WHY DOESN'T EVERYONE GET HEALED?

Date: Sat Feb 3 15:22:34 2007

Some people say healing ended in the first century. Others say it has been restored now. Some maintain that healing is in the atonement and that it is a RIGHT of Christians to be healed. Others pooh-pooh all healing today. What is clear is that not everyone who seeks healing is healed. The question often asked is, "WHY NOT?"

First, some background. God made man and woman perfect, and there was no sickness or death originally. When sin entered the world, so did sickness and death.

However, in the Old Testament, God's people went through the wilderness not only without sickness, but also without their shoes wearing out - until they rebelled. Then the Lord had Moses put the serpent on the pole. Sickness is actually mentioned rarely in the Old Testament. There were cases of illness of course, some brought on my sin as depicted in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, but it seems that in general God blessed his people with health above their fellows. Certainly, even eating vegetables, Daniel and his friends looked better than the well-fed Babylonians. Miriam became leprous when when criticized her brother's Ethiopian wife, and of course the Egyptians received all manner of illness as a judgment of God. Job, while righteous, was afflicted in his body as a test of faith.

In the New Testament, Jesus healed many. In some accounts it says ALL or EACH, others say many. In Mark 6, there is an account of "only a few" in his home town because of the people's lack of faith. In the latter portion of Luke 4, Jesus healed all one day and they came back the next day, but he left to minister other places. The implication is that he did not heal at that place on that day. In fact, there were any number of people Jesus either did not come into contact with, or who were not healed. Shortly thereafter, the disciples encountered crippled people at the gates who had been sick a long time, so Jesus did not heal all. At the Pool of Bethesda, only one was healed. When Jesus was in the crowd in Matthew 9, he noted only once that he felt power leave him, and it was the woman with an issue of blood. Jesus healed sometimes individually, sometimes in groups, and sometimes all who were gathered together.

The twelve and the seventy two worked great wonders. We don't know if some, most, or all were healed, but it was a mighty demonstration of God's power. The Apostles continued on, healing, raising the dead, and working other miracles. However, not everyone was healed. Paul left Trophimus sick at Miletus. Timothy had frequent illnesses, apparently of the stomach, and Paul urged him to take some wine to help. Paul himself had a major issue with his eyes, and he notes in Galations 4:15 that the people would have taken out their own eyes to give to him were that possible.

Paul, of course, had a visit to the "third heaven", so it might be well said that unless you have had such a wonderful experience, you do not need a thorn in the flesh to keep you humble! However, there is no record of Timothy or Trophimus having that kind of exalted experience, and they were sick, perhaps for a time, but in the case of Timothy "a frequent illness" and in the case of Trophimus, he was sick enough to not be able to continue with Paul. In neither case did Paul claim healing or tell them they didn't have enough faith or tell them it was in the atonement and to declare it, decree it, or whatever the term of the day was.

Of course, there are some reasons for sickness - in I Corinthians 11, Paul says many were sick because they partook of communion unworthily. They did not discern the Lord's body. Some are sick today because of this SAME reason. They take communion with unrepented sin in their lives and holding grudges against other people. You can pray all you want to, but you have to repent first! Healing and the forgiveness of sins are often linked in the Bible. Others are sick because of poor diet and sleep habits - some sickness we bring on ourselves.

Yet, James says in his book, chapter 5, that the sick are to have the elders pray for them, and that the Lord will raise up the sick when the prayer of faith is offered.

So why was healing common in the ministry of Jesus, common in the ministry of the apostles, and yet rare today?

Is it because people don't believe that healing is in the atonement?

I don't think so. Some "proof-texts" offered for that belief are from verses dealing in context with spiritual sickness. The Stripes referred to in Isaiah 53:5 and quoted in Peter are clearly in the context of spiritual sickness. You cannot read into both passages what is not stated. Yet, I hear constantly a fragment "by his stripes we were healed" and in the context of the physical rather than the spiritual. Believe me, our spiritual sickness is WORSE than our physical sickness, and we desperately need spiritual healing. In the case of Isaiah 53:4, which deals with both physical and spiritual sickness, Matthew 8:17 says that the healings and deliverances from demons performed by Christ in his ministry fulfilled the verse "He took up our infirmities and carries our diseases". Jesus did not have to die to bring us healing. It happened BEFORE the atonement - actually since the beginning of creation.

I am amazed by how many things OTHER than salvation from sin that people put in the atonement - healing, prosperity, dominion, etc., and wouldn't you know it, those who do teach those things seem to concentrate on healing, prosperity, and dominion instead of on salvation from sin! Does that sound like God to you?

I believe that the atonement is absolute and 100%. Jesus said that those who came to him, he would not cast out. If you come to Christ, you are saved 100% of the time, your sins are removed 100% of the time, and you are made a new creation 100% of the time. The same CANNOT be said of healing, prosperity, and dominion. I believe that by making a catch-all atonement, people are actually introducing doubt about the REAL atonement for sin. They are less secure in their salvation, have more doubts, and believe that it can lost at the drop of a hat.

That said, I believe it IS God's will to heal people most of the time. I believe that sometimes God will allow us to be afflicted in our body just as Job was, for his glory, but this is rare and should not be assumed. I also believe that at times God will not respond to prayer for healing when it is in our spiritual interest to have that affliction, as in the case of Paul who had an exalted experience or when there is sin in our life. . There may also be times when we are sick like Timothy and Trophimus were, and despite being around people with the gifts of miracles, we remain sick for a time. I believe both Trophimus and Timothy were healed, but it is safe to say that it was not as soon as they would have preferred!

Let us compare our present reality with what God wants to do. The fact is, despite the hype and claims, relatively few people get healed even by the most well known in the field. Some who are ascribed a major ability to be used by God to heal people have yet to have ONE medically verified healing. Yet, I have seen people healed and have had significant healings in my own family. I know God heals. It doesn't come by demanding, declaring, decreeing, or commanding. It comes when Jesus is working through the Holy Spirit and not when men are seeking to add to their own glory or pocketbook.

I believe that God wants to restore the genuine healing ministry of Jesus to the Church. Not simply backaches, but missing limbs, paralysis, severe issues. It will not come through men in white suits with emotion-laden services or outrageous claims or with flawed theology. Rather it will come when men and women with the Spirit of God flowing through them simply let God flow through them and bring healing to the world. Both saint and sinner will be healed - all who believe. Even then, not everyone will be healed, but there will be many more who will be, and it will be a sign of God's power in those who believe.

We need to relax and not put trips on people who aren't healed right away. Paul did not do that to Timothy or Trophimus. I have heard cruel words telling people they have no faith and the like. We are not to judge. We are simply to believe and to pray, and to exercise the gift of healing if the God grants it to us, or exercise it as Elders who are responsible to pray for the sick in the church.

I believe when the hype and the convoluted theological constructs of lying symptoms, absolutism, and the rest are discarded, the Lord will roll up his sleeves and heal through his precious body, the church. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but in the Spirit.

[[ COMMENTS ]] ==============================

Name: evermoredazed

Date: Tue Jan 30 01:08:16 2007

Comment: You have written very well on this subject. Thanks for the insight.

Name: AZRON

Date: Sat Feb 3 09:39:55 2007

Comment: Interesting thoughts, John. I liked your last line - that kind of sums it up for me - My job is to pray - it is God's job to heal!