Divine Healing in the Word of God — Aimee Semple McPherson

Jesus Christ the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Our message this evening, Divine Healing in the Word of the Living God. And our text, beloved to us all, Hebrews 13, 8, will be found, I believe, in every four-square church and mission the world around.

Shall we repeat it together, Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Truly, the cross stands in the middle of time. One arm of the cross reaches backward over the Old Testament.

The other arm of the cross stretches out not only over the New Testament, but for all time. The same yesterday, today, and forever. The three-and-a-half years that Christ was here upon earth, healing and teaching and preaching, was as the upright beam of the cross, but the arms extend before his birth and after his ascension, as it were.

In other words, the sick were healed in the Old Testament, and the sick were healed in the New Testament and are healed today by believing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The answer is simply this, Christ has never changed.

His plan has never changed. His power is the same. It is only mankind who, away from God through unbelief and an outward tide, has lost touch with him. But when we return to the Lord, he returns to us.

And glory to God, the answer is then on the way. Tonight, considering Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the place of divine healing in the Church today. We will start in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, at the third chapter.

Creation, the Fall, and the Origin of Sin and Sickness

The glory of God had been made manifest in creation. The Lord had made man in his own image. When Adam stepped forth from the molding board of God, a breathing, pulsating, living person, God looked upon him as he looked upon every tree and every creation at his hand, and pronounced that his work was good.

When God took a rib from Adam's side, causing him to sleep as he took the rib forth, certainly God knew of anesthetics, but for mankind did he not. And made therefrom a woman, closed up the side, and presented the woman to Adam.

There was no sickness in either of them, nor was there sin. No cancer ate at the stomach of Eve. No insanity beat at the base brain of Adam. No rheumatism or paralysis crawled through their veins or joints.

They were made in the image of God. Then, how came sin and how came sickness? Was it God's original plan for mankind to suffer such pain and misery for so many years? The answer from the Bible is a decided no.

Sin and sickness entered through the fall. For when Eve opened the gate to Satan and that him entered, behind him came as it were twins, which might be called a twin curse, or shall we say triplets. There came sin, sickness, thorns, and thistles.

For sin, Christ paid on Calvary's cross. For sickness, Christ atoned at the whipping post, whereby his stripes were healed. As for the thorns, he wore them upon his precious brow. And during the reign of our Lord upon earth, thank God there will be no thorns.

And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together. And in the final day, when we stand before him perfect, after we have met him in the glory land above, there will be no more sickness. As sickness was prophesied and suffering in Genesis 3 .16, for instance, unto the woman I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception.

I'll bring forth children. Speaking of pain that would come upon the human race. However, though sin and sickness had made their inroads, God immediately promised a Redeemer in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ.

He who made a coat of skin of a slain lamb and brought it to Adam and Eve promised that he would give the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. It was clearly understood that when this Messiah, the Christ, should come, he should not only purchase for us salvation from sin, but bring us divine healing.

Healing Promised Through Abraham and Moses

This was clearly understood thousands of years before Christ was born. It was in the early promises. May I now prove my proposition? Abraham prayed for the sick. To begin with, he had an experience in his own family.

Sarah, his wife, who had been childless all of her life, and that was quite a disgrace in those days, had had a divine touch in her old, old age. And God had given her a son, Isaac. Abraham had been encouraged, and in faith he had prayed for Abimelech and his family, and they also were all healed in answer to prayer.

As for healing being promised, you have but to turn to Exodus, the 15th chapter and the 26th verse, to find a picture of healing promised to millions of people. For as Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, he declared, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, do that which is right in his sight, give ear to his commandments, keep all of his statutes, I, the Lord, will put none of the diseases upon you which were brought upon the Egyptians, now end the verse for me, I think you all know it, I am the Lord that healeth thee.

If ever there were six people, it must have been the crowd that Moses led across the Red Sea. They had been whipped by slave drivers. They had been made to sleep in foul pens. They had been made to pull burdens not fit for a human frame.

They had been forced by day and by night to dig such canals as I have seen between Alexandria and Cairo. They tell me that men worked there until they worked their hands off, not having tools to work with, and finally had to dig with their raw bleeding bones until they fell dead.

If anyone ever needed healing, it was the crowd of people that Moses led out of Egypt. And yet, when they left sin, when they left Egypt and began to obey God, Moses stretched out his rod and distinctly said, if you will obey the Lord and believe His word, none of these diseases shall be put upon you that were brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

Miriam, the Bronze Serpent, and Healing by Faith

And we read later on in the psalms and elsewhere concerning them that there was not one weakly or sickly in all their tribes. The Lord made every one of them whole. You say, but Sister Macpherson, if I remember, there was some sickness.

Did not Miriam lose her health and become a leper? Yes, she did. Because of gossip. Because of criticism. Criticizing the preacher, for instance. The blessing of God, which the Lord has said, now, if you will obey Me, none of these diseases will come upon you.

I am the Lord that healeth thee. I'll keep you under a special protection. That was removed by her sin. And the blow struck her. And she became white with leprosy. Immediately, however, Moses and Aaron knew what to do.

They came to the Lord, and they began to pray, O Lord, heal Miriam. And He said, I will heal her. However, put her in the camp outside for seven days. Oh, we're not so modern with our special cases that are contagious words.

Put them one side. The Lord did it way back there. He said, teach her a good lesson, and let me deal with her. Put her aside for seven days. But I'll heal her and raise her up. Again, when they were bitten with serpents, fiery serpents, because of sin.

You remember the word, to tell everyone around about, look and live. And our Savior interpreted that later by saying, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so would the Son of Man be lifted up.

Now, what happened when they looked at the brazen serpent? Two things. Firstly, they were forgiven their trespasses. Secondly, they were healed of the fiery poison that raced through their veins. One moment, their eyes were glazing in death.

One moment, their blood was pulsing, pounding, turning purple and black in distended, venom-filled veins. One moment, the hearth was beating itself to death like a bird fluttering against the bars of a cage.

One moment, they were beginning to turn rigid in death or be coiled up in spasms. The next moment, as they turned their pain-filled, bloodshot eyes to the lifted serpent upon the pole, calm and peace and glory and blessing flowed all through their being.

It doesn't take long for the blood to go completely through the body and back through the heart. They were completely healed. And as the serpent was lifted, so is their life for a look, both for body and soul, in the Lord Jesus Christ, who had promised in His Word that a man's days shall be threescore and ten.

It is not necessary for you to all of your life be limping and sorrowing and suffering and eaten away by disease. I myself have seen hundreds of thousands of people healed. I was figuring the other day at some of my evangelistic meetings during the past years in Australia, in New Zealand, in England, in Ireland, in Greece, in Egypt, in China, in Canada, in the States.

I was figuring away over a million and a half persons who have come to the altar and found Christ as their Savior. I was figuring over hundreds of thousands. I have no way to completely tabulate them, though we have kept a great many of the cards, who have come for healing.

Testimonies of Healing in Evangelistic Meetings

I can still see the multitude gathering at five o 'clock in the morning outside the buildings of St. Louis. Maybe some of you remember that great building that seated 18 ,000 people and how we held three meetings a day.

I can still remember that as a serpent was lifted in the wilderness, so I lifted up by the grace of God, Jesus Christ, and the sick were healed. Long lines of people marched clear around the block and came in.

I didn't know, the workers didn't, I guess, know about protecting my own strength a little bit, as we try to do now. And I would pray that I myself had given every drop of energy that I had. But all the glory.

I remember one man who was taken with a palsy and had been so for a number of years. The worst case I have ever seen. I thought I had seen palsy before, but I, yes, I had not, speaking comparatively. This man's eyes were dancing in and out of his head.

His tongue was darting in and out of his mouth. His hands were beating upon his breast so that it was necessary to keep a pillow between his coat and his arm, or else he would bruise the bone too deeply by the pounding of his arms.

His legs were jumping up and down upon the floor. He came in the line with two stalwart-looking men supporting him, practically carrying him under the shoulders. When it came his time, I looked rather fearfully, and it would have been my thought to have gone gently to him and said, Oh, Lord Jesus, ease this tired and tortured man.

Lord, my heart goes out in sympathy for him. Have pity. Instead of this, I was surprised. The power of God fell upon me and I walked up to that man and in a loud voice began to shout, Come out of him, thou unclean, tormenting spirit.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of him. I bind you and cast you to the pit. Glory to Jesus. The man was instantly healed. The beating of his arms stopped. The hammering and tattooing of his feet upon the floor ceased.

His tongue went back in his mouth. His eyes ceased their wild rolling from side to side, and he was healed. I saw the man straighten up and he said to those who had been supporting him, Let me go. Let me go.

Let me go. And he began to walk up and down. And then he said, Oh, I can walk. And suddenly to the 18 ,000 people that were packed three times a day into that great, mighty building. I can see it now.

It was rather a horror to me then. It was before the day of public addresses, and I remember how I had to shout to be heard. It was only one of Billy Sunday's speaking boards, sounding boards, that really kind of saved the day for my poor throat, although the Lord gave me superhuman strength, it would seem at that time.

Through the crowd, I heard the screams of a woman. And I thought, uh-oh, someone's gotten hysterical now over all this. And down the aisle and through the ushers and past the escorts and guides, she mowed her way to the very front.

And then I could distinguish that she was not just screaming. She was saying, Daddy, Daddy, Father, you've been healed, darling. And she came up and kissed him and put her arms around him. And he said, Yes, daughter, the Lord has made me every widow.

And now you're not going to have to work and support the family. Your old dad's going back to the job now, and you can go back and finish your schooling. Praise the Lord! Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Healing in the Old Testament: Naaman, Hezekiah, and Asa

He healed the sick all through the Old Testament days. That was not at all unusual. For instance, Elijah prayed for the sick, and they were instantly healed. The leper Naaman came with all his leprosy to the prophet and expected him to come out and rub his hand upon him, or he said, strike his hand upon the spot.

But on the other hand, the prophet said, Go dip yourself seven times in the Jordan. You remember what happened? He dipped, believing on God, and came up healed of his leprosy. Glory to God! That Elijah and Elisha prayed for the sick we know.

That the dead were raised to life we know in the Old Testament. The healing of a king, Hezekiah, we have been told. He was a king who had been through with life, who had lived his days, and the minister Isaiah had been there to say goodbye to him and give him the final blessing.

But he turned his face to the wall and wept and cried for healing. He said, Lord, if you will heal me, I will rise and serve you. The Lord said, I will heal you. And although your days were numbered, it is not true that when your time comes a man must die.

I will add 15 years to your life. Out of the great loom of time, and God has plenty of it, I'll measure you off 15 more yards. And you shall go to the house of the Lord. Hallelujah! And he arose. In fact, healing was so the order of the day through the Old Testament that when one man who had believed upon God back slid and turned to the physicians, though that wouldn't necessarily mean backsliding as we would perhaps look upon it, that in his case it was a turning away from trusting God.

His name was King Asa. We read these words, Asa, in the thirty-and-ninth year of his reign, being diseased in his feet, not to the Lord, but turned to the physicians. And Asa slept with his father. Now there's only one thought to be drawn from that, is that if Asa had turned to the Lord, he might have been healed.

But he turned not to the Lord, but to other things, and died. We know the physicians have done great and wonderful things. We thank God for the great works that they have done. But friends, there is a higher power.

There is a power that is above all for those who live by faith. And physicians themselves quickly recognize the power. Everyone receive healing who comes up to the platform. Receive conversion who comes forward.

Unless the man prays and gets hold of God and surrenders his life, we might pray and pray and pray for his conversion unsuccessfully. The same is true in healing. One needs to be willing to forsake the world, give up his sin, be washed in the blood of Jesus.

Healing in the Psalms and the Ministry of Jesus

Why friends, this is not done in a corner. It seems to me that no one can longer deny that the Lord Jesus Christ hears and answers prayers. Take for instance the psalmist, the 103rd Psalm, and the 3rd verse, speaking of the Lord, Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, would you help me finish it, and who healeth all thy diseases.

You say, well, maybe my case is too hard. No. Healeth all thy diseases. Now for a moment, let us turn our page to Luke, the gospel according to St. Luke. In the 4th chapter, the 18th verse, Jesus Christ, stepping out into his ministry, introduced himself to the world in this manner, and with these words, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, to set of liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Then I read toward the conclusion of his life a summarization of the character and manner of his work in these words. And he went about healing all that were abound and afflicted by the devil. The Lord met a woman who had been bowed over with great affliction of her spine, as we would call it curvature of the spine, so that she could in no wise lift herself up.

He did not say to her, as many ministers would today, poor woman, you must accept your lot as from the Lord. This is your particular affliction buried with grace, and you'll have a special crown in glory.

No! An anger came upon him. And he said, Doth not this woman whom Satan hath bound, lo, these 18 years, be loosed from this infirmity? And immediately he spoke the word and she was loosed. Hallelujah!

Wherever Christ went, oh, you know the story. They pressed upon Him with the sick and the lame and the half and the blind. They tore the roof trim off the house. They left the afflicted down in unbedded stretchers.

And the Lord raised even the dead. He loved it. I'm glad when He stood at Lazarus' grave, He simply said, Lazarus, come forth. Someone has said, had He merely said, come forth, every dead person would have come forth from all over the earth.

Friends, there's power in the name of Jesus. There's power in the Word of God. And I'm preaching you the Word of God tonight. Someone listening in may say, but I don't believe in divine healing. Then you must say, I don't believe the Bible.

That puts you in a certain category. We here believe this Bible absolutely to be the Word of the living God. Now Jesus Christ sent His disciples out to preach saying, as you go, thou devils, freely you have received, freely give.

The Great Commission and Signs Following Believers

And after His work was completed and the Lord Himself was risen from the grave, in Mark the closing chapter, He spoke in the 16th chapter and the 17th verse, these wonderful words. As He was just saying, farewell, I'm leaving you now.

I'm going back to glory to prepare a place for you. But I want you to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He did not say that miracles of healing would end. On the contrary, these signs shall follow them that believe.

In My name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak, they shall take up serpents. If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them, and thank God our missionaries have been so often protected.

And listen to the concluding words. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. When was this to be done? After Christ returned to heaven because immediately when He had spoken these words, He ascended up into heaven and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

And they went forth everywhere preaching, the Lord working with them, confirming the word with signs following. Jesus Christ is saying yesterday, now it's taken the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is saying yesterday, today, I've dealt briefly with His work upon earth as the upright portion of the cross.

Healing Through the Apostles in Acts

Now concluding with the other arm of the cross, we've dealt with it, B .C., now rather, yes, C .C., now A .D. Carry down to 1938, 1940, or whenever we need our Christ. He sent us out to pray for the sick.

Remember in Acts, the third chapter, as Peter and John went up to the temple to pray, after the Pentecostal day had seen themselves to the Holy Ghost and speaking with new tongues, they saw a man lame from birth who had never walked.

The man asked an alms from them. And they said, uh-oh, you've asked the wrong party for money. We're preachers. I never did see a preacher with much money, did you? And they said, silver and gold have I, man.

They certainly had had money because the people in the next chapter before had brought their goods and laid it at their feet. But what in the world have Peter and John done to run out of all that money so quickly?

Show me a preacher that's really filled with the Holy Ghost and he'll spend money as fast as it comes to him. He'll see so many missionaries to send. He'll see so many widows to feed. He'll see so many babies that need to be clothed.

He'll see so much that needs to be done and churches to be built. Isn't that true? Silver and gold have I none. But such as I have, give I unto thee, O Peter, with the calloused hands, simple fisherman who once ran away from a little girl's jibes.

Now you've received the Holy Ghost. What have you? Such as I have, give I thee. Listen. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took that man by the right hand and he lifted him up.

They were withered and all drawn back. Were strengthened, straightened out. And he stood upon his feet. And then he began to leap. Glory to God! Leaping and shouting. I heard someone criticizing people for shouting.

There's all these people. My religion is more than a shout. And it's more than a hallelujah. Well, I'm glad there's a shout and a hallelujah in it. It seems to me the devil wants to take the shout all out of it.

It's true you have to live the life to get back to the shout. But oh, thank God for the old amen corner. Amen? I wouldn't have a shout over. I wouldn't have a shout either if I didn't have more to shout over than some of these people.

I'd be as quiet as a rag doll. But he's been healed. And he came down the temple and he shocked all the priests by leaping and bouncing and bounding. And at every leap shouting. Glory to God! It reminds me of when Mrs. Trebek was healed right here in Angela's Temple.

Personal Testimonies and Healing Handkerchiefs

She had been to the School of the Blind in Boston. Had been blind for a good many years at one little corner of one eye through which she had a partial vision when she used heavy double glasses. The other eye completely gone and practically all of the one.

When Jesus healed her, I remember that the pastor of the Baptist Church of San Jose and the Presbyterian minister, Reverend Plaggett, Dr. William Keeney Towner, and different Methodist ministers that had assisted me in San Diego also were here.

And they helped me lay hands upon her. I don't know how many Methodists or Baptists or United Brethren hands there were, but I know the Lord's hands were there. And that woman received your sight. And she began shouting off the platform and ran down the aisle.

Began shaking everybody and saying, Do you understand? I can see. She seemed to think that everybody should stand right up on the seats and cheer. And why not? Hallelujah! As thousands cheer, why should we not cheer when we see the manifestation of the glorious working power of God?

Through the entire New Testament, I will not worry you, but the many instances you must all conceive that through the entire life of the apostles, the sick were healed. For instance, Paul, stricken blind, received his sight when the minister pointed him to God and to Jesus as his Savior.

He was healed. You will remember that when Paul was bitten by a serpent, he shook it back into the fire and suffered no hurt. You will remember that in Acts 19, in the 12th verse, such strange and wonderful miracles were wrought that even from the body of Paul were carried out to the sick handkerchiefs and aprons.

And the diseases departed from them and the evil spirit went out of them. And so we often pray over an annoyed handkerchief. And as Paul just took something from his purse and gave it to them, they were healed.

Oh, God give us the all-time power. Healing power was so well recognized after Christ had gone home to glory that one day we read of Peter walking down the street. And there were such crowds that they had no great auditoriums, I presume, that they brought the sick in beds and couches and laid them in the street that even the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them and they were healed everyone.

Divine Healing Continues Today

And now comes the last question that might possibly be in your heart. And Jesus Christ is saying yesterday, today, and forever. Was there a cessation, a curtailment of this divine power? Is there a day when the Lord would say I no longer will heal?

It's a presumption. Oh, no. If they were healed in Abraham's day before Christ was born, if they were healed in the wilderness, if they were healed in the days of Elijah and Elisha, if they were healed during the three-and-a-half years Christ was here, healed during all the years of the apostles, our friends, He is not going to stop.

His glory is outpouring now. Healing has been written in the annals of the churches for years. The old church has on its records many instances of healing. In more modern days we remember, for instance, such men as John Wesley who prayed for the sick, who himself was healed on many occasions, even prayed for a lame horse on his way to church one day, and was instantly healed.

We remember such men, pioneers. I myself began preaching divine healing some years ago when it was a new subject. I think I was, as far as I know, practically the first person to have a public divine healing service where they brought thousands of people forward to the public platform and right up in front of the whole audience prayed for them instead of just down in the corner somewhere.

And really, the Lord healed them. My ears are regaled still with the memories of canes and crutches clattering to the floor. I'm so happy to recall the many cases of epilepsy often of our little children who were seized with violent fits of convulsions instantaneously healed.

Prayer, Anointing, and the Promise of James

And I leave you with this word, James, the fifth chapter, verses 13, 14 and so on. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. If you say that the afflicted should no longer pray, then you should say we should never sing anymore.

Is any sick among you? Let him call to the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up.

And if he's committed sin, it shall be forgiven him. Confess your false one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. In my early days, I had a good deal of opposition and well, I wouldn't say persecution.

You might call it that because I prayed for the sick. I really took the front line trenches. Now thousands are preaching without much challenge because everyone knows that the Lord heals the sick and it's a common knowledge everywhere.

There's hardly a woman in this town that hasn't a cook or a nursemaid or a dairyman or somebody who's been healed by the power of God. Isn't that so? Hallelujah! But in those days, they said, well, sister, you shouldn't pray for the sick.

She's a woman. And even if there is healing for today, it says that the elders pray. And it says the elder must be a man. Tell us what kind of a man. I said, well, I don't come in under that. I come in under the next verse.

Pray one for another. I'm one and you're another. And I pray for you. Hallelujah! And the Lord will heal you. And the mother may pray for her baby, may pray for her injured child in the middle of the night.

How many mothers here have ever prayed for your children or fathers in the middle of the night? Say amen. And so we have seen miracles wrought. And now in Angela's temple, how many have ever been healed?

Say praise the Lord. How many can recommend God and His precious Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit's quickening power to a world weary with sin and sickness, believing He can save and heal? Say glory to God.

And all together, one concluding, Amen. Now, Lord, let this message ring into hearts and souls tonight. Let it live on and never die. And grant that those who have never known of the Healer and the Savior, the Baptizer, and the coming King may no longer walk in the shackles of prisons, of rheumatism, arthritis and consumptions and wastings away.

We know that when our time comes to die, we may fall asleep in the arms of Jesus and be taken home to glory. But that we may, on the other hand, have years of happy, healthful, active service for the glory of God.

Take this message and make it a blessing to all to whom it shall come. In Thy name we ask it. Bless for all. All the people said Amen. And now shall we rise, please? And I'm going to give the altar call and ask many to come forward and kneel and give your lives to the Lord Jesus.

Altar Call for Salvation, Healing, and Consecration

How many out there in the audience right now would say, Sister McPherson, pray for me. I want to be a real Christian. You said that in order to be healed and be filled with the Spirit, one needs to get on believing ground and be saved.

And I can appreciate that. Sister, I'm backslidden. Sister, I'm not living as close to God as I should. Pray for me. Put your hand up. Will you all over the building? Everybody put your hand up and say, Sister, pray for me.

Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright. Oh, thank God for those hands. Say, friends, listen. If you'll step out in the aisle and come right down here and drop on your knees, do you know the Savior will meet you?

And there will be a new name written down in glory. How many of you are church members? But God knows that's about all you are. Come and consecrate your life, will you? Everybody, come on. Come on, let's start a parade right down the aisle tonight.

Come on. Come from the balcony. Come from the main floors. Come from the left and right. Everybody, come on. Everyone who put your hands up, come on down here. Come on now. Kneel there, Sister. Kneel here, there.

That's right. Bring them in, workers. Now, workers, you run and get them in that way you can win stars for your crown. He that winneth many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever. Are you glad to see them coming?

Say, praise the Lord. Oh, hallelujah. Come on, young man. Come on, young lady. How many say, I am a Christian, but, Sister, I would like to consecrate my life for service? I'd like to say, Jesus, heal me and I'll work for you.

Put your hands up. How many are willing to be a missionary? Are willing to enter the ministry? Are willing to consecrate your life? Come up here and I'll kneel also. Hurry, though. Come as quickly as you can as we sing, Just as I Am.

Just as I Am.