Many atheists will ask this question to cast doubt on God and the Bible: “If God is real why doesn’t He heal amputees? Why is there no healing of an amputee in the Bible?”
Well there is one instance of an amputee being healed in the Bible. Luke 21:50-51: “And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.”
There were also lepers healed in the Bible and some of them probably had missing fingers and maybe even hands and the Lord made them whole. So critics cannot say that the Lord did not heal an amputee. But the bigger question is that Jesus raised the dead three times but He restored only one limb and that being an ear. Why no emphasis on amputees specifically about restoring missing arms and legs?
I have always believed that most healing after the foundational work of the Apostles is God’s divine providence. We pray for those with cancer and other diseases and God heals them sometimes and sometimes He doesn’t. It’s all according to His perfect will and our eternal good. But I don’t ever recall anyone praying for a missing limb to be restored. Have you? We just don’t do that. God could do it, of course, but we don’t pray that way. I believe that the Holy Spirit doesn’t lead us to pray that way because God hasn’t worked that way in the past. But why not?
I think I know why. Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Habakkuk 2:4: “But the just shall live by his faith.” Romans 1:17: “As it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Galatians 3:11: “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” Hebrews 10:38: “Now the just shall live by faith.”
Healing an amputee is altogether different from any other healing. Think even about Jesus raising the dead. Skeptics could say, “Was the person really dead? Did they just swoon?” But when we think about restoring a missing limb there would be no doubt! If a missing limb is restored it would be very obvious. No one could call that a trick. That is why I say healing an amputee would actually bring an end to faith. We then would have certainty. No need for faith. It would be like hearing God speak. That would be the end of faith and the beginning of fact and certainty. No ambiguity means no faith.
And I would argue that a perfect God cannot redeem a fallen man by fact but by faith. Man’s heart has to trust in God by faith not by fact. You cannot trust in something that is a fact. Fact is not faith. It makes us robots, while faith makes us servants. Fact forces us to think and act, faith gives us the choice to think and act.
God didn’t want us to have all the facts but to have enough facts to bring forth faith so that we would trust in Him and follow Him by our choice. Fact doesn’t bring love. Faith brings love. Would you rather your spouse choose you by the fact OF you or by faith IN you? That’s a huge difference. It is rather obvious that the reason God saves us by faith is because God loves us. He could have saved us by fact without love but that would not make a very good relationship. God saves us not only to keep us from hell but to have a relationship with us. After all He has prepared a place for us and where He is we will be. That sounds like a faith-based relationship not a fact-based relationship.
We were given free will by God. Free will is determined by faith not by facts. We can ignore facts and that would be stupid. We can ignore faith and that is our choice.
Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is everything for the follower of Jesus Christ. We live by warm, loving faith and not cold, hard facts. Praise His name for faith!
Listen to Pastor Jack’s sermons every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on 98.9 WSIP FM. Check out the Tomahawk Missionary Baptist Church Facebook page and website: tomahawkmbc.com.