I want to continue dealing with the passage from Psalm 107:17-20. “Fools, because of their transgression, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. 18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. 20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.”
Isaiah 55:10-11 also speaks of the Word being sent. Isaiah writes, "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
If healing, as some say, is not for today, the Word must have stopped working. God said through the prophet Isaiah that the Word is like rain and snow that water the earth and do not fail to achieve their intended purpose. If the Word, as stated in Psalm 107:20, was sent to heal, but healing (as stated by some) is no longer for today, then rain and snow must no longer cause the earth to produce crops today.
In Matthew 8:5-10 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." 7 And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 "For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
Notice here the power of the Word. The centurion understood this, and Jesus called it “great faith”. He said, “I don’t need Jesus to do anything except give me a word.” Jesus responded by giving him the word he asked for – and the word accomplished what the centurion believed it would accomplish. Jesus “sent the Word” and the Word that was sent healed the servant.
Many today say, “If only Jesus were here...” Jesus has given us His Word. It is equally His Word in written form as it was that day in spoken form. Peter writes, (2 Peter 1:19) “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;” or as the King James Version translates, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy...” The centurion did not have a Bible to read the Word in but you do; and reading the written word and accepting it as sufficient is “great faith” today, just as much as hearing the spoken word and accepting it as sufficient was for the centurion.