The Blasphemy Against The Holy Spirit

We've been speaking about praying to the LORD for forgiveness and promising to do the same toward those indebted to us. But is there ever an instance when we must not forgive? Is there any such command in Sacred Scripture? Is there any sin God will not forgive? Listen.

And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. - Mat 12:31-32 ESV

What is this blasphemy against the Spirit?

A man with a withered hand came to a Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath. For unknown reasons his hand was not getting blood to it. Was it gangrene? We don't know. What we do know is that the man desperately wanted to be healed and believed Jesus could do it. But it was the Sabbath and on the Sabbath all true children of Abraham could do no work. And healing a man was work.

Already the Pharisees had condemned Jesus for allowing his disciples to pluck grain heads and eat them. Jesus responded that about a thousand years before King David was given the bread of the Presence or Show-bread (Exod. 25:30; Lev. 24:5-9) by a priest. That sacred bread was to be eaten only by the priests (Exod. 28:32-33). David and his men were fleeing for their lives and in great need of food. So the priest gave them this holy bread, breaking all the rules about it.

Moreover the priests always worked on the Sabbath. In the temple on the Sabbath they had to offer lambs, flour and oil as well as other offerings. And that was surely work. Thus they desecrated the Sabbath and yet were guiltless in God's eyes.

Beyond that, something greater than the temple stood before their eyes. Jesus, the Son of Man to whom the eternal day of rest pointed, the Lord of the Sabbath, stood before them, but they did not see him. They saw only a false prophet. Yet this same Jesus, the true high priest, was to enter into the very presence of God, offering himself as the one, final sacrifice. And so true rest from the guilt of sin and the punishment of death would now be available to all who will receive it in faith.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV (consider the entire chapter)

With that response Jesus entered the Synagogue where he was confronted by the man with that withered hand. And the Pharisees were waiting. "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" they demanded.

Jesus responded by pointing out that they fed and rescued their sheep on the Sabbath. "Of how much more value is a man than a sheep!" And with that he restored the man's hand to full health.

This brought a firestorm of anger and hatred from the Pharisees. Jesus had to go. They conspired together on how to kill him. But they could not stop him—yet. He kept right on healing still others, even healing a blind and mute man oppressed by a demon. These further deeds caused them to accuse Jesus of being in the service of Satan himself. All this was, of course, blasphemy. This is why Jesus said what he did.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. - Mat 12:30-32 ESV

From this we conclude that some may—for a time—mock Jesus and be forgiven. But finally, if they reject what the Spirit has spoken in God's Word about Jesus as our High Priest, they commit blasphemy. Jesus has presented the one, final sacrifice for sin. The Spirit calls to us in that Good Word, inviting all to accept Jesus' sacrifice and so be eternally rescued from judgment and death. Turn your back upon that Gospel, join the Pharisees to pronounce Jesus as a servant of Satan, blaspheme the very Spirit of God, and you will not and cannot be forgiven. This is the unforgivable sin!

So humbly and with deepest gratitude we pray, "Our Father in heaven, forgive us our debts for the sake of Jesus, even as we promise to forgive those who are indebted to us."

The Road Less Traveled

I promised to speak about demon possession. Permit me to focus on one question in particular. Can a person ever be possessed by a fallen angel, a demon? What is the Biblical teaching on this matter and how does one go about dealing with it?

As noted in my previous post the New Testament also recounts many instances of demonic possession, mainly in the synoptic Gospel accounts of Jesus' ministry. Jesus encounters persons possessed by demons who have take them captive and who cause physical and mental affliction. For example consider the story of two demonized men in the country of the Gadarenes.

And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?" 

Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him, saying, "If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs." 

And he said to them, "Go." 

So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. - Mat 8:28-34 ESV

Here we see the Lord exercising total power over  demons by driving them out and into a herd of unclean pigs. Such an exorcism was a sign that the Kingdom of God had come (Matt. 12:22-23). Jesus has come to rescue us all from the dominion of darkness and has brought us into the Kingdom of God's Son (Col. 1:13). 

The devil made me do it 

That was then, but what about demonic possession today? Does it still happen? A Texas jury found that Andrea Yates was insane when she drowned her five children in a bathtub five years ago. A friend asked if this is an example of demonic possession? Is insanity the modern day example of demon possession?

To answer his important query I turn to a famous and oft cited nineteenth century biography of a German Lutheran pastor. The story is recorded in the landmark biography of Pastor Christoph Blumhard (1805-1880),  The Awakening: One Man's Battle With Darkness by Friedrich Bluendel. This free e-book was published by www.Plough.com and the Bruderhoff Communities of the U.K. The book is introduced as follows: 

When Blumhardt, a 19th-century pastor from the Black Forest, agreed to counsel a tormented woman in his parish, all hell broke loose—literally. But that was only the beginning of the drama that ensued. Zuendel's account, available here in English for the first time, provides a rare glimpse into how the eternal fight between the forces of good and evil plays itself out in the lives of the most ordinary men and women. More than that, it reminds us that those forces still surround us today, whether we are awake to them or not.

Blumhardt served as pastor of a Lutheran church in Moettlingen, a parish at the northern end of the Black Forest, numbering 874 souls and encompassing two villages. The youngest of three orphaned girls, Gottlieben Dittus, had many demons cast out from her through the prayerful ministrations of Pastor Blumhardt. So wondrous and awesome were these events that Pastor Blumhardt was immediately catapulted to nationwide notoriety. People by the hundreds flocked to him for healing. When criticized for using his pastoral office as an instrument for healing, Blumhardt replied,

"According to the New Testament, God wants to offer his gifts through human instruments. The gospel is to be proclaimed by servants of God, ambassadors for Christ, and these messengers are to bear spiritual gifts and powers for the church. That is why the apostles were endowed with exceptional power, both to preach and to heal.

"Christianity knows absolutely nothing of this anymore. Hence all the despair in face of misery, and the devious means many try. Hence, too, the plight medical science finds itself in: it is expected to replace by its skills what the servants of the gospel ought to provide, but have long ago forfeited. In this case, medical science is to be commended for having labored far more faithfully than the servants of the gospel, in spite of the unbelief it professes as a body" (p. 117).

What about today?

Most modern psychiatrists would mock at such an approach to insanity as primitive, simplistic and thoroughly unscientific. To be sure, not all mental illness is caused by demonic possession. However, toward the end of the twentieth century along came a psychiatrist by the name of M. Scott Peck to publish his now famous book, The Road Less Traveled (1978). I commend that book and others by the same author to you as well. Peck draws from his own practice of psychiatry to point out that not every aberrant behavior can be explained as simply another form of mental illness.

Peck says medical scientists and the churches have not been talking together as much as we might about such things as spontaneous remissions of cancer and psychic healings. The attitude of many in the medical professions is that miracle cures are nonexistent. Too many Christians feel the same way, suggesting that such things only happened back in the days of the early church. Peck says he and many other physicians have now changed their minds. Miracles do happen. He also emphasizes that demonic possession is real.

In later writings, Peck documents his own work with truly evil people and the exorcising of demons. See People of the Lie (1998) and Glimpses of the Devil : A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption (2005).

Why should we Christians be surprised by this? That is, after all, what our Bible says. Why do we Christians doubt it, whether it has to do with the healing of the body or the casting out of demons? There is a whole lot more to this world than we thought we knew about. To deny this is to fail to unify all knowledge and experience into our current understanding of human life and activity.

Here is where I stop. I am not intimate with the Andrea Yates case. I have personally had but limited experience with exorcisms. But is there still such a thing as demon possession? Yes indeed. And does Jesus still cast them out? Oh yes! And, further, do miracles of healing still happen? Most certainly! But at the same time shall we throw away all that modern medicine brings? By no means. Let us rather make sure we get into that dialog Peck points to and travel together down that road less traveled.

We Work With Him To Heal

This discussion about sickness got started because I invited you to look with me at the story in John 9 about the man born blind and Jesus' disciples asking him whose sin brought on that particular disability. Jesus' answer is very helpful.

As (Jesus) passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. - Jhn 9:1-7 ESV

Some babies are born blind or with severe vision loss. This can be caused by many different things, including defects in the eye itself, problems with the part of the brain responsible for vision, or by infections. Some of the factors placing an infant, toddler, or child at significant risk for visual impairment include:

• Prematurity, low birth weight, oxygen at birth, or bleeding in the brain
• Family history of retinoblastoma, congenital cataracts, or metabolic or genetic disease
• Infection of mother during pregnancy such as rubella, toxoplasmosis, venereal disease, herpes, cytomegalovirus or AIDS
• Problems with the central nervous system such as developmental delay, cerebral palsy, seizures, or hydrocephalus.

As you can see, there are many biological, genetic and developmental causes of vision loss. Some cause more severe loss than others. Regardless of what modern medical diagnosis one may offer for the blindness of the man referenced in John's Gospel it is critical that we hear Jesus' answer.

"It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. - Jhn 9:3 ESV

Whatever was Jesus getting at? The man had been born blind. From childhood to maturity he'd groped about in darkness. God had permitted it. Further, we know nothing about the man's faith. Neither he nor his parents approached Jesus, pleading for him to cast out some demon of blindness or to release him from the supposed bondage of Satan. In fact, we hear nothing from the man nor his parents before Jesus healed him. From what we read later the blind man was not even aware of who Jesus was (John 9:24-33). And yet Jesus made a paste of mud to put on his eyes and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam. He did and came back seeing. Quite amazing.

Back to Jesus' answer. This man's sins and the sins of his parents did not cause the blindness. His blindness was not the direct result of anyone's specific disobedience to the will and commands of God. There is no direct correlation between some particular sins and a specific disability like this man's blindness. Jesus pointed out that the eighteen Galileans who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them were no worse sinners that all the other Galileans (Luke 13:1-5). Paul teaches the same thing. All are equally guilty of sin and have earned death.

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, - Rom 3:22-24 ESV

Because of the sin of Adam we are all sinners, born into a world of sinful mankind (1 Cor 15:22). We who were to rule the earth have now pulled it down into suffering and death along with us. The whole earth is under God's curse (Gen. 3:17-19), a curse that will remain until Christ returns to make all things new (2 Peter 3:13; Romans 8:19). Yet in Christ we are set free from that curse. In Christ our sins are forgiven.

Yet sin remains with us who have been reborn in Christ in this present age and will until we receive new bodies in the promised resurrection (1 Cor 15:50-55). Meanwhile we struggle with our sinful nature and the temptations of satan throughout our lives. Even after his conversion the Apostle Paul had to acknowledge this.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. - Rom 7:18-23 ESV

So back to the man born blind. Note that Jesus does not lay out some general abstract answer to the question of sickness. He simply emphasizes that this particular man's blindness was not a result of some particular sin by him or his parents. However, here was an opportunity. This poor man needed help, whether he asked for it or not, and Jesus would not pass by without reaching out to him. That was why he made the mud poultice for his eyes and tested him by asking him to wash in the pool.

Further, it seems clear that Jesus was using this as an opportunity to teach his disciples how to do the work of God, the work of compassion and love for all caught in the suffering, pain and death of this world. Joined with Jesus as disciples, yes as members of his body, we reach out to heal and bind up those suffering in darkness and pain. And in this manner we make visible the love revealed in Jesus Christ: God loves the world and sent Jesus to set us all free.

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." - Jhn 9:4-5 ESV

Some translations have Jesus saying, "I must work the works . . ." Indeed he did and does. But an even better reading of the original text has him inviting us all to work with him, even as he works in and through us: "We must work the works of him who sent Jesus." We are God's fellow workers (1 Cor. 3:9). We work with him in this world to bring God's mercy and forgiveness and healing and wholeness for heart, mind and body. This has long been the motivating power behind medical missions, hospitals, hospice care, Christian counseling and millions upon millions of other works of mercy by Christians throughout the world. Through this work of God the light of Jesus, the light of the world is being
displayed for all to see.

This beautiful chapter of John has so much more to teach us. We will continue our study in my next posts.

Are You Sick? Its Because You Don't Believe!

Today we pick up the question about whether all sickness comes from the devil and the conclusions drawn from that claim. Those who make this claim argue like this.

• If God is all-powerful and all-good, why is there suffering in the world?  Why especially do faithful Christian suffer? Their suffering demands an interpretation.
• Jesus is the Son of God who has revealed the will of His Father. He said, "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me." - John 5:30 ESV
• Jesus never made anyone sick. By His words and actions He revealed that the will of God is to heal ONLY! 
• If you believe your sickness is God teaching you, correcting you or testing you; then you must conclude that it is something good based upon James 1:17: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."
• But is sickness ever good? Is wife beating ever good? Is child abuse ever good? If you think these are all good things then you are clearly confused and vastly deceived. I do not know of anything good about sickness. Sickness and disease is a thief and a robber of your well-being, strength, your life and substance.
• So where does sickness come from? God clearly calls sickness satanic oppression. Consider passages like this: John the Baptist proclaimed, "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. - Act 10:38 ESV
• In the revelations of God in the New Covenant given to the church we hear that "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13 - KJV). 
• The curses of the Old Covenant included all forms of disease and sickness (Deut. 28:61). If Jesus Christ came to redeem you from sickness and disease then there is NO WAY that God is sending you sickness or disease to kill you. These things come from the devil. 
• Christians who have a zeal for God, but no knowledge of God's complete will as revealed in Christ, suffer and are sick because they do not renounce Satan in the all-powerful name of Christ.  
• Those who trust in Jesus and God's Word will follow the example of Jesus who freed a woman "whom Satan bound for eighteen years" (Luke 13:16).  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability." And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. - Luk 13:12-13 ESV

____________________________________

Conclusion: If you, as a believer in Jesus, follow this rationale and are still sick, then it must be that you do not fully trust Him. You have not taken Him at His Word and renounced the devil. You have permitted Satan to have power over you. Its your problem, not Jesus'. He wants to heal you, but you won't let Him! 

_____________________________________

In a January, 2011 post I examined Jesus' healing of that woman bound by Satan as recorded in Luke 13. I urged confession of sins and the promise of forgiveness for the sake of Jesus. This is the true freedom from satanic slavery. In Christ the devil can no longer accuse us of sin. We are free indeed. And this freedom leads to wholeness. Quite often the mental or bodily sickness or dis-ease disappears. Body, heart, mind and soul become one under the blessing and power of forgiveness and the presence of the Holy Spirit. We are at peace or shalom in Christ, as Paul writes in his beautiful letter to the Philippians, 

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. - Phl 4:4-7 NLT

 Yet there is so much more that needs to be said, for there are many among us, faithful believers in Jesus as Savior and Lord, who remain sick or disabled in mind, heart and/or body. Their struggle continues even as they believe in Jesus and God's forgiveness. I must speak to them lest they be overwhelmed by the terrifying burden suggested by those "you-don't-have-the-right-faith" teachers referred to above. More on that in my next post. 

Rest At Last

Three times a year all Jewish men were required to appear before the LORD God at the three great Festivals or Feasts of Unleavened Bread (Passover), Harvest (Pentecost - 50 days after Passover) and Ingathering at the end of the year (Booths). See Exodus 23:14-17; 34:17.

As we return to a study of John 7 we see Jesus finally arriving about at the middle of the weeklong Feast of Booths (Sept.-Oct. in our numbering). He began to teach in the temple and, as usual, people were astounded by his knowledge. However, as had often happened, he was challenged not only for what he taught, but also for what he had done earlier in the year during the Passover Feast. What he had done was to heal a paralyzed man at the pool called Bethesda (John 5:1-16). What got especially the Pharisees so stirred up was not that he had healed the man, but that he had done it on the Sabbath. Not only had he healed the paralytic, he also commanded him to work on the Sabbath by carrying his pallet-bed as he walked for the first time in 38 years! This was a clear violation of the law to do no work on that day.

But they missed the entire point of the Sabbath commandment. This day was not only a day to rest, pray and be with one's family. It also pointed forward to the ultimate rest promised to God's people. When Messiah came God would bring to His people eternal rest, peace and security. Jesus pointed to the fact that he was that Messiah. In him all God's promises were to be fulfilled. He speaks about this as he says,

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matt 11:28-30 ESV

In Christ we have rest from all fear of punishment for our sins. Jesus' healing on the Sabbath points to that, especially among people who were taught that illness was a result of specific sins on the part of those who were sick (John 9:2). Again and again Jesus makes his point by healing people on the Sabbath. Examples include his

• healing a man's deformed hand (Mark 3:1-5)
• casting out a demon from a man in the Capernaum synagogue (Luke 4:33-36)
• healing a woman crippled for 18 years (Luke 13:11-17)
• healing a man suffering from dropsy (Luke 14:1-6)

The Sabbath always foreshadowed the Rest of God, the return to paradise (the experience of

Adam and Eve in the original Garden of Eden). When that blessed Rest comes, all the children

of God will dwell with Jesus in God’s eternal Seventh Day. Jesus made this promise to the

believing thief who died beside him on the cross just prior to the Passover Sabbath. “I tell you the

truth,” Jesus said, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The same promise holds

true for all believers.

The Sabbath was always the ultimate sign, pointing to Jesus as the promised Messiah and Lord of the Sabbath. He came to bring all men that mercy of God foreshadowed by the Sabbath. Mercy is what God is all about. That was why Jesus permitted his disciples to pluck heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath. That was why, a thousand years before Jesus, David and his men, fleeing for their lives, ate the showbread from the Tabernacle. That was why priests serving in the temple on the Sabbath were guiltless. Jesus emphasized again and again that the Jews rescued their sheep that had fallen into a pit and watered their cattle on the Sabbath. Surely then men were of greater value than sheep or cattle.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. - Hbr 4:9-10 ESV

This is also why the church no longer observes the Old Covenant Sabbath. What it pointed toward is now fulfilled. The Rest-Giver has come. He has offered Himself as the sacrifice for all men's sins. He has returned from death on the third day. He is now among us in His Supper. This is what we celebrate.  So we observe the commandment by gathering to worship and praise the risen Christ on His day, the Eighth Day, the day pointing toward the great Day of His return when we will have perfect rest and peace forever.

The Potent Power of Prayer

Today I continue with a careful look at reconciliation and the guidelines given to us by James, the Apostle and brother of our Lord Jesus. I want us to consider v. 16 of his instructions:

"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (James 5:13-16).

 Therefore, confess your sins to one another . . . 


The therefore suggests that this final verse can happen only after the penitent believer has been raised up and forgiven. Note carefully that the power to confess your sins to one another does not come from the sinful human heart. And it does require an inner spiritual strength the believer does not have in and of himself. This strength comes from the Holy Spirit at work in his/her heart, convincing him/her daily of forgiveness and the endless love of the Lord Jesus. Christ is the One who raises us sinners up. Christ is the One who forgives and renews our lives.

Now, empowered by the living Christ the believer sets out to complete his work. Note also to one another.

In my work as a marriage and family counselor I know from much experience that healing of the marital relationship cannot and does not happen until both partners are prepared to confess their sins to one another. And I also know that unless each makes it clear that he or she is willing to forgive, the other one will not have the strength and the courage to make such a confession. But when mutual confessing begins, then healing also begins.

This is true in a congregation when members are in conflict with one another. All involved must first be prepared to come humbly and penitently before Christ's throne of grace, receive forgiveness and rise to acknowledge that we are beggars before God. As in the hymn, "Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to the cross I cling."

Once we are prepared to confess our sins to one another and to forgive one another, new doors open. Suddenly we begin to work together to deal with the real issues and problems that divided us. I say suddenly because this seems so obvious when we look back, but our vision was clouded and blocked until we accepted one another as forgiven brothers and sisters in Christ. Once we do that we begin to see that there are indeed some answers, some solutions, some mutually agreeable ways to move forward. Marriage partners begin to have some real and frank discussions about sex, money, in-laws, the raising of their children or whatever it was that brought them into conflict. Congregation members find new ways to approach worship or confirmation practices or disagreements about the parking lot or a hundred other issues that bring on conflict.

and pray for one another, that you may be healed. . . 


Need I say it again? Healing is a gift. It comes from Jesus, the Great Physician and Healer. In the power of His Spirit, we are able to move out of our self-centeredness and begin to pray for Him to bless and rescue and guide one another. And He does. Our eyes are opened by Him. We see what should have been so obvious all the time. We hear and understand the words spoken. Now they make sense. And in our hearts we finally understand what those others were saying and doing. It all begins to come together. We become one in Christ. This is healing indeed. His power is at work in us and among us.

The prayer of a righteous man has great power as it is working. 


There is energy in such prayer, the energy and power of Jesus. It is great energy. It renews, restores, and raises us up. When a pastor confesses before his congregation that he too is a sinner and when those in conflict with him accept his forgiveness and forgive him, even as they too are forgiven—when that happens, something new, strange and wonderful begins to happen in that congregation. The true life and power and energy of Jesus, the Living Word, begins to spread among them. The same is true in families and marriages.

My prayer is that all of us who read James' instructions and guidance see it for what it is, the very Word of God. And I pray that we take it to heart and make it a part of our daily lives, in our marriages, our families and our congregations.

James concludes this section of his teaching by reminding us of Elijah who prayed that his people might be led to confess their sins. They had to endure the pain and loss of  three and a half years of drought and then rain.  This led to Elijah's confrontation with King Ahab's prophets of Baal and ultimately to a radical renewal of faith in the land. Not only did the earth bear fruit. The Word of God began to nurture and bear new fruit in the hearts of believers. This too is my prayer, that new fruit may be born in the hearts of us all (Luke 8:8).

Incomplete Healing

For the past couple weeks I've been meditating on the ministry of reconciliation and focusing especially on the guidance the Apostle James gives,

"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (James 5:13-16).

 I pick up today's meditations at v. 15, "the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick. . ."


Obviously prayer of any sort cannot save anyone. Our eternal salvation rests forever upon our Lord's sacrificial life and death (Acts 4:12). James certainly knew that. What then did he mean to say? The word save is part of our problem. We are talking about sickness, most especially sickness of heart and soul. This is far more important than the physical illnesses any of us may suffer. At stake is our eternal destiny. Should we lose our faith in Jesus, we have nothing to offer in payment for our sins—nothing. Our salvation rests completely upon our trust and faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21-25). So James speaks about the prayer of one who believes in the one and only Savior. In Jesus that believer finds forgiveness. In Jesus he receives renewed life and an outpouring of Christ's Spirit. His prayers for mercy and forgiveness turn into praise and thanksgiving.

James continues, "and the Lord will raise him up." 


Jesus can and does raise us up from our sickness, just as he gave the paralyzed man renewed strength to rise from his bed and go home (Matthew 9:5-7). For that we do indeed pray, but Jesus gives us an even greater gift when we throw ourselves upon His mercy. That more significant life is received when we die with Jesus in baptism and rise with him to a life that will never end (Romans 6:4-9; 8:11). That dying and rising happens each time we confess our sins and receive forgiveness. Healed by the presence and power of Jesus, our physical being is often restored and raised up. Yet even if the Lord allows our faith to be tested by continued illness, we find peace and hope in our hearts because our sins are fully and completely forgiven and we are the Lord's.


"and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." 


When faith has been weakened by idolatry, lust, slander, shame, fear, doubt, the loss of vocation and on and on, the believer needs to hear Jesus speak to him/her individually, "Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace." It is not enough to hear some general absolution spoken in Sunday worship. The forgiveness longed for must be spoken to the specific sinner and to his or her specific sins. And then joy comes. And with that joy comes renewed strength for the next task. Listen to James.

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed." 


As I said in my previous blog, more often than not further work remains. The sins confessed have broken and destroyed relationships and lives. Before moving forward the pastor knows he must be reconciled with those who slandered and maligned him. The adulterous husband longs for forgiveness and peace between himself and his estranged wife and children. The schemer who has bilked clients out of thousands of dollars wants more than to pay off his debts. This is the healing James speaks about and it takes hundreds of different shapes and forms, but healing can and does happen when we open our lives to Jesus. He is the healer of all our diseases (1 Peter 2:24).

Yet all too often the pastor who has been driven to despair by conflicts with congregation members, accepts a Call to another congregation. His sickness has not been healed. Wounded and only partially healed of his heart illness, that pastor may carry his disease into his new congregation. Wounded and damaged by their conflict with that pastor, those same former congregation members no longer trust any pastor. When a new pastor arrives in their midst the same conflicts break out and the illness continues.

The wife offended, hurt and severely damaged by her husband's unfaithfulness, sues for a divorce. She wants nothing less than never to see him again. The pain and suffering in her heart continue. Her husband, in turn, continues to carry guilt and shame for what he has done, even though he has confessed his sins and received forgiveness. The healing for the relationship and the family is certainly incomplete.

The schemer who tricked fellow Christians out of their life savings may have repaid his debts, but he has not and cannot heal the soul sickness that he has caused. Much work remains.

Only when sinners confess their sins to one another and learn to pray for one another, can there be healing, the healing that comes only from the Great Physician. He said, "I came that you may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).

I will discuss this process in more detail next time.

Sin, Sickness And Healing

When you study the New Testament seriously you come upon some curious passages about illness. I consider the following one of them. It's about a woman who appears to have had idiopathic scoliosis, advancing for the past eighteen years. We don't know that, of course. All physician Luke says is that she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. He goes on to record Jesus' healing and this comment by Jesus to the ruler of the local synagogue (Luke 13:11-17).

"And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" 

Why does our Lord describe her illness as a binding by Satan? Curious, to say the least. The idea of binding is common in the N.T. Strong men are tied up, a demoniac couldn't be bound with chains, colts are tied to a post and—note this—Jesus gives Peter and the other disciples the authority to bind and to loose (Matthew 16:17-19). This authority is called "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" and is invariably understood within the church to refer to the authority to forgive or retain forgiveness of sins.

Is there a connection between illness and unforgiven sins? Most assuredly or should I say sadly. Here's what the Apostle James writes:

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed" (James 5:16).

When James describes people being sick he chooses a verb (kamno in Greek) used only one other time in the N.T. in Hebrews 12:3. In that chapter the Hebrews author talks about struggling with sin, particularly when the struggle is against others who are hostile and angry with you. As I read that I can't help but think about the many families in which there are daily conflicts between husband and wife, between parents and children and between siblings. The quarrels and hostility never end. That's why the Hebrews writer urges us to consider Jesus so that we don't get weary (kamno = sick) and lose heart, become discouraged and give up in body, mind and soul.

I can imagine this woman enduring 18 years of this kind of life until she was bent over with discouragement and hopelessness. She would never get out of her marriage. She would never be rid of the man who beat her down with his bitter words, his endless demands, his demeaning remarks and  his frequent physical attacks.

Then along comes our Lord, fully aware of what has been going on, intimately aware of the true nature of her sickness. He calls her to Himself and, laying his hands on her, says, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness, your weakness, your disability." In other words, "Ma'am, God loves you even if your husband hates you. I love you and accept you into my fellowship. Feel my hands upon you. I want to be in touch with you right now and forever to bless and guide you. You are not the stupid, ignorant, useless pile of garbage that man has been saying you are all these years. You are a precious, wondrous and beautiful daughter of God. So straighten up. Move on. I'm with you and together we'll make it through the days ahead until one day we will dwell together in the Father's house."

Perhaps this good news will help you, dear reader, as well. Satan cannot condemn you now that Jesus is in your life. He may send demons to accuse, mock and malign you through members of your family, people at work or your so-called friends. Their ugly words may be making you sick, bending you over with and weighing you down with suffering, pain and weariness. But consider Jesus. Go to your pastor or a believing brother or sister. Tell them about your sin, weakness and sorrow. Confess your part in all of this. Then open yourself to allow them to speak the words of Jesus upon you so you may be forgiven, loosed and freed. Discover the freedom that is rightly yours in Christ. And then move on with your life under the blessing of Jesus, your Savior and Redeemer.

Satan's Reign Has Ended

I'm currently discussing the power of Satan and demons. One of the most interesting Bible passages in the New Testament is the following:

He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.  Luke 10:18-19

 Several important questions arise:

• What does it mean that the Lord Jesus saw Satan fall like lightning? 
• When, how and why did this happen? 
• What is this authority that the Lord gives to His disciples? 
• And what does it mean to overcome all the enemy's power? 
• In turn, just what power does the enemy have? 

First to the context. Jesus had quite a crowd of advance PR people, if I may call them that, seventy to be exact (Exodus 1:5; 24:1-9). He sent them ahead in pairs to announce His coming. Their task was to go to the villages to announce that Jesus was coming and to share this message: "The kingdom of God has come near to you." Their particular work: "Heal the sick." And stay, He instructed, with those who invite you. If unwelcome in any village, they were to say, "Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near." Then they were to move on since a curse would now fall on the town that rejected the coming Messianic King (Luke 10:12-16).

So what was this "kingdom of God" that was to come near? In fulfillment of prophecy (Daniel 2:44), Jesus came to re-establish God's reign in the hearts and lives of men. It was and is a hidden kingdom, known only to those reborn by the work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-21). The Spirit worked by means of God's Word proclaimed by these same disciples (Luke 9:2) to create this new birth. Evidence of the kingdom's power was seen particularly in the healing of the sick. Jesus himself healed a wide variety of illnesses common among the people (Matt. 4:24), freeing people from demonic control. The disciples in turn received the same power as they proclaimed the good news of the kingdom's arrival. Thus people had strong evidence of who was among them and of what the re-establishment of God's reign meant in practical terms.

This statue by Rocardo Beliver (1877) in Parque del Buen Retiro, Madrid, Spain, is probably the only public statue in the world dedicated to the devil. It depicts Lucifer, the fallen angel who was cast out of heaven to become Satan.

There is much to be said and taught about all this. There are great implications for the ministry and work of Jesus' disciples in our day. Note first that our Lord Jesus teaches most clearly that we have a great enemy whose power we dare not take lightly. He is known as Satan, the great spirit who claims to be the rightful ruler of the entire earth (Matthew 4:8-9). Once among the greatest and most powerful of all the angelic powers, he rebelled and was consequently cast out of deep heaven and confined to the earth (Ezekiel 28:12-19; Isaiah 14:3-23). Our Lord Jesus witnessed and commanded this judgment before human history, for Satan appeared in the form of a beautiful serpent already in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-6). He continues to disguise his presence by working through and in men's thoughts, words and actions (Matthew 16:23). 


Locked out of heaven, Satan and the rebel spirits under his control continue their warfare (Ephesians 6:10-20), irrationally determined somehow to win. In their anger, hatred and sorrow they now bring death and destruction to all inhabitants of the earth. They do this by leading kings and rulers into one war after the other all over this planet and by encouraging people at all levels of life to hate, accuse, abuse and murder one another. The havoc, suffering and chaos they promote is nearly unlimited. Uncounted millions have died and millions more will die because of Satan's horrible power over mankind.

Our Lord Jesus has appeared among us to re-assert His rightful rule, but in a strange and wondrous manner. Instead of coming to condemn and destroy all of us humans for our idiotic following of satanic rule, he came to rescue us at the cost of His own priceless life. This is the central message of the reborn sons and daughters of Adam. Christ died for us and rose again. In our baptism He has taken us with Him, out of death and the power of Satan into His own glorious kingdom (Romans 5:6-8; 6:1-11; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 2:14-15).


There is great healing power in that message, that Good News. We do well to realize this and to proclaim it fervently. More on what this has to do with satanic rule another day.