| HIGHLIGHTS OF DAWN | May 1994 |
ONE OF THE burning issues confronting the government of the United States and the American people, is the matter of the cost of health care having soared so high that it is prohibitive to a large percentage of our population.
Several universal health plans have been proposed over the last few years, but have never found enough agreement between the members of government and the medical community to come into being and benefit the people.
Currently the president’s health insurance plan is under debate, and many are predicting its defeat because of the enormous cost it will entail—upon the government, business and industry, and taxpayers.
It boils down to a situation where we cannot afford to have it; but on the other hand we cannot afford to be without it. Like so many of the problems unique to our day, it seems not to have a workable solution.
Any solution, however, is like putting a patch on an old garment. Health care at best is a matter of adding a few more years to a dying process—in many cases making a person as comfortable as possible until the inevitable end arrives.
Man alone can offer no permanent answer to lasting health and life.
But there is an answer.
Permanent Health and Life Assurance
GOD IS REPRESENTED as a Great Physician who heals all G the diseases of his people. (Ps. 103:3) The Prophet Isaiah foretold a time when “the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.” (Isa. 33:24) The same sacred writer prophesied that all the blind eyes would be opened, and all the deaf ears unstopped. He also promised that the lame would leap, and the dumb sing.—Isa. 35:5,6
Disease and death are man’s greatest enemies. We know this from observation and experience, for the germs of disease and decrepitude are working in all of us, leading gradually to disability, old age, and finally death. In spite of the best efforts of twentieth century medical science, millions are struck down by death while they are still young. Every aspect of life is made uncertain by the certainty of death. One of the things which stamps the Bible with the mark of authenticity is the fact that it proclaims the reality of death and explains its origin.
Diseases of all kinds are simply an evidence that the human race is dying. They are the concomitants of death, and the Apostle Paul informs us that Christ must reign until he has destroyed death. (I Cor. 15:25,26) The destruction of death will include the destruction of disease which leads to death. The Apostle John, describing the meaning of the vision given to him by Christ on the Isle of Patmos, said that a time was coming when there would be no more death, that God would wipe away tears from off all faces, that there would be no more pain, and that sorrow and sighing would end.—Rev. 21:4
Not only do the Scriptures promise that it is God’s purpose to make an end of sin and death, but the prophecies also reveal that this would be done through Christ, that through him health and life would come to the people. The fact is emphasized by a message Jesus sent to John the Baptist. John had been imprisoned, and while previously he had announced Jesus as the foretold Messiah, and thoroughly believed that he was, he later wondered and sought reassurance. In this frame of mind he sent two of his disciples to Jesus asking, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”—Matt. 11:3
Jesus asked the messengers to return to John and tell him what they had seen—that the sick were being healed, that blind eyes were being opened, that the dead were being raised, and that the poor were having the Gospel preached to them. Jesus knew that John the Baptist would take these things as proof that the Messiah, the Christ, truly had come, for John knew that these were the works which God had promised the Messiah would accomplish on behalf of the people.
As we have already seen, the apostles, as well as Jesus, practiced divine healing. An example of this was the healing by Peter of the lame man who sat “at the Beautiful gate of the Temple” asking alms. (Acts 3:1-11) This man had been lame from the time of his birth; but when Peter gave the word of authority, he was restored to soundness of limb. When the people inquired by what authority and power this man had been healed, Peter explained that it was through Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had crucified.
But Peter did not stop with this answer to their question. Instead, he explained that after Jesus Christ returned, there would be “times of restitution of all things.” This time of general restitution, or restoration, Peter further explained, had been foretold by the mouth of all God’s holy prophets since the world began.—Acts 3:19-23
The lesson here is clear, and the conclusion unmistakable. Peter had healed a lame man. It was accomplished through his belief in Christ. Using this as the basis of his sermon, the apostle explained that there would be a time of general restoration following the second coming of Christ, and that it was this which all God’s prophets had foretold. God’s program of health and life for the people, therefore, was not due to be inaugurated until after the second coming of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom.
This feature of the divine plan has not failed, nor will it fail. When put into operation, it will result in a complete fulfillment of all the divine promises of health and life. All the blind eyes will be opened; all the deaf ears will be unstopped; all the lame will be healed. No one the wide world over who accepts the provision of God’s grace through Christ will then need to say, “I am sick.”
We see that the public mind in ancient times expected some outstanding demonstration of divine authority and power on the part of those whom they accepted as having been sent by God. Israel’s God had fought for them in battle and destroyed their enemies. Some of his prophets had raised the dead. The Jews in Jesus’ day would find it difficult to accept Jesus as the greatest of all their prophets, the one, indeed, whom all their prophets said would come, if his works were not greater than all the previous prophets.
This was one reason that Jesus’ ministry was accompanied by miracles—the healing of the sick and the raising of the dead. And in doing this he was also giving object lessons of what he, as the promised Messiah, would do for the whole world, and upon a permanent basis, when God’s due time would come for this feature of the divine plan to be inaugurated.
It is God’s will that ultimately all who accept Christ and obey the laws of his kingdom will be restored to health and live forever as human beings. Each of the holy prophets, in one way or another, foretold a worldwide program of health and life. Jesus referred to it as a time of “regeneration.” (Matt. 19:28) As already noted, the Apostle Peter described it as the “times of restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:19-21) But Jesus did not initiate this program at his First Advent, nor did he promise any of his disciples that they could expect to be divinely cured of their physical ailments because of their faith in him.
The work of restoring the human race to life is to be accomplished during the thousand-year reign of Christ. The Scriptures clearly teach that Christ’s kingdom is not established until after his return. (Acts 3:19-21) During the short period of Jesus’ First Advent ministry, he preached the hope of the kingdom; and in connection with his oral message he gave many practical demonstrations of what kingdom blessings would mean for the people when the due time arrived for the promises of God to be fulfilled. Jesus’ miracles, as we have already noted, were not designated to initiate a program of miracles for this present age, but were intended to be illustrations of the divine program for the kingdom age.
Leprosy was prevalent in Jesus’ day, and, even as now, it was considered incurable. Because of this it was a fitting symbol of sin, which, from the standpoint of human ability, is also incurable. Death came into the world as a result of sin; so when Jesus cleansed the lepers of his day, he was illustrating the divine intention ultimately to remove the blight of sin from the earth and to destroy death, the result of sin.
On this point the Lord had promised, through the Prophet Isaiah: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” (Isa. 1:18,19) Notice that the promise does not assure a home in heaven, but that the willing and obedient ‘shall eat the good of the land’, and this because their sins have been cleansed away.
Blind Eyes Shall Be Opened!
The Prophet Isaiah, in his forecast of the time when the human race would be restored to health and life, wrote that all the blind eyes would be opened. It was in keeping with this that Jesus, in order to show forth the glory of his coming kingdom work, restored sight to some of the blind in his day.—Isa. 35:5,6
Isaiah also prophesied that the time would come when “the lame man shall leap as an hart,” and Jesus restored some of the cripples of his day and thus foreshadowed still further the coming ‘times of restitution of all things’.
Even death itself will be destroyed by divine power. The Lord “will swallow up death in victory,” we are assured in this same Old Testament prophecy, “and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.” (Isa. 25:8) Jesus illustrated this promised victory over death by awakening some from the sleep of death, thus demonstrating that death does not stand in the way of the divine plan for restoring the people to health and life.
While Jesus awakened some who were asleep in death, they did not remain alive. But all who are awakened during the Millennium and who then obey the laws of that new kingdom will gain life everlasting. The purpose of their awakening will be to give them the opportunity to believe and obey and live forever. It will be only those who do not obey that will be “destroyed from among the people.”—Acts 3:23
What a wonderful program of healing and restoration that will be! It is symbolically described in the prophecy of Malachi as the rising of the “Sun of righteousness, with healing in his wings.” (Mal. 4:2) What a meaningful illustration! For 6,000 years the people have been enshrouded in the darkness of sin, sickness, and death. Satan, the god of this “present evil world” has blinded their minds concerning the true God of love. (II Cor. 4:4; Gal. 1:4) Not knowing God, they have stumbled on in darkness over the “broad road” that leads to destruction.—Matt. 7:13,14
But when the kingdom of Christ becomes operative for the blessing of the people, how different it will be! The ‘Sun of righteousness’ will then be shining. Associated with Jesus in . this work of enlightening and blessing the world will be his church. Concerning these, Jesus himself said that they would “shine forth as the sun” in that glorious kingdom.—Matt. 13:43
Yes, they will share with him in these ‘greater works’ which Jesus promised. And how much better that will be than the healing efforts attempted today. God’s ways and plans are always better than those of men. So let us continue to pray for his kingdom to come, and for his will to be done in earth, even as it is now done in heaven. When this prayer is answered, it will be true, as foretold by the Prophet Isaiah, that “the inhabitant [of that day] shall not say, I am sick.”—Isa. 33:24
Of Jehovah, the Great Physician, the psalmist wrote: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Ps. 103:3-5) How clearly is thus set forth the Creator’s ultimate purpose concerning the human race. It was sin—disobedience to divine law—that brought sickness and death to the human race. But in this reassuring promise we are informed that, through the redeeming love of God, iniquity will be forgiven, resulting in the healing of all diseases.
And how wonderful is the promise that those who are thus blessed by the Lord shall renew their youth! This blessed experience will be literally true in the case of all who, during the thousand years of Christ’s reign, accept the grace of God, as represented in the atoning blood of the Redeemer, and obey the righteous laws of the messianic kingdom.
No one then will need to grow old and die. No one then will need to die of disease. No one then will need to die at all; for, as so clearly stated by the Revelator regarding that time when the divine provision of health will be available, “God shall wipe away tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”—Rev. 21:4
Another comprehensive promise of the blessings of health and life that will be vouchsafed to all under the administration of Christ’s kingdom is that of Revelation 22:1,2,17. Here the provisions of divine love are symbolized as a mighty “river”—“a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb.” The ‘throne of God’ is symbolic of the divine authority that will be exercised in the earth through Christ’s kingdom. The association of the ‘Lamb’ with this picture reminds us that the blessings of life represented by the river will be available only because of the shed blood of the ‘Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world’.
And note the reference in verse 2 to the “tree of life,” and that the leaves of this tree (or trees, as it is in the Greek text) are for “the healing of the nations.” Yes, thank God, the people of all nations are to be given an opportunity to be healed, to partake of the ‘tree of life’ from which the human race was once barred because of sin. (Gem 3:24) In verse 17 we are informed that when the ‘river of life’ is flowing for the blessing of the people, the invitation to partake of its life-giving waters will be extended to ‘whosoever will’. We read: Then “the Spirit and the bride say, Come. … And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”—vs 17
The ‘bride’ who says ‘Come’ is the church of Christ, united with him in glory, having proved worthy of this high position by suffering and dying with him during this Gospel Age. In the divine plan these are rewarded with glory, honor, and immortality, to live and reign with (Rev. 2:10; Rom. 2:7) Christ for the purpose of sharing with him in healing all mankind of their diseases and extending everlasting human life to all who will accept the invitation, “Come, and take the water of life freely.”