Divine Healing

and other related lectures

 

-two-

 

Divine healing in theory & in practise;

God’s faithfulness in covenant & mercy

 

 

The Lord is very good at keeping His promises. We however, have always had a problem accepting His terms & His timing. I don’t recall God shedding any tears over our frustrations. Remember the words of The Lord to Abram; “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.” (Genesis 15:13-14). God kept His covenant. God showed His mercy. But God did not stop there.

²² So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. ²³ And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. ²⁴ And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? ²⁵ And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, ²⁶ and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. ²⁷ And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters (Exodus 15:22-27).

After an almighty Passover deliverance from bondage under Pharoah, we see that The Lord formally introduces Himself to the Hebrews via a conditional covenant between Himself & His people. Here they are in the wilderness of Shur. They are hot; they are bothered; they are dehydrated; they are thirsty. They are also faced with water that they find they cannot  drink. The Hebrews had seen what The Lord had done with the waters of The Nile River, through Moses. They had seen what The Lord had done with the waters of The Red Sea, through Moses. What would The Lord do now, with the waters at Marah? What miracle would Moses perform this time?

In debating the validity of healing, these verses are almost always cited as a proof text of God’s promise to remove sickness & disease from us. If we diligently hearken to His voice; if we do what is right in His sight; if we give ear to His commandments; if  keep all of His statutes; we are guaranteed healing. Or are we? Notice that it was The Lord who initiated this, not Israel. First, Marah was a place of testing & proving. Second, The Lord specifically mentions the diseases that He put upon Egypt. So then, what was the trial of the bitter waters at Marah? Before we dive into an over spiritualisation of these verses, let’s be both  reasonable & pragmatic. Remember; this is not the circus, therefore there is no need for monkey tricks within the text.

“A more studied look into the waters of Marah, reveals something deeper than a story of bitter water and bitter attitudes. Like most of the springs on the western side of the Sinai, the spring at Marah was full of calcium and magnesium deposits. The taste of the water is very bitter, and because of the minerals, it will cause almost immediate intestinal cramping. Marah, again like every spring in that region, has a particular type of tree that grows next to the water. This tree [possibly an Acacia Sapwood, at a highly uneducated personal guess], when broken, releases sap that, when put into the water, helps to settle the minerals to the bottom, making it drinkable…You see, turning the water to sweet was not the original purpose for bringing the Hebrews to Marah…He’d brought His people to Marah to drink the bitter waters. Why? Why quench their thirst with something that tastes so bad, and causes severe intestinal pain and distress? The reason is simple. The water at Marah’s Spring was not only bitter; it was medicinal.  Exodus 15:26 says this: “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” God was not only interested in getting His people out of Egypt; He wanted Egypt out of the people. The first step was Marah. If they had simply obeyed and swallowed the bitter water, they would have not only grown accustomed to the taste and quenched their three  day thirst, but the minerals would have served as a purgative [laxative], thereby expelling the parasites, amoebas and death dealing germs they had brought with them from Egypt”.

Daughter’s Dialogue, credit & copyright pending (emphasis added).

 

Just allow that information to sink in for a moment. Another day’s journey would have brought them to Elim, where there was plenty of unpolluted water to drink, but The Lord proved them & tested them at Marah first. Had He promised to provide healing for them there & then as a guaranteed covenant benefit? Yes. He had promised to keep the judgements enacted upon Egypt, away from them, if they met certain conditions. Can we take this to mean that He has therefore guaranteed to do this, for us here & now? No. Not in the way that some argue. The Lord made definite healing promises, to a specific people, under certain circumstances & we cannot simply take what He said & blindly claim these promises as ours. Are we as willing to accept the curses as we are to desire the blessings? I don’t think so.

Those who believe healing to be a divine obligation have become accustomed to concentrating on obtaining their cures as part of a formula & consequently have paid little or no attention to the real point The Lord is making. Diligently hearkening to His voice, doing what is right in His sight, giving ear to His commandments & keeping His statutes are not magical keys or divine steps to avoiding curses & obtaining blessing. In order for Israel to have come to the place they found themselves in, they would have already followed the steps that The Lord laid out for them at Marah. He reiterates these things to them & then reveals something of Himself to His people Israel; “I am the lord that healeth thee.”.

Do not forget the qualifier that we presented in our first meeting; we have to carefully examine the case before us in order to see whether God has somehow painted himself into a theological corner, as some claim. Is it indeed the truth that our physical healing is somehow automatically guaranteed to us who believe, as a covenant benefit. Or is there more to it than this? I believe that we must pursue the healer instead of simply chasing healing. The Lord will not keep promises that He has not made. He initiated a covenant with Israel, basically stating that if they did something, He would reciprocate. He offers a level playing field, upon which He would meet them. In telling Israel, “I am the Lord that healeth thee”, He reveals both Who He is & what He will do.

²⁰ Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. ²¹ Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. ²² But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. ²³ For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. ²⁴ Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. ²⁵ And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee ²⁶ There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil (Exodus 23:20-25).

Again, The Lord proffers a similar motif to that which He spoke of in Exodus 15; a reciprocal covenant. This reveals something about Him. Here in the West, we view covenants as binding upon two or more parties, but with YHWH we see Him binding Himself by doing that which only He can do. This is much broader than the act of divine healing, although it certainly includes it. We must stop separating healing out as a singular benefit & view it more accurately as an equal facet of God’s grace & mercy. I would argue that this is more biblical & more in keeping with the loving relationship He wants to foster, rather than the mechanical-going-through-the-motions that the believer’s life descends into as they pray, cry, beg & plead for The Lord to heal their bodies. 

¹² Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: ¹³ and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. ¹⁴ Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. ¹⁵ And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee (Deuteronomy 7:12-15). 

God ratifies His covenant, saying, “..The Lord thy God shall keep the covenant and the mercy which He sware unto thy fathers.” This included healing & notice that it not just a covenant, it is a covenant & mercy. That is important. Covenant & mercy can represent theory & practice. He says what He will do & He does what He has said. I believe that The Lord’s willingness & ability to bless & heal is a mercy that He extended to Israel & graciously extends to us who trust in Him & His will. 

Remember the words of the prophet Nehemiah; “ And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, and said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments” (Nehemiah 1:4-5) & the prayer of King Solomon, “..O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts (2^nd Chronicles 6:14). The faithfulness of God in His dealings with man is attested to throughout The Scriptures & this certainly includes the blessing of healing, but not to the exclusion of other acts of His grace. The sooner we realise that any benefit or blessing received from the hand of God is exclusively about Him & His glory, the better. There are some who foolishly fashion their crowbars from Scripture, in order to attempt to force The Lord into action on their behalf. Tut. Tut. Tut. He doesn’t jump to our whims or dance to our tunes. It is we who are to do as He wills & not vice versa. 

¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. ² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: ³ who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; ⁴ who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; ⁵ who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the Eagle’s. ⁶ The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. ⁷ He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel (Psalms 103:1-7). 

There is a progressive revelation of God as YHWH RAPHA, “..The Lord that healeth..”, which we are beginning to see involves much  more than the simple & singular act of bodily healing. He constantly kept covenant & showed mercy. This was certainly the case during the earthly ministry of The Lord Jesus Christ, Who constantly & consistently extended the mercy of healing. Jesus acknowledged the covenant that Israel were under & we see this in the case of the woman with a spirit of infirmity. He called a ‘..Daughter of Abraham..’ (Luke 13:10-16). In the case of the Canaanite woman whose daughter was vexed by an evil spirit, she petitions The Lord for mercy & He refers to deliverance as ‘..the children’s bread..’ (Matthew 15:21-28). Again, we will come back to these things later. 

In Matthew 4 , Jesus is seen, “...healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people....they brought unto Him all sick people...and He healed them.” (vss. 23-24). In Matthew 8 He, “...healed all that were sick.” (vs.16). of course, in verse 17 of this chapter, Matthew records the fulfilment of one of Isaiah’s prophecies, but we will come back to this in a future meeting. In Matthew 9 The Lord is, “...healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” (vs.35).

Further on in Matthew 12 some of the Pharisees wanted to get rid of Him, so He left, “...and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.” (vs.15). Not once did The Lord withdraw His mercy. He granted healing to all that came to Him in need of it. In Matthew 14 multitudes of people are following Jesus on foot. When He saw them He was “..moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick.” (vs.14). Matthew 15:30 “..and He healed them.” Matthew 19:20 “..and He healed them..” Matthew 21:14 “..and He healed them”.  

Luke 4 tells us that Jesus had entered the house of Simon. In the evening while the Sun was setting, they brought the sick to Him, “..and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them.” (vs.40). Luke 6:17-18 “...and a great multitude of people...came to hear Him, and be healed of their diseases;..and they were healed.”. Luke 9:11, “...[He] healed them that had need of healing.” Jesus revealed God’s mercy through His ministry.

Mark 5 records the deliverance of the Gaderene demoniac. When Jesus had finished with him, the man was, “...sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind:..” (vs.15). Jesus’ instructions to this man were very clear. He said, “...go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things The Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” (vs.19).  

²⁷ And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. ²⁸ And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. ²⁹ Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. ³⁰ And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. ³¹ But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country (Matthew 9:27-31).  

²⁹ And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. ³⁰ And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. ³¹ And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. ³² And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? ³³ They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. ³⁴ So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him. (Matthew 20:29-34).

¹² And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: ¹³ and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. ¹⁴ And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. ¹⁵ And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, ¹⁶ and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? ¹⁸ There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. ¹⁹ And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole (Luke 17:12-19).

By far the largest & most over-arching issue I see, is that there can be no insistence on our part that The Lord Jesus Christ has to perform any of His merciful acts as a matter of course. Those in receipt of His healing power appealed to his compassion & He was willing, gracious & faithful to touch them, or allow them to touch Him. 

²⁵ And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, ²⁶ and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, ²⁷ when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. ²⁸ For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. ²⁹ And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. ³⁰ And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? ³¹ And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? ³² And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. ³³ But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. ³⁴ And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague (Mark 5:25-34).  

³⁴ And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; ³⁶ and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole (Matthew 14:34-36).  

Remember His words to Moses in the mountain; “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy” (Exodus 33:19).  

When Paul quotes these words, he shows us something further. The Lord will not be forced into a type of spiritual headlock. We can appeal to His mercy. The Apostles says, “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ¹⁶ So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Romans 9:15-16). 

⁵ And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, ⁷ keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. ⁸ And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. ⁹ And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. ¹⁰ And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee (Exodus 34:5-10). 

The Lord still keeps His covenant, demonstrating His amazing grace, & eternal faithfulness. The Lord still shows mercy, but not because He has to. He does these things because He can & because He wants to. There is nothing stopping you or I crying out to The Son of God.

 

End of Part Two

 

 

 

copyright © by david Samuel Parkins mmxxv all rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is presented & without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Divine Healing

and other related lectures

 

-One-

 

Where does Sickness Come From;

Are we Asking the Right Question?

 

The following series of articles was originally prepared as a set of weekly lessons for an eight week church Bible Study, back in 1995. Although the lessons were never delivered & the classes eventually cancelled, these notes were prepared in this readable format for those who were not able to attend the meetings because of their particular illness or other personal issues. Now that I find myself experiencing two health conditions & knowing that several of my readers are in similar circumstances, I felt it appropriate & timely to dust these documents off, edit, review & publish them here on the blog. Before beginning, I feel that it is necessary to bring some clarity & qualification to an aspect of this biblical subject before we proceed. It is this; for the New Testament believer, is healing part & parcel of the finished atoning work of Christ? Can The Church confidently attest that it is ‘as easy to receive healing as it is to receive salvation’, as some have taught? In order to find the answer, the obvious appeal is made to Scripture & to evidence. 

Despite the claims of some ministries & their ministers, their tall tales & glowing testimonies, there is still an epidemic of sickness & disease working its way comfortably throughout the world & The Body of Christ. 

I definitely believe that divine healing is completely & absolutely biblical. Almighty God still heals. I believe this, because The Lord is completely & absolutely sovereign. He healed sickness & disease in both the Old & New Testaments respectively. He made definite healing promises, to specific people, under certain circumstances & as I read God’s Word, I am more than convinced that we have definite grounds to approach The Lord & petition Him for our healing & the healing of others. But here comes the qualifier. We have to carefully examine the case before us in order to see whether God has somehow painted himself into a theological corner, as some claim. Is it indeed the truth that healing is somehow automatically guaranteed to us who believe, as a covenant benefit, or is there more to it? We have to ask the right question; we must stop saying what God hasn’t said & we must stop ignoring what he has said.

This puts me at odds with those who insist that there is a direct & unbreakable correlation between original sin & present sickness. In certain instances, the terms will be used almost interchangeably by many who reason that when sickness & disease can be traced to a common root, they are more easily dealt with. With these things in view, let’s take a little look at where the conventional teaching concerning the origin of sickness & disease comes from.  

¹⁵ And The Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. ¹⁶ And The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:15-17).  

¹ Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? ² And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. ⁴ And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: ⁵ for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. ⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. ⁷ And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons (Genesis 3:1-7). 

When The Lord said, ‘thou shalt surely die’ what did He mean? Adam lived to the ripe old age of nine hundred & thirty. He did not fall dead when he ate the fruit that his wife gave to him & neither did she. They both lived on & started a family, having two sons. Of course, the claim is that Adam & Eve died spiritually, but the term ‘spiritual death’, which does not appear in Scripture, cannot be practically applied here. The expression is a misnomer, because spirit in its essence & substance, never actually dies in the common sense that we’re familiar with. Sin is technically at the root of all sickness & disease, simply because it is at the root of all of our woes & is itself an incipient form & cause of death. In this, I’m reminded of the old Latin tag, cotidie morimur; every day we die a little. I would therefore contend that it was at the moment of man’s disobedience that sin & death high-fived each other & corrupted creation. 

Paul tells us, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 5:12). The case for linking sin & sickness is more general than it is specific. The coupling is tentative at best. Sickness & disease are in the world for the same reason that all other ills are in the world; original sin. Sickness is one of the byproducts of the relationship that exists between sin & death. James tells us, “but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren” (James 1:14-16). Lust conceives within the will to produce sin & sin, manipulating its course in us, produces death when it is finished; sickness is incipient death. It is a symptom of sin. Yet in Eden, The Lord did not pronounce sickness or disease on Adam or Eve. 

¹⁶ Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. ¹⁷ And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; ¹⁸ thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; ¹⁹ in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Genesis 3:16-19).  

The Lord’s infinite & absolute statement of consequence in the garden, was set in motion the moment Adam disobeyed. Eventually he would return to the dust, by whatever means took him there. Sickness & disease aren’t mentioned here specifically, but they cannot be reasonably excluded. Adam had received charge from God concerning the tree of the knowledge of good & evil & had been instructed that the day he partook of it, he would ‘surely die.’. In this context, The Lord makes an emphatic proclamation. Man experienced the initiation of death at the very point or moment of his insurgence. Because of his disobedience to the command of God, sin & death entered respectively & took possession of the man & of creation. Death spread throughout the human race as a direct result of Adam’s sin, but it is obvious that the term ‘surely die’, as it is used here, means more than the cessation of life or existence. 

“Why then did God prohibit man from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, with the threat that, as soon as he ate thereof, he would surely die? Are we to regard the tree as poisonous, and suppose that some fatal property resided in the fruit? A supposition which so completely ignores the ethical nature of sin is neither warranted by the antithesis, nor by what is said in Gen 3:22 of the tree of life, nor by the fact that the eating of the forbidden fruit was actually the cause of death…Life is not rooted in man's corporeal nature; it was in his spiritual nature that it had its origin, and from this it derives its stability and permanence also…And this applies quite as much to the original nature of man, as to man after the fall…The power which transforms corporeality into immortality is spiritual in its nature, and could only be imparted to the earthly tree or its fruit through the word of God, through a special operation of the Spirit of God, an operation which we can only picture to ourselves as sacramental in its character, rendering earthly elements the receptacles and vehicles of celestial powers. God had given such a sacramental nature and significance to the two trees in the midst of the garden, that their fruit could and would produce super-sensual, mental, and spiritual effects upon the nature of the first human pair. The tree of life was to impart the power of transformation into eternal life. The tree of knowledge was to lead man to the knowledge of good and evil; and, according to the divine intention, this was to be attained through his not eating of its fruit. This end was to be accomplished, not only by his discerning in the limit imposed by the prohibition the difference between that which accorded with the will of God and that which opposed it, but also by his coming eventually, through obedience to the prohibition, to recognise the fact that all that is opposed to the will of God is an evil to be avoided, and, through voluntary resistance to such evil, to the full development of the freedom of choice originally imparted to him into the actual freedom of a deliberate and self-conscious choice of good.”. 

Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament (emphasis added). 

With these things in view, we have a better picture of the totality of the effects of original sin on the created order, including mankind. I would contend that the natural world ‘surely died’ also, when man sinned. The Apostle Paul tells us the following; “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:18-23). Thank God that that day is coming, but until then we are subject to the elements of the world & until then the debate will remain within The Church concerning the origin of sickness & disease. 

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. ⁸ But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. ⁹ For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. ¹⁰ And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. ¹¹ For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me (Romans 7:7-11). 

The words of Paul echo the experience of Adam, inasmuch as the violation of the issued commandment resulted in death & that on a multitude of strata. The entire created order was affected by Adam’s sin. Not only are our bodies ‘subject to the bondage of corruption’ but also animal & plant life. River deep & mountain high. These things penetrated the planet to its very core. Perhaps it’s understandable that we would want to know why we become sick, especially if we’re pursuant of healing. However, few are prepared to seek The Lord’s eternal perspective on the matter. Those who believe in healing will fight with those who don’t believe in healing. Then there are those who don’t know & beyond that, there are those who don’t care. Again, in order to find the answer, the obvious appeal is made to Scripture & to evidence. 

There is the theory that God is the author of sickness & disease, because He pronounced death upon man in the garden. Therefore, if this is true, we must accept them from His hand because they come from Him. This belief leaves healing at The Lord’s sovereign prerogative. Is this so? The Lord closed the wombs of the women in Abimalech’s household, rendering them barren. (Genesis 20:18). The Lord struck Miriam with leprosy when she spoke against Moses (Numbers 12:9-10). The Lord Himself declared, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.” (Deuteronomy 32:39). 

There is also the belief that sickness & disease are often the result of personal sin, which has not been confessed & repented of. I don’t deny that this may sometimes be the case, but this begs the question; are the healthy, those who are sinless? Is this so? Remember the words of David; “O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink  and  are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh” (Psalms 38:1-7). “Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins” (Micah 6:13). Jesus also told the paralytic “..Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:14 b). 

We also have the objection that God did not tell Adam that he would become sick, but rather, that he would die, albeit eventually. Therefore we cannot link sin & sickness to each other directly. This would mean that Christ’s redeeming work did not incorporate the removal of sickness & disease, because they were not a part of the curse or the fall of man. If this is true it also means that healing is not a radical part of our salvation. Is this so? Extra biblical apocryphal sources claim that Adam suffered a mortal affliction & called his children to him before he died. These texts are not part of the inspired Hebrew canon, therefore cannot be considered reliable or even true. 

Along with these arguments comes the idea that sickness & disease are part of our natural life cycle & therefore cannot be escaped; we can’t fight the laws of thermodynamics. Hence, the failure of medical practice to successfully eradicate them. The answer is to learn how to live with our ailments & not fight against them. This makes sickness & disease a part of the original creation; a creation which God said was very good (Genesis 1:31). Is this so? Isaac had trouble with his sight in his old age (Genesis 27:1) Evidently Jacob had the same problem. “Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them” (Genesis 48:10). Let’s not forget the case of the prophet Elisha; “Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof” (2^nd Kings 13:14). 

What our foreparents did in Eden had ramifications far beyond the common cold or cancer. Therefore what The Lord Jesus Christ did was more far reaching than divine healing. We need to ask the right question. Rather than attempting to discover where sickness comes from, which we are not told definitively, we ought instead to ask where healing comes from. This moves our theological vantage point away from us & focuses it where it should be; on The Lord.

 As we move through Scripture, asking the right question, we will see quite clearly that whatever the reason for sickness & disease, we also see where healing comes from. The very first instance of this is found in Genesis 20. “And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife” (Genesis 20:1-3). When The Lord threatens you with death, you are in trouble. To his credit, Abimalech maintained his integrity & kept his hands clean.  The Lord had prevented him from touching Sarah. The king’s life & those of his household would be spared in response to Abraham’s prayer; “So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife” (Genesis 20:17-18). 

This was not the first time that Abraham had been in this position; a similar scenario had occurred earlier, in Genesis 12. During a time of famine, Abram went down into Egypt. As they drew close to the country, Abram said to his wife, “...Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: . . Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.. . And The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.” (Genesis 12:11-13 & 17). She was obviously an extremely attractive woman.

There is no record that Abram prayed for Pharaoh’s household, or that they received deliverance from the plagues that came upon them. Nevertheless, here on this occasion, Abraham prayed for Abimalech & in answer to that prayer he & his house were healed. I say again, rather than attempting to discover where sickness comes from, which we are not told definitively, we ought instead to ask where healing comes from. This moves our theological vantage point away from us & focuses it where it should be; on The Lord. Again, God made definite healing promises, to specific people, under certain circumstances & as I read God’s Word, I am more than convinced that we have definite grounds to approach The Lord & petition Him for our healing & that of others.

 

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise (Jeremiah 17:14).

 

 

 End of Part One

 

 

 

 

 

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