I know a story about a baby born prematurely after an exceedingly difficult pregnancy.

Soon after delivery, a doctor told the child’s father, “You have a son, but I’m sorry to inform you his heart stopped.”

Although the medical team managed to restart his heart, the infant’s situation remained critical. Three more times that day, the child required resuscitation.

Finally, the doctor said, “If the baby’s heart stops again, we are going to let him go. He has been deprived of oxygen for too long.”

Knowing the father was a pastor, the doctor added, “Please don’t pray for his recovery.”

The pastor responded, “Doctor, all I know to do is pray.”

God superbly created the human body. When injured or ill, our bodies can repair themselves over time.

The human mind is a creative marvel as well. Skilled professionals treat illnesses, set bones, perform surgery, discover cures, and inoculate against diseases.

As Creator, God deserves the credit for healing, whether through natural design or the intelligence and diligence He gives us.

At the same time, God offers healing for sickness and injury beyond natural or medical remedy. That is what we call “divine healing.”

In the Old Testament

The Old Testament brings us into a world where God works miracles, including healing. By faith, we realize it is the same world we live in now (Hebrews 11).

One cannot do justice to the biblical witness on healing in a brief summary, but seven key points are worth highlighting.

1. God is the only source for divine healing. Ancient people often blurred the lines between miracles, magic, and medicine. They prayed to gods and engaged in occultic practices while seeking the help of doctors. Yet the Bible places divine healing in God’s hands.

People may seek healing through all the means God has given, including medical help (2 Kings 20:7), so long as those means do not replace God (2 Chronicles 16:12).

God is sovereign in all things. Appealing to other supernatural powers is strictly forbidden.

2. Healing points to life, just as sickness reflects death. Sickness is a reminder that our physical bodies are decaying. Healing is a restoration to life, however temporarily.

In Hebrew, the language for healing applies to other types of restoration. What God heals, He also restores.

Whether describing restoration to physical health, spiritual integrity, or societal justice, healing language permeates Scripture.

3. Divine healing reveals God as the Giver of life. The first divine healing occurs in Genesis 20, when Abraham intercedes over the barrenness of Abimelek’s household.

Many Old Testament healings involve the ability to bring forth life (Genesis 21:1; 25:21; 30:22; 1 Samuel 1:9–20), while in a few instances, God brings back people from the dead (1 Kings 17:17–24; 2 Kings 4:18–37; 13:21).

These types of healings bookend the story of Jesus, which begins with a healing from infertility (1:24–25) and ends with Christ’s resurrection (24:6).

4. Nothing is beyond God’s ability to heal. After transforming the bitter waters at Marah, God told the Israelites they could avoid the plagues that came on Egypt by following Him obediently. “For I am the Lord, who heals you,” God declared (Exodus 15:26).

God heals disabilities (1 Kings 13:4–6), chronic diseases (2 Kings 5:1–14), terminal illnesses (Isaiah 38:1–8), and mental health problems (Daniel 4:34–37).

Healing led Namaan to declare, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel” (2 Kings 5:15).

5. Illness and disability can have a variety of causes. These include old age (Genesis 27:1), accidents (2 Samuel 4:4), satanic attacks (Job 2:7), and divine judgment (Numbers 12:9–10).

In the prophetic books, God’s promise of a future restoration includes divine healing as a sign of forgiveness. Isaiah envisions the blind seeing, deaf hearing, lame walking, and mute speaking (Isaiah 35:5–6).

In some cases, Scripture does not reveal the cause of an illness (2 Kings 13:14).

The Book of Job emphasizes that not all illnesses or hardships are the result of divine judgment, and not everyone who suffers deserves it. For those who are not healed, God orders community care (Leviticus 19:14).

Where illness is not the result of judgment, no repentance is required for healing. Every healing, though, remains an act of God’s grace.

6. Where sickness comes from judgment, divine healing demonstrates forgiveness. Thus, the Psalmist says God “forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3).

In the prophetic books, God’s promise of a future restoration includes divine healing as a sign of forgiveness. Isaiah envisions the blind seeing, deaf hearing, lame walking, and mute speaking (Isaiah 35:5–6). Restoration extends to the hurting and oppressed (Isaiah 61:1–3).

Isaiah 53:4–5 foresees a suffering servant who would endure pain for the healing and forgiveness of others: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

7. Divine healing in the Old Testament can point to the work of Christ in the New Testament. For example, in Numbers 21:4–9, God punished Israel’s sin with venomous snakes. After the people repented, God told Moses to place a bronze serpent on a pole. Bite victims who looked at the symbol recovered.

Jesus referenced this story while speaking of His crucifixion to come (John 3:14–15).

In the New Testament

In the New Testament, divine healing centers around the person of Jesus.

As promised in the Old Testament, divine healing exemplifies the coming of God’s kingdom. In the New Testament, healing also serves as evidence for the identity of its King.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus healed a wide range of ailments and injuries — from chronic conditions to severed body parts — and even raised the dead.

When an imprisoned John the Baptist inquired about Jesus’ ministry, the report was, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor” (Matthew 11:4–5).

In other words, Isaiah’s prophesy of the coming Kingdom was being fulfilled (35:5–6; 61:1).

Many of those ailments and impairments would have prevented people from fully participating in the worshipping community. By healing the sick, Jesus restored them in more ways than one.

Jesus rejected the manufactured rule of not healing on the Sabbath. His miracles pointed to God’s wondrous liberation, a freedom that belongs to the Sabbath. Who Jesus healed, and when He healed them, revealed the in-breaking of God’s kingdom.

Healings happened in different ways. People usually came to Jesus requesting a miracle, but sometimes Jesus initiated the interaction (John 5:6).

Most healings were instantaneous, but not all (Mark 8:22–25).

Jesus sometimes referenced the recipient’s faith as a factor (Luke 8:48). Other times, He never mentioned faith.

Some illnesses were related to sin (John 5:14). In other cases, no one had sinned (John 9:3).

In every instance, though, Jesus healed because people had a genuine need. Jesus healed women and men, children and adults, strangers and friends, and Gentiles as well as Jews.

Healing remains a work of grace. The sacrifice that brings forgiveness of sins also welcomes us into a Kingdom of healing inaugurated by Jesus from the beginning. Matthew quotes Isaiah’s prophecy of a suffering servant to interpret Jesus’ healing ministry in anticipation of the Cross (Matthew 8:16–17), which justifies our healing.

Divine healing offers a temporary fix for our mortal bodies, while the resurrection leads to incorruptible bodies healed entirely of the effects of sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:53–54; 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17).

Through Jesus, divine healing serves as a sign of God’s kingdom. As such, it remains deeply embedded in Christ’s work of salvation and anticipates our future resurrection.

Divine healing is also part of the Holy Spirit’s work. As He spoke of going to the Father and sending the Spirit, Jesus told the disciples they would “do even greater things” than the works they had witnessed (John 14:12–17).

In Acts 1:8, Jesus further explained that His followers would receive power for bearing witness to the ends of the earth. That power can be expressed through signs and wonders in evangelism, where divine healing opens the door for people to accept the Gospel (Luke 5:17–26; Acts 3:1–4:4; 9:40–42; 14:3).

After the Day of Pentecost, believers operated in the gift of healing with miracles mirroring Jesus’ ministry, including casting out demons, restoring mobility, and raising the dead (Acts 8:5–7; 9:32–41).

The last chapter of Acts depicts Paul surviving a deadly snake bite, which echoes the story of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21. Because Jesus was lifted up, His disciples can now shake off biting snakes (Acts 28:5).

Divine healing is part of the Church’s ministry. It is among the “spiritual gifts” God provides for the edification of believers (1 Corinthians 12:9,28).

Paul practiced the ministry of healing, but also recognized the complexities associated with it. He understood that suffering can be the result of divine judgment (1 Corinthians 11:27–32) or spiritual warfare (2 Corinthians 12:7).

Suffering can also be an ordinary part of discipleship (Romans 8:17) or a result of the current natural order (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Three of Paul’s co-workers experienced illnesses that are not attributed to a particular cause (Philippians 2:25–30; 1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20).

Believers who are not healed can still glorify God. Paul sought God’s deliverance from a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7–10). Whether this “thorn” was a physical ailment or some other affliction, Paul accepted God’s denial of his request to remove it and relied on His strength to endure it.

James recognized that some illnesses are the result of divine judgment, while others are not (James 5:15–16).

In either case, James called for church elders to pray over and anoint the sick in the name of the Lord.

James 5:14–16 highlights five elements of divine healing ministry in a local church: corporate prayer; anointing (as a sign of the Spirit); calling on the Lord’s name; faith; and confession of sin when needed.

In Church History

The Church continued to preach and practice divine healing through the Middle Ages.

Over time, a sacrament developed around healing, Anointing of the Sick, based on James 5:14–16. Also known as Final Anointing or Extreme Unction, this sacrament was typically reserved in practice for those near death.

Through Jesus, 
divine healing 
serves as a sign 
of God’s kingdom. 
As such, it remains 
deeply embedded 
in Christ’s work 
of salvation and 
anticipates our 
future resurrection.

As an extrabiblical theology of saints emerged, suffering people sought the intercession of deceased believers. This association between miracles and saints, as well as rejection of the sacramental system, led many Protestants to abandon divine healing.

Protestant proponents of cessationism taught that the completed Bible ended the need for miracles, including divine healing, in the life of the Church.

Some saw the Bible as a replacement for the Spirit in unifying, empowering, sanctifying, and guiding the Church. Without recognizing the Spirit’s work, they could not appreciate the reality of healing.

Yet in the wake of Protestant revivals, an emphasis on divine healing grew during the 19th century alongside other movements. This belief in divine healing became associated with the Holiness Movement, restorationism (an effort to rediscover the experience and practice of the New Testament Church), and the spread of premillennialism among Protestants.

Twentieth-century Pentecostalism emerged from the overlapping Holiness, Restorationist, Dispensationalist, and Divine Healing movements.

The phrase “fourfold gospel,” or “full gospel,” became an easy way to summarize the Pentecostal message. Pentecostals preached Jesus as Savior, Spirit Baptizer, Healer, and Soon-Coming King.

In preaching Jesus, Pentecostals also proclaimed the continued availability of divine healing. By practicing divine healing, Pentecostals declared the good news.

Many people came to Pentecostal meetings because they needed a miracle. Then they joined Pentecostal churches because they had experienced healing. As in the Book of Acts, the Movement grew through signs and wonders (2:43,47).

Fundamental Truths

Article 12 in the Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths makes three profound statements about divine healing, defining it as an integral part of the gospel, a provision of the Atonement, and a privilege of all believers.

As an “integral part of the gospel,” proclamation is incomplete without divine healing. For Pentecostals, the full gospel includes all that Jesus offers.

Christ can save and restore our souls, heal and deliver our bodies, and empower and revive the Church — and He will ultimately resurrect the dead and renew creation.

Divine healing is simply part of the larger redemptive picture. To put it another way, because Jesus is our Savior, He is also our Healer.

To say that “deliverance from sickness is provided for in the Atonement” means the atoning death of Christ serves as a new foundation for the promise of divine healing.

When God’s servant suffers for sins in Isaiah 53:4–5, the salvation that results also brings healing. Matthew 8:16–17 directly quotes this passage in reference to Jesus’ healing ministry in anticipation of the Cross.

Where forgiveness covers all our sins, healing serves as a promise of a world in which death and sickness no longer reign. Divine healing through Jesus rests on the Atonement and prepares us for the resurrection.

As “the privilege of all believers,” divine healing belongs to every Christ follower. Article 7 similarly uses language of privilege, speaking of Spirit baptism as an experience to which “all believers are entitled.”

These terms do not suggest we can earn God’s gifts. Jesus is our Savior, Healer, and Spirit Baptizer by God’s grace.

The same Spirit who empowers us for ministry brings healing to our bodies — and is available to all who repent (Acts 2:38).

Not only is healing a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12:1,9), but every Spirit-empowered Christian can be part of someone’s healing since prayer for the sick remains a ministry for the community of believers (James 5:15–16).

The last biblical text Article 12 cites is James 5:14–16. This passage highlights the church’s role in divine healing, with responsibility for prayer including the elders of the church.

We have both hope and assurance in the name of Jesus. Every believer has the right to pray and believe for healing.

This does not mean, however, that God will answer every prayer for healing the way we expect. God answers according to His perfect understanding of our need, which is not always what we see or expect.

The Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead and is already at work in our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). Jesus’ resurrection guarantees everlasting life for all believers.

Our ultimate deliverance from bodily corruption will happen at Christ’s return (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). Jesus is our Savior, Healer, Spirit Baptizer, and Soon-Coming King!

Divine healing in this life is a temporary fix pointing to eternal restoration. Because death is the last enemy to be destroyed, it remains among us until the final judgment (1 Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 20:14).

God will not bring that judgment until He is ready (2 Peter 3:9). Miracles in our world are signs of the world to come, which we await as our bodies “groan” for their full redemption (Romans 8:23–25).

Because Jesus rose again, we no longer face death as a destination, but merely as a passage on our way to the resurrection. We can and should pray for divine healing as part of the fullness of the gospel, but not because we are afraid of death.

We pray for healing so we can continue serving God in this life with whatever time He gives us. For over two millennia, death has come for believers, but God has already removed its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55).

Pastoral Practice

For our churches to have a ministry of divine healing, we need to preach and teach it. In doing so, we must take care regarding to how we treat healing as a sign, how we speak of faith as a need for healing, how we handle ongoing illnesses, and how we teach healing in light of the resurrection.

Divine healing still serves a purpose in evangelism as part of signs and wonders. Miracles can break people’s expectation of the ordinary. God can use healing to get someone’s attention and draw them to himself.

Our ultimate deliverance from bodily corruption will happen at Christ’s return 
(1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). Jesus is 
our Savior, Healer, 
Spirit Baptizer, and 
Soon-Coming King!

Just as we cannot help but preach healing if we proclaim the full gospel, so we cannot help but preach the gospel when proclaiming healing. In pointing people to the Savior, we also point them to the Healer, and vice versa.

What divine healing demonstrates is the gospel’s truth, not whatever else a particular minister preaches. Miracles are not a litmus test for the particulars of our theologies, but an act of God’s grace for the good of those in need, to the praise of His glory.

Faith is a necessary ingredient for those seeking healing, though God may grant healing to whomever He chooses. Jesus healed people who were not expecting it, but a lack of faith in some places prevented Him from doing more (Matthew 13:58).

Persisting in prayer is certainly biblical. Yet faith is an appropriate response to God, not a currency that must add up before God is willing to act. God does not withhold healing because we have not believed hard enough or prayed long enough.

Since Jesus is our Great Physician, we already have enough faith when we look to Him for the answer. We should never suggest a person is doing something wrong simply because he or she has not received healing.

If the Lord is teaching something or calling someone to repentance through an illness, He will make that clear enough for the individual to accept or reject His message. We do not have to invent a reason.

We may never know what, if any, purpose the pain served. It is not our place to solve the mystery of someone else’s suffering, just as it wasn’t for Job’s friends.

A congregation’s response to sickness should be prayer, testimony and care. As pastors, we must lead in the ministry of healing. This includes responding to the sick by offering opportunities for anointing, laying on of hands, and the prayer of faith.

Testimonies following a healing glorify God, encourage believers, and bear witness to God’s kingdom. If someone does not receive healing immediately, the congregation should continue providing prayer and support in faith.

Our faith is in the Miracle Giver, not a desired outcome. We continue trusting and honoring God, no matter how He answers.

We must take great care to preach divine healing as a sign of the resurrection and not a replacement for our doctrine of resurrection.

When God heals, He is showing His victory over death and pointing to the new creation that is yet to come. His will is not to keep healing mortal bodies, but create incorruptible bodies beyond the reach of any sickness.

That does not let us off the hook from preaching healing, because healing now confirms God’s promise of resurrection in the future.

The healing we preach should not be at odds with our faith in the resurrection. Rather, one should reinforce the other. The One who saves and heals us is coming back for us, whether we are alive or dead.

When we preach healing, we must proclaim Jesus in His fullness.

What About the Baby?

Anticipating the worst from extended oxygen deprivation, the doctor advised against praying or hoping.

The following day, on a Sunday afternoon, some church members visited the hospital and saw their pastor’s newborn hooked up to multiple machines.

During the service that evening, those congregants reported that the baby would likely die.

The minister leading the service abandoned his plans and asked the entire church to pray together until someone heard from God.

No one left as prayer continued for two hours. Finally, an elderly intercessor announced that God had healed the baby.

At the hospital the next morning, the doctor could not explain the change. The previous night as the church prayed, the baby’s condition went from critical to normal as though someone had flipped a switch.

Medical workers removed the baby from the machines and fed him without a problem.

Even as the doctor signed off on the newborn’s release to go home, he warned the parents that there would be brain damage. The child would not develop normally, and might never learn to walk or talk.

The pastor immediately responded, “Doctor, God doesn’t do a halfway job. The God who healed our baby’s lungs will heal our baby’s brain.”

At the first checkup a few weeks later, the doctor exclaimed with surprise that the infant was on track developmentally.

From that time on, the doctor called the child “miracle baby” because there was no medical explanation for his recovery.

That baby did grow up to walk and talk, study and learn, and even preach and write about God’s goodness.

With a parent’s faith and a praying church — but foundationally, by the work of Christ — God healed me. I believe in divine healing because I was that baby.

This article appears in the Summer 2025 issue of Influence magazine.