Recently, I published a post where I said, “Sickness is never God’s will. Never!” After publishing that post, I had someone write responses to that post and my response to their posts. Their theological position was: “God is sovereign. Sometimes, God heals and sometimes God wounds (makes people sick).” But is that statement true? Does God make people sick? Or was that person deceived?
When I asked that person to show me one time in the Bible where Jesus made someone sick, they pointed to the book of Revelation: “I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.” Rev. 2:22. But, in that verse, it doesn’t use the word for sickness. Rather, the Greek word for couch or bed is used. In some translations, it says, bed of sickness. In other translations, it says, bed of affliction. In others, it says, bed. Some translators thought the Greek word for bed or couch implied Jesus would cast the woman called, Jezebel, onto the bed of sickness or suffering. It’s not actually stated. Rather, it’s implied Other than that verse, no other verse in the New Testament describes Jesus putting sickness on anyone.
Not that Jesus didn’t have the opportunity to make others sick, if He wanted to do that. If leprousy was able to stock to Him, He could’ve passed leprousy from the leprous man to others. He didn’t. Rather, Jesus healed the sick. And He commanded His Apostles (and us) to do the same: “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Matt. 10:8, NKJV. By the way, in case you didn’t notice it, that statement isn’t a suggestion. No! It’s a command.
Yes, Jesus commands us to heal the sick. When I realized that statement was a command, I began to measure my life to see if I had done what Jesus told us to do. Sadly, I wasn’t comforted by my obedience to His command. Not that I hadn’t seen those who were sick healed, I had. But I hadn’t seen lepers cleansed. Neither had I seen the dead raised. Basically, I was, at most, fulfilling less than fifty percent (50%) of what Jesus commanded us to do. Quite literally, I wasn’t close to a passing grade on a scale of one hundred (100). I was failing, and I was failing badly. Yikes!!!
Some might say, you mean you believe Jesus really expects us to heal the sick. Yes! Exactly. For that reason, I feel the need to confront false theology in regards to healing. The person that I mentioned at the beginning of this post really believed they were right, God heals sometimes and God makes people sick sometimes. And they had scriptures to back up what they thought. The problem: That person took scripture out of context, twisted it, and used the scripture to justify an indefensible position — God makes people sick. Yikes!!! By the way, that person isn’t the person who creates indefensible doctrines, entire denominations do that — Cessationism, no woman in fivefold ministry, eternal security (i.e. once saved, always saved), Jesus only, etc.
I’ve addressed some of those errors in previous posts. I’ve posted certain things to help people be delivered from deception. Satan is deceptive; he can even twist scripture to make it say what it doesn’t actually say. The way we overcome deception is by focusing on Christ and the cross. Jesus is the only perfect representation of the Father. The cross reveals the pinnacle of Father’s purpose and love. When we view our theology through the two lens of Christ and His cross, false doctrine becomes easier to recognize.
Going back to what I posted that the person I’ve referenced in this post tried to confront me on. I said, “Sickness is never God’s will. Never.” In the same way I can authoritatively state that it’s not God’s will for anyone to perish (i.e. go to hell), I can state sickness is never His will. How can I say that? Possibly, the greatest chapter on healing in the Bible is in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 8.
In Matthew 8, twice, within 3 verses, Jesus expresses His will to heal. In Matthew 8:3, in response to the leprous man’s question, “if you can make me clean”, He says, “I will”. Unequivocal. Then, immediately following that incident, the Roman centurion begs Jesus to heal his servant who is sick. Jesus responds to the Roman centurion, “I will come and heal him.” Matt. 8:7. And right there, we have the Father’s response to His will to heal the sick. The question becomes: Why aren’t some healed? And I’m going to say this, I don’t fully know. But that lack of knowledge on my part, doesn’t change God’s will to heal — I will.
That’s how we build proper theology. We look to Jesus and His cross. Jesus states the Father’s will on healing once and for all time — I will. That’s why the Apostle James was able to say, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” James 5:14, 15. Notice, there is no equivocation in the Apostle James’s words. In fact, he uses the invocative word, shall. Shall is a legally binding term used in law to show legally binding requirements on individuals.
Yes, God is bound by His Word. Jesus states, “the scripture cannot be broken”. Jn. 10:35. T.L. Osborn, one of the great missionaries, while standing before muslims preaching the gospel, said to the crowd of muslims, you pick someone for God to heal, and if God fails to heal them, I will burn my Bible and not preach from it again. The crowd chose a deaf imam. Osborn put his fingers in the man’s ears, and prayed for him. The man was instantaneously healed. It was the first time he had heard anything. Osborn knew and walked in God’s healing power. We should too.
No, God doesn’t make people sick. Even if people become sick, due to their sin or judgment, it’s God’s will to heal them. No, God isn’t looking to teach you anything through sickness and disease. He doesn’t need to do that. He gave us His Holy Spirit to teach us all things. The Holy Spirit doesn’t use sickness or disease to teach us lessons about God who is. No, the Holy Spirit dwells in us to teach us about our Father. And He uses individuals who skillfully handle God’s Word to teach us truth so we may be delivered from deception.
Don’t believe the lie! God has never put sickness on you. Yes, it’s God’s will to heal you. As sure as it’s God’s will to save you from hell, it’s His will to heal your body, no matter what kind of sickness you’re facing. As Jesus said, “Be not afraid, only believe.” Mk. 5:36.
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