Chapter 2. Healing and the Will of God.

Chapter 2. Healing and the Will of God.

In one sense the whole of this blog will be talking about different ways we can understand from Scripture that healing is the will of God. But the purpose of this chapter is to outline some of the scriptures where it is clearly laid out that it is God’s will for us to be healed. Other teachings of Scripture assume this truth but may not directly state it in those words. We will touch on some Scriptures in this chapter then return to them in other chapters to dig deeper into them.

Many Christians have unfortunately arrived at what is essentially a pagan concept of God. This is because often the teaching of the church has been faulty. In other cases it is because pagan concepts have been absorbed, or learnt, before coming to Christ and these have been melded into growing Christian understanding uncritically. I touched on this in the last chapter in a little way. Many people assume that sickness is God punishing them in some way that God is the author of sickness. I hope I have dispelled that fallacy already.

There is another subtle understanding that many have absorbed which I need to address in this chapter. This is the idea that God is somehow unloving, stern, ready to judge and afflict us with punishment for the least wrongdoing and unwilling to relieve our suffering even when he can. This belief about the Father is often held in tension with the idea that Jesus is the human face of God. Jesus is the kind and compassionate one who loves to forgive us and heal us but he has a problem and that problem is the Father’s stern and judgmental attitude. So we are given a picture, an impression, of Jesus having to plead with the Father for our forgiveness and healing - with the result that there is no guarantee that God the Father will say yes to either. Jesus is willing to heal us, but God the Father – well, maybe not.

In this chapter what I want to do is examine what is the Father’s will concerning our healing and wellbeing and hopefully dispel any doubt as to God’s desire for you to be healed and well, whole so that you can serve him with your whole being.

As a starting off point we need to understand God’s attitude towards the suffering and evil that has come into the world. This is perfectly portrayed to us in the following:

 “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain (Gen 6:5-6).” God looks out on the evil in man and the evil that results and he is grieved, his heart is filled with pain. God is not the sort of God that Greek philosophy came to postulate, an impassive God who could not feel or act. God is a God who sees our pain and he feels pain because of it. He has compassion for us in our suffering and this compassion is birthed out of a real feeling of pain in his heart. And out of that pain and compassion he does something about it.

We will look more fully at what he has done in other chapters but it is important for us to note right at the start of talking about the healing power of God what God’s motive for acting is. It comes out of his love for mankind.

The Report on Healing by the Anglican Church in the 1950s said this:

“Our first reason for believing in Divine healing is our belief that God created man as the expression of his love, and he re-creates and restores him as the object of his love… The Bible says God is Love (1 John 4:16) and we know love must always be active or it sinks into mere sentimentality. The love of God is not a static gift to be accepted or rejected, but a vital power by which to live.”

This love is expressed in his compassion. It comes out of the fact that he feels not only our pain and suffering but he has, in himself, his own pain which is caused by our suffering. He has compassion for us.

But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (PS 86:15).” (KJV: You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion…)

The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made (PS 145:8, 9).”

The word compassion, when we look in the dictionary, comes from the Latin: “Com – with” and “Passion – emotional feeling.” So it means “to emotionally feel with us.” God feels with us emotionally as we feel. There are several Greek words translated “compassion” in the New Testament:

(i)                   sumpathes = to suffer with another.

(ii)                 Eleeo = to show mildness, kindness.

(iii)                Spla = to have the bowels yearning.

(iv)               Oikteiro = to have pity or mercy.

So it means more than just to “feel with”. The Oxford dictionary defines it as follows: “To pity inclining one to spare or help.”

The Bible often translates it as “mercy.” The Hebrew is rachamin, meaning mercy, compassion. Mercy is more than a feeling, it is a decisive action to alleviate or remove the suffering.

So God is not just sitting around feeling upset. His compassion moves him to help us. Empathy means “to feel with” – but it doesn’t imply any real action to change the situation. Compassion means “to feel with and to reach out and change the situation.”

God is not an empathetic God – he is a compassionate God. There is a world of difference between the two ideas.

Thus the word “willing” is too tame to express Gods attitude towards helping us: “He DELIGHTETH in mercy (Mic 7:18).” He delights in mercy - he gets a kick out of being merciful.

Also it says; “He is eagerly looking out people to whom he can show mercy (2 Chron 16:9).” God is not just willing - he is eager to pour out his blessings. He doesn’t just want to feel merciful to us – he wants to show his mercy and the implication is that, in showing his mercy to us in our sufferings, he will actually do something about the suffering that causes us pain.

So God’s actions towards us are rooted in his love for us, his compassion for us in our suffering and his mercy in doing something about our suffering.

Think about this: if God did something else, something not related to the pain that we are suffering that evoked his feeling of mercy, then he would be schizophrenic – his feelings and his actions would have no relation to each other. It is nonsense to say that God has compassion for our suffering and yet does nothing to relieve the suffering.

So our first reason for believing that God wants to heal us is rooted in his nature as a loving God who has compassion towards us.

 It goes without saying that all of God’s actions begin in his will, but I need to say it anyway, even if just to introduce our topic: What is the WILL of God for healing? HOW that will is, or has been, expressed we shall look at in later chapters. What we want to know now is what his WILL is. Only in understanding his WILL can we understand his ACTS.

So what is the Will of God concerning healing?

There are several avenues of investigation we can look at to answer this question. Initially we will look at some general considerations; then we will look at a specific consideration.

Some General Considerations:

Ordinarily it is God’s will for us to be Healthy.

We see this fact firstly in a fact of nature – the way God has made us. God has given us a body that, in the natural course of events, will work to restore us to health if it can. Our second proof that God wants to heal us is not spiritual or profound. It is rooted in the fact that he has created us with bodies that will heal themselves. Many Christians overlook this salient fact when they come to consider the will of God and healing.

The committee of the Church of England had this to say: “The same creative and re-creative power of God is at work within ourselves… (we hurt ourselves) and we assume it will heal… The healing comes through the power of God within us… Here is the first of the foundations on which our belief in Divine Healing is built… We believe, on the evidence of scripture and of the experience of the church, that his perfect will, which was expressed in his first creative act, has been and always is unchanging and unswerving for man’s good… we all possess a Vis Mediatrix Naturae, a natural healing energy… Christ is the author of all healing and the Vis Mediatrix Naturae is the working of His spirit of life… The physician is using material means to aid healing. But many doctors would admit that they are only helping the Vis Mediatrix Naturae to operate.”

Basically what they are saying is this: God made us, created us, with bodies that heal themselves. He wants us healed and healthy and has built into us power to enable that to be true. His will concerning healing is thus concretely demonstrated to us in our human bodies on a daily basis.

We also see the fact that it is ordinarily God’s will for us to be healthy in the statements of Scripture.

First the apostle John says: “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well (3 JOHN 1:2).” In general, our understanding is that the words of scripture, though written by men, are inspired by God and so express the mind of God. Thus this scripture expresses the mind of God concerning our health.

 Second, we see the same thought in the Apostle Paul: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it (1 THESS 5:23-24).” This scripture refers to sanctification, which is another way of talking about Christian wholeness, or the freedom God wants us to have from the destructive power of sin. The prayer again is that our whole being – spirit, soul and body – would be made whole through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. And the appeal is made to God’s faithfulness as proof that “HE WILL DO IT.”

The glory of God is seen in man fully alive – so God is on the side of wholeness. Thus, in general, it is God’s will for us to be healthy and not sick. Thus he will respond to prayer for healing unless there is an obstacle or unless the sickness is sent or permitted for some greater reason.

Body, Soul and Spirit are not precisely defined separate categories but are imprecise convenient labels to describe the components of human nature. The Bible sees us holistically as a single integrated entity and the healing of the humans being as comprehensive.

Medical science is today discovering the connections between much physical, mental and emotional suffering and our attitudes and actions or, in Bible terms, our sin. Thus sanctification – deliverance from the power and brokenness of sin – is going to affect our whole being including our bodies.

God’s revealed will is that we may fulfill the number of our days according to his promise.

EX 23:25-26.

“Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.”

 “The length of our days is seventy years - or eighty, if we have the strength; (PS 90:10).”

:

 “So I said: "Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations (PS 102:24).”

 “Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool - why die before your time (ECCL 7:17)?”

 “There is a time for everything… a time to be born and a time to die (ECCL 3:1-2).”

If our allotted span has not been lived out we have a right to claim God’s gift of health.

(I read a remarkable testimony from a tribal group in Asia who had seen several dozen people raised from the dead. Basically, when someone died (especially if they were young) they would gather as a church and pray; asking God if that person’s allotted time was up. If they felt they got the answer, “No!” they would then pray for resurrection – once only. Then they would have a worship service – sometimes lasting several days – until the person came back from the dead. Sometimes the person concerned was reluctant to come back!)

This promise of health for our whole life is also given to us in other promises of the Bible in a more indirect way:

 “… even youths grow weary and tired… but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (ISA 40:30-31).”

This verse promises a “change in strength (Hebrew – literal).” What it is saying is that God will give his people supernatural strength in their daily lives so that they can continue to live out their lives in the energy and strength of a young man. There is no idea here of degeneration or growing weakness due to old age. The same idea is found in the New Testament: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you (ROM 8:11).”

The Anglicans again in their report said the following:

“Our third fundamental belief is that God has so made us that our physical body can be made strong through the strengthening of our soul and spirit by the indwelling Spirit of God.” (Good stuff from the Anglicans!)

In case we have doubts as to the ability of God to do this for us he has given us some clear examples in the Bible of people who received this quickening of their bodies through the Holy Spirit.

 “Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone (DEUT 34:7).”

And we need to remember that Moses was not an isolated case. Joshua, who took over the leadership of Israel from Moses, was already 65 or more at the time. And Caleb, was a similar age. When they entered the land Caleb said to Joshua – “Give me the hill country I spied out 40 years ago.” And he led his family to battle to take it as his inheritance.

Another instance of this miracle at work is clearly seen in the lives of both Abraham and Sarah.

 “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead - since he was about a hundred years old - and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised (ROM 4:18-21).”

God healed Abraham’s physical body – reversing the effects of age. And he did the same to Sarah. But even more – he healed Sarah of her barrenness – Abraham and Sarah had been married for over seventy years and never had any children. Abraham had had a child through Sarah’s maid twenty five years before, so the problem was not that Abraham was infertile. Sarah was barren all her life and God healed it by a miracle.

Abraham lived another 75 years after this in full health and strength.

So what has these old stories got to do with us? Well, we are the spiritual descendents of Abraham and what was promised to him that he experienced is also promised to us:

 “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring- not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all (ROM 4:16).”

It is God’s will that his will be done on earth.

"This, then, is how you should pray: "`Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (MATT 6:9-10).”

There are some questions we need to ask here:

First, when does this request apply to? When does God want his will done on earth?

Answer: Now. When Jesus comes again God’s will WILL be done perfectly on earth. There is no question about it. The time when it is doubtful and we need to ask God for him to do his will is NOW. This is a petition in a group of petitions that deal with our life NOW, not in the future.

Second, how well is God’s will done in heaven?

Answer: It is done perfectly.

Third, Is there any sickness in heaven?

Answer: No: “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Rev 21:4).”

What Jesus is saying is that he wants what is true in heaven to be true on earth. There is no sickness in heaven, no demonization, no insanity, no suffering, no pain, no death. His will concerning healing is revealed in Christ - in his life and ministry. And in the Lord’s prayer. We do not see a single drunk on the streets of heaven. Nor a man with crutches. No wheelchairs. No need for drugs, operations or expensive medical machinery.

So what Jesus is asking us to pray is something like this: “God make it the same on earth now as it is in heaven – with no death, mourning, crying pain, sickness and so on.”

Question: Will this prayer be answered in this age?

Answer: No, not fully, but we should still pray the prayer and work towards it being true.

What this verse does teach us is that God wants his will to be done now on earth – and it is not his will that people be sick.

God has provided for our ongoing need for healing.

 “Is there any sick let them call the elders (Jas 5:14).” This includes everyone who is sick in the church.

In 1 Cor 12 Paul tells us God has given gifts of healing and healers to the church. Why would he give these if it was not his will for people to be well?

Our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body (1 COR 6:19-20).”

 Two questions:

1.       Do you think the Holy Spirit would prefer to live in a whole temple or a broken down ruin?

2.       Which do you think would bring more glory to God? You being able to physically, mentally and emotionally do everything God wants you to do, or would he get more glory if you were sick, crippled and unable to obey his commands?

So we can say, in answer to the question, “What is God’s will concerning healing?” Well, in general terms, it is God’s will that we should live in health and live in full bodily strength until the allotted number of our days are fulfilled. Until then we can expect God to heal us of any complaints. He wants us to be whole – in body, soul and spirit.

Question: Do we have any specific revelation on what is the will of God for healing?

Well – yes we do.

The great truth of Christianity is that God is one, yet three. One God revealed in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are the same in essence. When we come to know one of them we come to know all three.

 It has always been the claim of the church that, in Jesus, God has been perfectly revealed.

Jesus was and is the perfect image of his Father: “All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily (Col 2:9).”

As one hymn writer put it:

In thee (Jesus) most perfectly expressed the Father’s glories shine

Of the full deity possessed – eternally divine.

Jesus himself made this plain:

Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father' (JOHN 14:8-9)?

Based on this verse, and others like it, the church has always held to the belief that the nature and will of God the Father have been revealed to us through the incarnation and life of Christ on earth. What Jesus said and did revealed the heart of the Father, the will of the Father. Jesus himself said this many times:

 “Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves (JOHN 14:10-11).”

 “Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these (JOHN 5:19-20)."

 “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me (JOHN 6:38).”

 “So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him (JOHN 8:28-29)."

 “Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father (JOHN 10:37-38)."

Here Jesus specifically tells us that it is the will of the Father to heal. The miracles of healing were the absolute proof that the Father was in him and that he was doing the Father’s will. In doing so Jesus revealed the heart of the Father, the heart of compassion we talked of earlier:

 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (MATT 9:36).”

 “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick (MATT 14:14).”

"I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat (MARK 8:2).”

 “Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him (MATT 20:34).”

Compassion and love were Jesus’ ruling motives in healing people and in working miracles –it was not just to show his power and divinity. If the latter was all that was needed then a few well placed miracles would have sufficed. There would have been no need to heal all.

The church has always held that the gospels show Christ as the expression of God’s will - a revelation and manifestation of the unchanging love and will of God. He healed all who came to him.

Question: Has anything changed now that Jesus has gone back to heaven?

 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (HEB 13:8).”

Jesus is still a merciful and compassionate high priest: “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people (HEB 2:17).”

Presumably God’s mercy and compassion will be shown through him now as it was in the past. We have no reason to suspect it will not.

 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin (HEB 4:15).”

 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (HEB 4:16).”

Here is the promise – because Jesus is our high priest we can have confidence when we pray that he will grant mercy and grace to meet our need.  Is there any limitation on what sort of need he will tend to? No. Any need will get his attention.

Could he cease to regard the suffering of his own after his exaltation?

 “For the Lord is good and his mercy is everlasting (PS 100:5).”

God’s love and compassion is veiled by modern theology. Modern theology says God is able, not God is gracious. As a result we have doubts as to whether or not he is willing to heal. The Devil knows God is able and he knows God is willing – but he keeps people from knowing the latter fact. The devil wants us to know about God’s power - because that is not a sufficient basis for faith – but knowing Gods mercy and willingness is.

F.F.Bosworth: “Perhaps no one could be more conservative than the scholars of the Episcopalian Church. Yet, the commission appointed to study the subject of spiritual healing for the body, after three years… reported back to the church: “The healing of Jesus was done as a revelation of God’s will for humanity.” Because they discovered that his will is fully revealed (i.e. in Christ), they reported further: “No longer can the church pray for the sick with that faith destroying phrase “if it be your will.””

Is Healing for All?

Nearly everyone knows God heals some, but there is much in modern theology that prevents people from knowing what the Bible clearly teaches, that healing is provided for all.

The benevolent heart of God is for all:  “The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made (PS 145:9).” Thus he cannot be a respecter of persons.

On most occasions Jesus healed all:

 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people (MATT 4:23).”

 “News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them (MATT 4:24).”

 “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick (MATT 8:16).”

 “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness (MATT 9:35).”

 “Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick (MATT 12:15).”

 “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick (MATT 14:14).”

 “And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed (MATT 14:35-36).”

 “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him (ACTS 10:38).”

It was “because God was with him” that he healed all who came to him. And that seemed to be the only prerequisite – that they came to him and asked. That seemed to be enough expression of faith for the miracle to happen. He is still the same – yesterday, today and forever.

There were two occasions in the Gospels where Jesus did not heal all the sick who were present.

The first was at the pool of Bethesda. The story is recorded in John 5:1-9. There were many sick people waiting at the pool for the waters to be troubled but Jesus only healed one, as far as we know. The reason why we do not know.

However the pool acted somewhat like a hospital. It was a place where the sick could be left and cared for. This episode clearly silences the critics who say, “If God still heals today then why doesn’t he heal everyone like Jesus did? Why don’t you just go through the hospitals and clean them out?” The answer is simple: In the one episode where we find Jesus in anything like a hospital he did not clean it out – so why should we be expected to?

The difference here seems to be in the initiative taken. We repeatedly read that Jesus healed “everyone who came to him” – i.e. when the person needing healing somehow took the initiative and CAME Christ recognised that action as sufficient faith for healing. At the pool of Bethesda the man did not come to Jesus – rather Jesus took the initiative. We have to conclude that Jesus used the pool to provoke an issue with the Pharisees and religious leaders – and the rest of the chapter bears this out where the argument is about whether or not Jesus should heal on the Sabbath.

The Second place where Jesus did not heal all who were sick was in his own hometown of Nazareth where we are told he could only heal a few people. He could not do any miracles there “because of their unbelief.” Again we see faith comes into action. The lack of faith prevented Jesus healing the people who were sick. Presumably the towns’ attitude towards Jesus – which was fairly negative and always had been since Mary conceived him – became a stumbling block to them and prevented faith. “This guy Jesus – we know him. He lives here. He is just an illegitimate kid. Who does he think he is going around claiming to be a prophet and doing miracles?”

This same ability to heal he gave to the disciples:

 “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness (MATT 10:1).”

As a result he expected the disciples to be able to heal any condition that they came up against. On the one occasion that they could not he told them off sternly: When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him.  "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."

"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me (MATT 17:14-17)." The rebuke is not to the man or the child, but to the disciples, of whom Jesus expected better. This is shown by the fact that Jesus went on to heal the child and by the following discussion with the disciples when they asked why they were not successful. Jesus replied that it was because they, as prayer ministers, were not up to scratch – that sort of demon is powerful and only comes out as a result of prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29mg). Jesus presumably kept himself “prayed up” and so reliant on God, where the apostles had lapsed into thinking that their own ability could achieve the desired end.

To those who say “I don’t believe God will heal all” we need to ask, “How, then, can we pray for anyone unless we have a special revelation that it is the right one.” If it is not God’s will to heal all then no man can ascertain the will of God on specific matter from scripture. We must rely on direct revelation.

It would be impossible to get the sinner to believe unto righteousness before you had fully convinced him it was God’s will to save them. Faith begins when the will of God is known. If we taught it was only God’s will to save some then how could you know if you were included? Similarly, if it is God’s will to heal only some of those who need healing then none have any basis for faith unless they have a special revelation that they are among the favoured ones. Faith must rest on the will of God alone. Appropriating faith is not believing that God can but that he will.

But the fact is – the Bible teaches Jesus healed all, and he is our model and example. The fact that some other ministries did not heal all is no argument. Their ministry is not our example – only Christ is. Our expectation should be that we see all healed in the name of Jesus. If one is not then there is probably some blockage, some reason why not.