Objection: Christ’s Disciples Were Told to Heal EVERYONE. No One Does This Today, So We Cannot Say We Have the Same Authority They Did.
This objection’s foundation is faulty. If you read the New Testament carefully, you’ll see that Jesus did not say that His disciples could heal EVERYONE. That would not make sense because a servant is not greater than his master, and Jesus could not do much at Nazareth. Jesus taught that His disciples would have similar experiences. Let’s look at this passage carefully:
Luke 10:8-11:
And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, [Now here follow the instructions on what to do in cities that receive you] eat such things as are set before you:
And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, [Here follow the instructions on what to do in cities that don’t receive you] go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Jesus told the disciples that they could heal in the cities that received them. In the cities that did not receive them, Jesus did not tell them to heal anybody. He commanded them to wipe the dust of those cities off their feet and go elsewhere! If people in the cities wanted healing from Jesus Christ, they needed to receive Jesus Christ. When you reject the messenger sent to preach Jesus Christ to you, you are rejecting Jesus Christ Himself, because the gospel is about Him. When you reject Jesus Christ, you reject His benefits, including healing.
Jesus did not say that His disciples could heal everyone, everywhere. Those who were open to Jesus Himself could be healed; those who were closed could not be healed. They disciples had the same authority Jesus had over all sicknesses, but it would only work where they were received.
Jesus said that we would lay hands on the sick and they would recover (Mark 16:18). This is a sign to follow the preaching of the gospel. If no one stays around and wants to listen to you preach the gospel, there is nothing for God to confirm. Things really haven’t changed.
Furthermore, Stephen was not an apostle and he was not with Jesus, but he did great signs and wonders among the people (Acts 6:8). Philip was not an apostle and he was not with Jesus, but he went to Samaria and got many people healed (Acts 8:5-8). (There was an apostle named Philip, but the apostles asked to have deacons appointed to free them up to pray and study. The Philip who went to Samaria was one of these deacons.) Paul was not one of the ones commissioned in the verses in Luke above, yet he had wonderful healings in his ministry. Even when Paul preached, some believed and some disbelieved (Acts 28:23-24 says this explicitly and we can see it elsewhere).
In light of the Great Commission, if we do not see the same results today, the fault is ours, not God’s. It is just like when the disciples could not cast out a demon out of a boy after Jesus authorized them to do it. The problem was not what Jesus said they could do. The problem was the disciples’ unbelief. If we do not see results today as we should, we are the ones who must change. God is fine the way He is; He does not need to change.
However, you can hear many testimonies of men who have gone to the far corners of the world and conducted marvelous healing campaigns that were no doubt similar to the ones put on by the original apostles. It is too late to tell these men that they can’t do it today – they’ve already done it. Just because you haven’t done it doesn’t mean that it can’t be done.