The Sign of Healing

GLADYS B. DIXON

In the fourth chapter of Exodus we read how Moses, when he received God's command to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, felt doubtful of his ability to impress them with the divine authority of his mission. In answer to God's command he said, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." A yearning desire to obey God's command brought him a further unfoldment of the operation of divine law in the handling of the serpent. Thereupon Moses' fear was conquered, and he received a sign or proof of his understanding of the allpower and presence of God, and the nothingness of any power opposed to or apart from God.

There must have remained some doubt, however, in Moses' thought as to this sign being adequate to prove to the people his understanding of God, because a further sign, the sign of healing, was given when his hand was instantaneously healed of leprosy. On page 321 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we read, "God had lessened Moses' fear by this proof in divine Science, and the inward voice became to him the voice of God, which said: 'It shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.'" And so throughout Moses' experiences in leading the children of Israel out of Egypt toward the promised land, many proofs or signs of God's guidance were manifested in healing and in protection.

When Jesus came to establish the understanding of God more fully in the hearts of the people, he said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." The signs which he referred to were the signs of healing that would establish the authenticity of their understanding of God's omnipresence or, in other words, prove that healing is included in salvation.

The sign of healing, therefore, was and is necessary to prove to the world the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of the divine law of God. Frequently the desire for physical healing leads one to seek an understanding of Christian Science in the first place. But physical healing should not be the objective of those who are seeking to understand the truth of being. The true objective is the desire to know God, to seek the kingdom of heaven; and the accomplishment of this objective in turn brings about the outward and visible sign of healing.

To use a familiar illustration: when sunlight is admitted into a darkened room it does not mingle with the darkness, but dispels it. Likewise, when the understanding of perfect God and perfect man is established in one's consciousness, this understanding dispels the false sense of disease, healing being the sign that attests our understanding.

On page 150 of Science and Health it is written: "The mission of Christian Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration, is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical healing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demonstrate its divine origin."

A number of years ago a young student of Christian Science was seeking a physical healing. When work towards this end seemed to extend over a period of time, the student became conscious of the fact that it was freedom from wrong thinking which was most needed, and not merely physical healing. In proportion as this objective became clearer, the "peace of God, which passeth all understanding," became more real in her experience, and this continued until it entirely eclipsed the desire for physical healing. The sign followed this consecration of thought, a complete demonstration resulting. Gratefully the student realized and acknowledged that the mental regeneration had brought about the physical relief.

This process and its results are well defined by our revered Leader in her work "Retrospection and Introspection," where she writes (p. 34): "A person healed by Christian Science is not only healed of his disease, but he is advanced morally and spiritually. The mortal body being but the objective state of the mortal mind, this mind must be renovated to improve the body."

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