The Healing Power of the King - a Bible Overview

Jesus’ healing ministry

There are many reasons for accepting that Jesus is God’s one and only Messiah, his chosen king. He fulfils the many detailed prophecies in the Old Testament about his family background, his place of birth, when he would come, his death by crucifixion and his resurrection. His resurrection was seen by many and his disciples were so certain that Jesus was God’s Son that eleven of the twelve were killed for persistently and persuasively making these claims. They insisted that Jesus is God’s eternal King and therefore he should be the Lord and Saviour of everybody. One argument that is seldom emphasised is Jesus’ ability to heal even though this is what made such an impression during his ministry in Israel.

When reading through the gospels we repeatedly hear that Jesus ‘healed them all’. For example,

“Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill.” Matthew 12:15

“At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.” Luke 4:40

“. . . the people all tried to touch him because power was coming from him and healing them all.” Luke 6:19

“When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,” Luke 9:1

This could be because he was full of compassion but why did he heal all those who came into his sphere of influence? Another possibility is that he did this to demonstrate that he is the righteous Messiah of God and therefore nothing demonic could stand in his presence. The Jews of his day recognised that all disease, suffering and death was demonic in source although Jesus taught that this was not necessarily due to their own sin (Luke 13:1-5). On this basis demonic activity and sickness were equivalent.

Old Testament features of the coming MessiahT

At the beginning of Genesis, God pronounced the Devil’s doom:

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” Genesis 3:15

This is the first mention of the gospel. God promised to provide a male from the chosen line of His people who would destroy Satan and his works.

The God of Israel claims to be the only God and he alone can heal.

“See now that I myself am He! There is no God besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.” Deuteronomy 32:39

The book of Job teaches similarly,

“For he [God] wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.” Job 5:18

The Old Testament repeatedly affirms that God heals as a result of prayer. Thus Abraham prayed for Abimeleck and his household when they were all infertile (Genesis 20:17-18). Rachel, the wife of Jacob, was infertile but God healed her when she prayed (Genesis 30:22). God healed Moses sister, Miriam when he prayed for her (Numbers 12:13). Hannah the mother of Samuel prayed desperately to be able to have a child and the lord answered her prayer (1 Samuel 1:19-20). King Jeroboam of Israel being healed from leprosy. This was accomplished through the prayer of a man of God (1 Kings 13:6). The Syrian commander, Naaman, who wanted to be healed of his leprosy, went to see Elisha whose God helped him (2 Kings 5:10-13). The god described in the bible is a God who heals.

The coming of the Messiah, God’s chosen King of all nations, was foretold throughout the Old Testament. King David was told,

“Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’” 2 Samuel 7:16

The Messiah will begin His rule by judging and purging evil from His earth

“Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy.” Joel 3:1–17

Holiness and purity are God’s character; nothing evil can exists in his presence.

Seven hundred and fifty years before the coming of Jesus, the Jewish prophet Isaiah taught that the Messiah’s coming would be marked by miracles of the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the paralysed walking and the deaf mute speaking.

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.” Isaiah 35:5-6,

When John the Baptist has been imprisoned he sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he really is the Coming One. Jesus responds in this way:

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” Matthew 11:4-6

Isaiah also described other features, including raising the dead, that will identify the Messiah,

“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.” Isaiah 26:19 (ESV)

“In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.” Isaiah 29:18

One example of this was the account Matthew gives of a ruler’s daughter:

“While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come on put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him and so did his disciples. . . . And when Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but asleep.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region. Matthew 9:18-19, 23-26

Ezekiel had criticised the false shepherds of Israel but looked forward to the day when God himself would replace them with his Messiah, the Son of David, and he will rescue and save his people.

“I will place over them one Shepherd, my servant David, and he will attend them; he will tend them and be their Shepherd. I the Lord will be there God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.” Ezekiel 24:23-24

Such passages gave people the expectation that when the Son of David, the Messiah came, he would tend and heal his people.

The prophet Joel taught that Messiah would begin His rule by judging and purging evil from His earth (Joel 3:1–17).

The Old Testament is clear that God’s Messiah would come to free his people, to save them from sin, and that he would be characterised by a healing ministry and religious leaders in the time of Jesus recognised this. God’s king would heal in every way.

The Messiah was expected to heal according to Matthew’s Gospel

Matthew's understanding of Jesus is that he is the healing Davidic Messiah. Jesus is addressed with the Messianic title "Son of David" almost exclusively within the context of his healing activity.i There is no doubt that Matthew takes pains to present Jesus as the Son of David who acts as a healer. Matthew describes Jesus as being the Son of David in the genealogy and infancy narrative of Matthew 1. It is also found in his discussion with some Pharisees about how the Messiah could be both the Son of David but also David’s Lord (Matthew 22:41-46). At the Palm Sunday parade, when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, the crowds recognised him to be the Davidic Messiah. They worshipped him, shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David.”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

“Hosanna in the highest.” Matthew 21:1-11

This event occurred shortly after the raising of Lazarus which had had such an impact on the population (See John 11:43 -46).

All other occurrences of the title "Son of David" appear in the healing contexts, - most of them being individual healings:

“As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David! . . . And he touched their eyes . . and their sight was restored.” Matthew 9:27- 31

“Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?” Matthew 12:22-24

“Jesus withdrew to the region of tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that facility came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession!” Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” Matthew 15:21-28

“Two blind men were sitting by the road–side, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us Jesus stopped and called them, "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. "Lord," they answered, "We want our sight." Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their site and followed him.” Matthew 20:29-34

The climax came with the healing of the blind and the lame in the Temple that is described only in Matthew.

“The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.” Matthew 21:14-17

Messiah means ‘God’s chosen King’ and the Old Testament is clear that ‘the Son of David’, God’s Messaih would be a healer of disease. Matthew seizes on this association to prove that Jesus is God’s Messiah who came to win people of all nations. Thus, immediately after the feeding of the five thousand Jesus walks on water and calms the rough sea. The response of those witnessing these healings was unmistakable, Jesus was God’s Messiah

“Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.” Matthew 14:33

“Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.” Matthew 15:30--31

The Kingdom of God and healing in Luke’s gospel

Luke is keen to emphasise that all people should become followers of Jesus because he is the King of the universe. He mentions the word ‘kingdom’ forty three times, thirty two of which are written out in full as the ‘kingdom of God’. Thus he writes,

“. . . but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” Luke 9:32

One of the questions that used to puzzle me greatly was, “Why does Jesus keep emphasising the association between healing the sick and casting out evil spirits?” The gospel writers did not arbitrarily associate unrelated concepts – they recognised that illness was associated with the effect of demons. All the gospels make this association abundantly clear. People recognised Jesus power over demons and evil spirits:

“He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” Mark 1:27

The link in the public’s thinking was obvious,

“That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.” Mark 1:32-34

Even diseases about which we know the causes, such as kypho-scoliosis (severely bent back) and epilepsy (grand mal fits) and mutism (being deaf and dumb) are described as being due to demonic activity.

“A man in the crowd called out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, but he is my only child. A spirit siezes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. . . Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in the convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. Luke 9:37-42

“Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd were amazed.” Luke11:14

“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. .Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” Luke 13:10-13

It is clear that Dr Luke recognised that all sickness and death involved the work of Satan and his demons. It is for this reason that healing and demon possession are so closely linked in the gospels. The only way the demon’s can be defeated is by God himself. It is a means of saying that the King of God’s kingdom has come. That was always the disciples message.

“. . . and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Luke 9:2

The religious thought the miraculous powers of Jesus were because he was in some way demon-possessed himself. He denied this saying,

“But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Luke 11:20

There can be no doubt that Jesus associated healing the sick with driving out evil spirits. It was this power over evil that proved his claim to be God. Jesus was acutely distressed over the state that Jerusalem had got into under the religious rule. Some Pharisees told him to leave because Herod wanted to kill him but replied,

“Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ . . . I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Luke 13:32-35

Here Jesus associates his healing ministry with his being God’s King as this quote from Psalm 118:26 was recognised by the Jews as being a Messianic Psalm.

On Jesus’ final journey to his execution in Jerusalem, Luke records four special miracles (the previous ones come in 13:10-17; 14:1-6; 17:11-19) but the final one involves a blind man (Luke 18:35-43). In Mark’s gospel we are given his name, Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). Bartimaeus sees spiritual reality very clearly. This blind beggar cries out to Jesus as “Son of David” and begs him to have mercy on him. He is rebuked by the crowd but then he cries out again, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” This request was a recognition that Jesus, as the promised Son of King David, had saving power. There was a Jewish tradition that the Son of David, as exemplified by Solomon who was full of wisdom, would have the power to overcome Satan. It was thought the coming of the Messiah would be obvious because of his healing and restoration.

“Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” Luke 7:22-23

Bartimaeus’ understanding must have been that Jesus was indeed God’s Messiah and as such had power to correct all the damage that Satan could cause. It was his recognition of who Jesus was that saved him.

Jesus stopped and asked that the man be brought to him. When he asked what the man wanted, he requested his sight. Jesus gave him what he asked for and explained the secret of the man's success:

"Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."

The Greek uses the verb ‘to save’ (sozo) used here can refer to the physical healing, but also to spiritual salvation. This is what Jesus longs to give all people. In addition, the healing shows the appropriateness of the title the blind man used to gain Jesus' attention. It is the Son of David who heals. The Messiah draws near to Jerusalem, and his authority is clearly being demonstrated.

Summary about Jesus healing

No supernatural healer’s credentials have been better substantiated than those of Jesus. The disciples and even the Pharisees verified that Jesus was performing extraordinary miracles. He even raised seven dead people! The prime reason for this was to authenticate his claim to be God’s one and only Messiah, the one foretold in the Old Testament. He is God’s eternal king.

There have been many ‘faith healers’ of all religions who have tried to gain recognition for themselves by offering healing ministries, often in a theatrical setting. The difference between Jesus’ healing and those of such people is obvious.

Historical Overview

There was a tradition in ancient Mesopotamia that the early kings had healing powers. Necklaces with special amulet stones were attributed to have the healing power of Hammurabi. Several cuneiform tablets give recipes for medical treatments as “a secret of kingship“. It’s unlikely that the Kings themselves discovered these remedies but it does demonstrate that many attributed great power to their kings. This attributed power continued to be believed for many millennia but how easy it is for desperate people to be misled. These healings were neither instantaneous or as complete as those of Jesus.

Some of the old Roman Emperors, such as Vespasian and Hadrian were credited with causing occasional cures.

The kings and queens of England and France have claimed to have a divine gift to cure people by laying hands on them. It was felt that this was evidence of their “divine right” to rule. Clovis 1 (509–511 AD), the first king of the France to unite all the Frankish tribes, was said by a physician in the 16th century to be the first king who touched people with scrofula (tuberculous nodes in the neck|) to heal them. Their ‘cures’ were not instantaneous. It is significant that some patients with scrofula can heal spontaneously without any external intervention. Subsequent French kings, such as Robert 11 (987-1031 AD) and especially Philip 1 (1059-1108 AD) were said to have had this power. Edward the Confessor (1042-1066 AD) in England was also claimed to have this ability.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Malcolm described Edward the Confessor’s touch, although the practice of giving a golden coin came much later.

“A most miraculous work in this good king;
Which often, since my here-remain in England,

I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven,

Himself best knows: but strangely-visited people,
All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye
The mere despair of surgery, he cures,
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,

Put on with holy prayers: and ‘tis spoken
To the succeeding royalty he leaves

The healing benediction..”ii

Naturally the French denied that any English king could have this power! They thought the first English monarch claiming to have this gift was Henry 1 (1100-1135 AD) but added that he only did this for political reasons. Henry II certainly practiced this rite.

It has been pointed out that some of the most unprincipled kings, such as Edward II and Charles II of England, or those who were at war with the papacy, such as Philip II, were those monarchs who most advocated this power. It should also be noted that some physicians repudiated these claims of the kings that they actually healed people.

By the time of Louis IX (1226-1272 AD) of France the belief was widely held and practised.

Edward 1 (1272–1307 AD) used to give a penny coin to patients with scrofula that was often worn as a lucky charm. Scrofula was nick-named ‘the Kings Evil’, from the belief that it was caused as well as cured by contact with a king.

Edward IV (1461-1470, 1471-1483 AD) and his successors gave diseased patients a gold coin, called an ‘angel’, to be hung round the patient’s neck. It had to be worn constantly to ensure successful treatment.

Henry VII (1485-1509) was keen to legitimise his reign and he popularised the idea of the healing power of God’s king. The king touched the face and neck of the patient, then hung a coin around their neck on a ribbon. Passages from the Bible were then read out that taught that God’s anointed would have healing power when they laid hands on the sick. The assumption was that they were the anointed ones!

Prior to the Reformation, the Church of England even celebrated, in an official liturgy, a peculiar ability of the English monarchs to heal the sick. As we have seen it was long believed in England that the monarch had the power to heal scrofula -“the kings evil“- by the laying on of hands. In parallel to a similar belief about the kings of France, the English belief arose in the Middle Ages and persisted into later years. This belief gained a formal, liturgical expression in the reign of Henry VII (1457 – 1509) that persisted with some modification into the Hanoverian period, despite a revolution in religion that produced an official theology at odds with such practices. The Protestant Reformation, in its English incarnation, saw the widespread dismantling of other traditional religious practices in the Church of England; English reformers had a healthy distrust of the Sacrament’s of the mediaeval church, and such traditional, political practices as the anointing of the sick and use of holy water were rejected as superstitious. Nevertheless royal healing was practised by avowed Protestants such as Elizabeth I and James I. Despite the religious reformation, the ritual of royal healing survived and even thrived. The durability of the practice of royal healing seems to have been derived from its political advantages.

Charles 1 healing

In 1649, the year King Charles I was beheaded for treason, a handkerchief soaked in the dead king’s blood is said to have cured a woman of blindness. Another handkerchief, belonging to a Mrs. Hunsdon, and dipped likewise in his majesty’s blood, was reported to have performed no less than twenty cures. Everywhere, it seemed, droplets of royal blood had become like holy relics, performing miracles. The physician John Browne, in his book on the subject, paints a grisly scene of devotees gathered around the execution block, handkerchiefs ready to mop up the king’s blood, “and apply­ing thereof to their Scrophulous Swellings… they found immediate ease, and present relief.” Superstition was rife.

Royal surgeons at this time were on the lookout for patients with scrofula who could come to receive a touch on their neck from the king and then receive an ‘angel’ which the king put round their neck attached to a white ribbon. Shakespeare wrote,

“He cures hanging a gold stamp.”

Another story recounts how, in Charles I’s final days, he was sought out by a man suffering from sores thought to be caused by scrofula. The king was surrounded by guards so he could not reach the sick man to touch him, instead he called out a blessing and prayed for the man’s health. When the man returned home, he took a drink from a bottle of medicinal waters that he had been using, but unfortunately there was no cure of his disease.

In 1649, King Charles I was beheaded for treason, and it was said that a handkerchief soaked in the dead king’s blood cured a woman of blindness. Another handkerchief, belonging to a Mrs. Hunsdon, and dipped likewise in his majesty’s blood, was reported to have performed no less than twenty cures. Everywhere, it seemed, droplets of royal blood had become like holy relics, performing miracles. The physician John Browne, in his book on the subject, paints a grisly scene of devotees gathered around the execution block, handkerchiefs ready to mop up the king’s blood, “and applying thereof to their Scrophulous Swellings… they found immediate ease, and present relief.”

Over the successive centuries, and successive monarchies, the ritual of the monarch’s healing touch grew from occasional individual healings to vast spectacles. These grand occasions, formalized with an official liturgy, served to prop up the monarchy. The ceremonies showed that the monarchs ruled by the will of God, as divine power worked through the monarch’s anointed hands. The king would touch each sufferer’s swollen throat, make the sign of the cross, and hang a gold coin inscribed with the image of an angel around each neck. Often there were hundreds of supplicants for the king to heal. The mass healings were so popular that eventually sufferers were required to produce a certificate verifying that they had never received the monarch’s touch before.

Not every king was a proponent of the ceremony. William of Orange (1650-1702 AD) was famous for his reluctance to perform healings, and indeed seemed to think the whole idea was superstitious nonsense. The one time he was prevailed upon to touch a sufferer from the ‘king’s evil’, he prayed to God “to Heal the Patient, and grant him more Wisdom at the same time.”

There are some noted failures subsequently. Queen Anne (1665–1714) was famously unable to cure Dr Samuel Johnson of his disease.

The belief in the divine origin of kingship meant that these belief’s in the healing touch of the sovereign kept recurring. Even Napoleon visited patients dying of plague in Jaffa and the soldiers there felt that his touch had healing power. This event was recorded in a painting by Gros.

The massive painting "Bonaparte visitant les pestiférés de Jaffa" ("Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Stricken in Jaffa") hangs in the main salon of The Louvre in Paris.

At times, kings had to work to maintain their monopoly on the power to heal the ‘king’s evil’. In some cases, pretenders to the throne claimed to have the healing touch, to substantiate the legitimacy of their rule. More common were those bit players, folk healers, and small-time magicians who claimed to have special healing powers of one kind or another. Seventh sons, for instance, were sometimes believed to have the ability to cure the ‘king’s evil’. During King Charles I’s reign, the king’s council ordered an investigation into a five-year-old seventh son who held popular weekly healings, but let the child off with a warning.

Another folkloric tradition held that the touch of a dead man’s hand, usually an executed convict hanging from a gibbet, had the power to cure goitres, and other such swellings. Sufferers would be lifted up to let the fingers of the hanged man’s hand brush against them. The blood of an executed man, too, was believed to be a powerful medicine. Perhaps this is why King Charles I’s blood was so potent, and why handkerchiefs soaked in it became like the relics of saints. In the figure of the condemned king, both cures are combined; in one person, he is at once divine ruler and executed criminal.

This is all very interesting but there is no comparison to the healings made by Jesus. His touch or even word were enough for instantaneous, complete healings of what today are still considered untreatable. The dead were raised, the lame walked and the blind saw. He did this to demonstrate that he is the King of Kings and that demonic power cannot exist in his presence. There cannot be and there will not be any disease at all in God’s new world, in heaven.

BVP

September 2022

ihttps://www.mohrsiebeck.com/uploads/tx_sgpublisher/produkte/leseproben/9783161571565.pdf

iiWilliam Shakespeare, ‘Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 3