Tuesday, 1 April 2025

 

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).  

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? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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 dieAnd the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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. 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. 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 thee17 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 fallThe 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 GodFor 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 nowAnd 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. 

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 covetBut sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 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” (2nd 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

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

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