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As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. — John 9:1-7

In this material world we live in, there are laws, instituted by God the Creator, that govern human activities. A common example is the law (force) of gravity which tends to pull objects towards the earth. While these have been put in place by God, he exists beyond them — he is not subject to them. The earth works by these laws and keeps things pretty much predictable. Now and then, however, God, out of his own volition, can intervene in the normal course of events and cause things to happen. We call this a miracle — an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use of means capable of being discerned by the senses (Easton).

Now and then, however, God, out of his own volition, can intervene in the normal course of events and cause things to happen. We call this a miracle — an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use of means capable of being discerned by the senses (Easton).

When Christ was on earth, it was not uncommon for him to intervene and make sick people get well without the use of natural means but by the display of God’s supernatural power. These he did through varied ways. In Jericho, he healed Bartimaeus simply by his word, “Go, your faith has healed you” (Mark 10:52). In Jerusalem, he healed the man who had been invalid for 38 years and was hoping to be healed by the means of the pool’s water by asking him to pick up his mat and walk (John 5:1-9). He healed the Centurion’s servant by his sent word (Matthew 8:5-13). In Peter’s house, he healed his mother-in-law who had a fever by a touch to her hand (Matthew 8:14-15).

Healed By Means

In the passage at the top of this page, Jesus did something different. As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. Curing a man who had developed blindness after being born with sight was a matter that medics could attempt but congenital blindness was in another sphere altogether. Jesus himself raised the gravity of the moment when he spoke of the purpose of the man’s blindness: “that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” To heal this man, Jesus didn’t just speak a word or place his hands on the infirmed, “he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.” Then he told the man to “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.” The man went and washed, and came home seeing. What is in saliva or the Pool of Siloam that healed this blind man? Nothing of themselves. Like in the other examples mentioned above and several others in scripture, Jesus could have simply spoken a word and the man’s eyes would have opened. Nothing is as final to us humans as death, but at Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus simply called out his name and the dead man, buried four days earlier, came back to life. Remember that he “calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). The one through whom all things were made chose to use some parts of his creation as a means or a vehicle, to transfer his healing virtue to this man.

This was not the only occasion in which Jesus used means to heal. In the Decapolis, a deaf and dumb man was brought to him for healing. Jesus spit and touched the man’s tongue. Then he looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” and the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly (Mark 7:31-37).

Another day he was in Bethsaida and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. The Lord took the man out of the village and part of what he did to heal him was to spit on the man’s eyes (Mark 8:22-26).

Created By God to Serve His Purposes

What lesson can we take away from this? It is this: God usually uses means in doing his wonderful work in this world.

God’s people get ill all the time; it is not every day that God intervenes miraculously to bring about instantaneous healing. However, God has appointed various means that serve as vehicles that convey his healing power to make us whole from various ailments. This is what Naaman, the Syrian army commander didn’t know. When he stood before Elisha the man of God, he thought that the prophet would “call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy” (2 Kings 5:11). Wrong, the prophet used means: “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed” (2Kings 5:10). It was this that healed him.

God’s people get ill all the time; it is not every day that God intervenes miraculously to bring about instantaneous healing. However, God has appointed various means that serve as vehicles that convey his healing power to make us whole from various ailments.

The physical means have been created by God and he does not throw them away but employs them to achieve his purposes. He does this not only in healing from disease. At creation, God spoke and what he wanted came into being, but in creating man, he used the dust of the earth to mould a body. Mary conceived of Jesus by the Holy Spirit but God has instituted sex as the means by which procreation takes place. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God yet God has ordained the nutrients in food as the means by which physical life is sustained. He could have sustained Elijah supernaturally but he chose a day’s meal as the means by which he sustained him for forty days. When the iron axhead, used by one of the prophets to cut a tree fell into water, Elisha cut a stick threw it there, and made the iron float. You and I know that there is nothing in a cut tree branch of itself that can make an iron axhead float except that it was only a means used to make that happen. Scripture says, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31). It is God who is decisive in the victory but he uses the horse. He doesn’t need the horse, but he uses it. Philip left the presence of the Ethiopian eunuch without a horse and was seen in Azotus, preaching the gospel (Acts 8:26-40). God doesn’t need horses but he can choose to use them as means. The articles of the Holy Communion instituted by our Lord for his remembrance or the water of baptism have no life or power in themselves except that God works through them as a means to instil spiritual realities.

God’s use of means to accomplish his purposes is a biblical truth and it is everywhere around us.

God’s use of means to accomplish his purposes is a biblical truth and it is everywhere around us.

Leaves for Healing

“Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” — Ezekiel 47:12

“Down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” — Revelation 22:2

There is no suggestion here that in the city where Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us, there will be sickness requiring the use of herbs to heal. I only want to point out that the plants that God has placed here on earth, which he did before creating man, are meant to meet the sustenance requirements of our bodies, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and they do contain substances that serve as means for healing if our bodies do get ill.

Why have I chosen to focus on God’s use of means in healing even though he uses means in many other ways? It is because this is an area where many have been led astray and even died avoidable deaths. They, like Naaman, expect that God is bound to always ‘wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.’ Recently, a nurse whom I knew died of cancer. She had refused to take her medications because a man of God told her not to, that God would heal her supernaturally without medications. Not everyone who takes drugs gets healed but hers was avoidable at the time if she had taken her meds. A medical practitioner who should have known better didn’t and it cost her life.

Drugs Are Not Unspiritual

There is nothing unspiritual about drugs. Most come from the plants around us that we eat anyway. Researchers identify target molecules – such as genes or proteins – that are believed to have the potential to contribute to the development or aggravation of a disease. This is followed by testing, performed on hundreds – sometimes thousands – of chemical or biological compounds to evaluate their ability to specifically interact with the target molecule(s), and, hence, the disease. Pre-clinical research follows where the lead compounds are tested in experimental models that come as close as possible to resembling humans. Once fully characterised, the most promising compounds become lead candidates for clinical trials and regulatory approval is obtained for clinical studies. Rigorous tests are carried out including on safety and side effects before these products become available on the market. This process can take up to 15 years. Roughly put, the same nutrients you hope to get when you consume fruits and vegetables for instance, are what you get in a drug only that this is now extracted, refined and concentrated to achieve therapeutic results. So at the bottom of it all, what you are dealing with is what God created and put on earth for our well-being, even before he created man. He knew humans would need this and he first created a conducive earth that contains these things for human use before he made man and charged him with subduing the earth and caring for it.

There is nothing unspiritual about drugs. Most come from the plants around us that we eat anyway.

Is Any Sick?

“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.” — James 5:14-15

If you are sick, do what scripture says — first, pray. Do not exalt the means above the Creator, but remember that the oil may also be a means that God will use to heal you. See a Doctor and take your medications as the case may be. The healing powers of what we call nature (which is actually God’s creation) are his gracious gift. He uses them as a means to meet human needs. He heals through material means but the true source of healing is his own divine will. Do not despise the means.