I’ve asked my home church this very telling question: When I say that it is always the will of God to heal everyone, what first comes to your mind? (I personally think there are two primary sources for hesitancy and resistance.)
1. “That statement has not been my only, consistent experience, nor that of anyone else I know.”
2. “There seem to be passages of Scripture that challenge that statement.” (Remember, Scripture must be interpreted with Scripture in context and in “Christ-text”.)
My stated belief in healing is not a crutch for weak minded people who want to be affirmed by experience. Ministers have suffered criticism and contradiction of experience over this belief for years. Don’t you know, that if they were not committed to Scripture, they could’ve easily changed their beliefs to agree with experience and still have sold books, Cd’s, etc?
Honesty and humility are vital attitudes with which we must approach the Word. We are told in Psalm 138:2 that God has magnified His Word above All His name. Who did this? God Himself did. If He magnified His Word above all His name, how much more should we magnify His Word above all our negative experiences? God knows that a person’s name is only as good as his/her word.
God can use situations that are not His will to bring about good and receive glory. (He in a Redeemer.) (i.e. funeral where the lost are influenced to get saved by someone’s loving commitment to Christ in the midst of sickness and disease) Just because God has the ability to bring good out of something bad does not mean that the bad was His wilI or intent.
We don’t allow experiences to make our doctrine in other areas. (i.e. victory over besetting sin, holiness standards, etc) “Well, I know what the Bible says, but I prayed about this issue, and God did otherwise.” That don’t fly with other areas, then why healing?
If a loved one dies lost in sin, nobody says, “How dare you say that he/she didn’t exercise faith or could’ve received more from God?”
Acts 17:30 “…but now (God) commandeth all men every where to repent:”
We are the body of Christ. The Head hasn’t changed, and isn’t sending out different signals to the body than His Eternal Word. The Spirit indwelt church is not merely a referral service to secular services/programs for the diseased and oppressed. Christ in us is just as much the answer for them as He is for any sinner. Jesus mentioned two things that make the Word of God of none effect: Unbelief and Unbiblical traditions.
If physical healing through Christ is God’s desire for everyone, then how could we ever die? (Isn’t it somewhat funny to worry ourselves with how we must die?) I encourage an honest look at just a handfull of the many Scriptures pertaining to this topic, such as:
Psa 104:29 …thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. (Some may would object to this usage because the verse speaks specifically of animals. However, would any one dare suggest that God is incapable of doing the same for humans in the practical sense? The principle remains true in either case.)
Job 5:26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.
Exo 23:26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
Psa 91:16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
Eph 6
2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
God does not depend upon disease or any other work of the devil to receive His children home. He doesn’t need sickness to call us to heaven any more than He needs sin to keep us humble. Nothing more is required than to simply stop breathing and fall asleep in Christ. (Even in cases of peaceful death, there is often a felt need to attribute the cause to a physical problem.) This may be a shocking revelation: Everyone Jesus healed eventually died. He evidently still thought their healing was an important expression of the will of God. Though the greatest tragedy is to die lost, we do not have to sacrifice the will of God for physical healing in order to uphold the priority of eternal salvation.
To be continued in Part 11…
