa. 1:5.6), so Peter uses Isaiah’s words to inform us that the “healing” of Isa. 53:5 is first and foremost a healing from sin. That is the “healing” that we find in the atonement. In the same vein, Peter goes on to quote Isa. 53:6: “For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Pet. 2:25). The work of the atonement is to heal us from sin and to return stray sheep to God, as Peter’s application of Isa. 53:5-6 makes clear. It makes physical healing possible (“He took up our sicknesses” Isa. 53:4 and Mat. 8:16-17) but does not necessarily guarantee it in this age to God’s people.

That does not mean that healing and the atonement are totally unrelated. Because of Christ’s atonement God has sent healings and many other gifts of the Holy Spirit to his church. As Gordon Fee has observed, “Healing is provided for [in the atonement] because the atonement brought release from the … consequences of sin; nonetheless, since we have not yet received the redemption of our bodies, suffering and death are still our lot until the resurrection.”¹¹

 

Old and New Testaments and Healing Today

From the Old Testament we see that God combined spiritual words and deeds of power as he advanced his kingdom through his servants the prophets. So when Elijah had raised the widow of Zarephath’s son to life she exclaimed, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is truth” (1 Kgs. 17:24). For her it was an act of power, her son’s resurrection, that confirmed the truth of God’s word from the prophet’s mouth. In a similar way, Elisha’s healing of Naaman the Syrian made the latter a believer in God (2 Kgs. 5:15.17).12 God used not only words, but also power, to bring the lost to himself, even in the Old Testament. He did the same in the New Testament. Jesus not only preached the “Gospel of the kingdom”—he demonstrated it by miraculous healings, deliverances, and resurrections (Mat. 4:23; Jn. 11:38-44). Jesus’ teaching and his works of power were intimately related—so much so that the people at Capernaum exclaimed, “What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!” (Lk. 4:36).

The apostle Paul followed Christ’s example. His words to the Romans are noteworthy. He tells them how he has been “leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit” (Rom. 15:18-19a). Paul characterizes his twofold ministry (“what I have said and done”) by saying, “I have fully proclaimed (plēroō “fill, fulfill”¹³) the gospel of Christ” (Rom. 15:19b). Paul’s account seems to make it clear that a “full” Gospel proclamation consists both of preaching/teaching the word and of attendant works of power—signs and wonders. That is just what the Old Testament evidence would lead us to expect, for that is just the way God worked through Old Testament prophets who foreshadowed the person and work of Christ.

That twofold ministry of words and works does not stop with the apostle Paul or with the New Testament church. As one moves through the Old Testament, the evidence mounts that God has in mind the creation of a prophetic people, who will be gifted to advance his kingdom by signs and wonders like the prophets of old.¹⁴ Another way of saying this is that Jesus not only died on the cross for our sins: he rose and ascended on high and—with the Father—sent his Spirit to enter his people (Jn. 14:17) and empower them (Rom. 8:9-14) for prophetic living.

Tags: cross, foundations, people, power, signs, testament, wonders

Category: Biblical Studies, Summer 2006