Shortly after Jesus Christ's resurrection, He visited the disciples and gave them some very important instructions that we often call "The Great Commission" (Mark 16:14– 18). Christ foretold that certain signs would follow those who believed. Of those signs, the promise of healing is surely the one most sought after today by those in need. Yet many who seek the fulfillment of that sign find that it can pose a severe challenge to their faith. How should we understand this promised sign, and what it means for the testing of our faith and our relationship with God?
A Test of Faith and Understanding
When we claim the promise of healing, or see someone else who needs healing, we must often reconcile scriptural truths that may seem to be in conflict. On the one hand, we know that God is "a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). We know the many scriptures that reveal God as our Healer. By Jesus Christ's stripes we are healed (1 Peter 2:24). Yet when we face the reality of our situation, or of a loved one terribly, pitifully and helplessly afflicted, we may struggle to understand the application of another key verse: "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God" (Romans 8:28).
I have known in my own life the struggles of faith that severe health trials and death can cause. When I was a young teenager, my father was abruptly killed in a farming accident—leaving behind a young family completely unprepared for his sudden absence. Later, when I was a young adult, my mother suffered terribly from cancer before she died. A few years later, my father-in-law battled cancer and died. In all of these situations, my family and I sought God's will and His mercy. And while I saw God's hand intervene at different times during these trials, my faith and understanding were often tested.
Naturally, in such situations, questions arise. What is God's will? What is my (or the ailing person's) level of faith, or state of spiritual health? When will God intervene? Why has God not yet intervened? What should I do, and what more should I do? Thousands of God's people have asked these questions over the centuries. Thankfully, since God does indeed love us very much, and since He knew we would suffer various afflictions, He gave us many principles in Scripture to help us understand His will for us. In particular, we can consider the following seven key points to help us have the right context about divine healing.
Seven Foundational Truths
First, remember that Christ was brutally beaten for our healing, and that it is His sincere desire to heal us. No matter how prolonged or severe our suffering, it is nothing compared to the completely unjust punishment that Christ, the perfect Son of God, willingly endured. Why did He endure this punishment? Far from being a callous, uncaring God who does not care about our health, our suffering or our healing, God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son allowed this brutal punishment because of Their love for us.
We know that Jesus was the ultimate Passover sacrifice for our sins. But just as Passover lambs were not savagely beaten before sacrifice, Christ did not need to be savagely beaten to pay the price for our sins. However, in complete submission to the Father's will, Christ allowed Himself to be beaten brutally to provide for our physical healing (1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:5). Although there are times when we are not healed, we need to remember that if God and Christ did not intensely love each one of us, and did not desire that we have the blessing of physical healing, Christ would not have suffered that scourging and that beating. We know that God both forgives and heals (Psalm 103:3), and that He wants to heal us. We should be deeply thankful that He is such a merciful Heavenly Father and that He and Christ were willing to allow that punishment for the purpose of our physical healing.
Second, we often forget that all are fated to die (1 Corinthians 15:22) and that death will remain with us until after the Millennium, at the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on this earth (1 Corinthians 15:24–26). Yet, when the righteous perish, we sometimes fail to consider that they have been taken away from the pains and the evils of this world. They now have rest (Isaiah 57:1). A Christian may be sorry to lose a loved one, and may deeply miss that loved one. But we should not become depressed when a loved one succumbs to death, and we should not impute judgment on the faith or the level of conversion of one who is afflicted or who has died. From the most sinful to the most righteous, all are fated to die, and those faithful Christians who have preceded us in death will have their next moment of awareness at the return of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:15–16).
We know about Paul's "thorn in the flesh," which God refused to remove (2 Corinthians 12:7–9), but we should also consider the example of King Hezekiah (2 Kings 20). Though God did show mercy by extending King Hezekiah's life for 15 years, the king still died at the end of those years. Was Hezekiah an evil king? Was Paul a rebellious and unfaithful Christian? No! Here are two zealous, obedient, powerful servants of God who nevertheless died. One had his death delayed for a while, and one had to live with his affliction, but Paul and Hezekiah were not given perfect health or immortality during their physical lifetime! When we encounter brethren in God's Church who are sick today, who have chronic illnesses or disabilities or who eventually succumb to death, we should view them with the same love and respect we have for Hezekiah and Paul. All die, including the righteous.
Third, God has given us very practical instructions for living a happy, healthy life. While obeying God's health laws does not guarantee that we will never succumb to sickness or injury, we will be much healthier if we obey those precepts. God's Church has published many books and articles on this topic. Decades ago, our Presiding Evangelist, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, wrote about practical and biblical principles in The Seven Laws of Radiant Health. That booklet has long been out of print, but its principles are timeless, including such keys as proper diet, ample sleep and exercise, and quarantine when one is sick. His "Strengthen Your Body" article in the July-August 2005 Living Church News gave a brief overview of some of these vital principles.
The health laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy are well known to most of us. As another example, consider the beautiful instruction of Psalm 104:14–15, which is just one of many scriptures where a kind and caring God has given us practical dietary and health instruction. In this brief passage, God gives us a number of health principles that, if followed today, would prevent many illnesses. Notice here the simple instruction that livestock should be allowed to roam free and eat a vegetarian diet. Today, too much of the meat we consume comes from animals that get no exercise or fresh air, are fed harmful animal by-products as part of their diet, and are loaded up with innumerable vaccines and artificial hormones that affect those who consume them. God never intended this, but mankind's greed, laziness and refusal to practice biblical agricultural principles have created a system where it is very challenging to find nutritious food not damaged by human processing. In this passage, we also see that God advises a balanced diet that includes vegetables, good bread, healthy oil, and wine in moderation. God created us, and He knows how we work physiologically. Thankfully, God gave us ample instruction for maintaining good health.
A fourth key is that God does indeed have a plan to heal the entire world. We should take comfort in knowing that, ultimately, God will remove all sickness from the entire earth. In the Kingdom, God will provide complete physical and emotional healing. He will heal the entire creation (Revelation 21:4, Revelation 22:1–2). God truly is a loving Father who cares about our health now, and has a plan in which all sickness, disease, emotional trauma and death will finally be put away forever.
The fifth and sixth keys relate to intercessory prayer. Specifically, the fifth key is to call on the elders of the Church for anointing, and the sixth key is that the brethren must intercede in prayer for one another (James 5:16). Scripture tells the sick to call on the elders of the Church (the ordained ministers) for anointing (James 5:14). When an afflicted person asks for anointing, this shows the individual's submission to God and His Church government. The elders pray, lay hands on, and anoint with oil—asking Christ and God the Father to intercede for the afflicted person. Also, brethren in the Church should intercede in prayer for one another (vv. 15– 16). Both of these instructions involve intercessory prayer. We know that the intercessory prayers of the righteous are vital, powerful and commanded.
Further, 1 Corinthians 12:26 illustrates that the Church of God is one body and when one member suffers, we all suffer. Consider that metaphor from a personal perspective. If you have been painfully injured, you will naturally be very aware of, and very concerned about, your injury. Similarly, if one of our spiritual brothers or sisters is ill or suffering, we should be just as acutely aware of and concerned for that person. Then, we should take that concern to our loving Father and to Christ and ask Them in intercessory prayer to intervene for that member of our spiritual body.
As we see in James 5, "the prayer of faith will save the sick" and "the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." Whether God chooses to provide healing now, in the future, or upon that person's resurrection, God does hear the prayers of the righteous (Proverbs 15:29), and we are told to intercede for one another because when one member of the body suffers, the entire body suffers.
A vital seventh key is that we must fully submit our will to the Father's, just as Christ did. Consider that Christ was perfect in all His ways, spiritually and physically. He was completely obedient and without sin (Hebrews 4:15). But this does not mean that He looked forward to His suffering as a pleasurable experience. He did not desire to be terribly and brutally beaten. He did not desire to be cut off even momentarily from God the Father. However, He did desire to fulfill the Father's will— and He loved the Father, and us, enough to perfectly submit His will to His Father's.
Matthew 26:38–39 poignantly shows the depth of Christ's sorrow, knowing what lay immediately ahead. He was not only sorrowful about the physical suffering He knew He would endure, but He was also extremely sorrowful, knowing that taking our sins upon Himself would for a brief moment separate Him from His Father (Matthew 27:46). The Word had preexisted with God the Father from the beginning of time (John 1:1–2), and Christ knew that He would be momentarily separated from the Father when our sins were placed on Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Ultimately,we must always subject our will to God's will. God is our Healer, whether in this life or in the resurrection, and we must always have the attitude that it is God's will and not ours that must be done.
What God Expects of Us
These are just seven of the vital truths the Church of God has understood and taught on this topic through the centuries. It is important that we understand these points, so we can have the proper context from which to answer the simple, but sometimes agonizing question:What does God expect of us when we seek His healing intervention? Now that we have the right context for the question, an answer can be found by studying one of the earliest statutes that God gave Moses and the Israelites, soon after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
Exodus 15 tells the story. Soon after crossing the Red Sea, the tribes of Israel came to the Wilderness of Shur. This was a very inhospitable and arid place, where they could find no water over the course of their three-day march (Exodus 15:22). Without a source to replenish their water supplies, the Israelites would soon begin to die. They were already in a physical (and spiritual) state of weakness because of their years of bondage, abuse and slavery. Now, after three days of marching through rough terrain, they were becoming desperate. They needed God's intervention.
Finally, they came to a place they would later name Marah—which means "bitter." Most Bible scholars agree that Marah was located in the area now called Wady-Amarah, at a place currently known as Ain Howarah. This location on the Sinai Peninsula is about 30 miles from where the Israelites likely exited the Red Sea, consistent with the expected distance such a group could travel in that amount of time.
Precipitation in this area creates small rivulets, which flow through seasonal streams during the winter months and collect in small pools and pockets that often last into the summer. However, as this water collects and becomes stagnant, it can become contaminated by poisonous vegetation or by the rock and soil itself. In the Wady-Amarah area today, small amounts of water still collect through the same seasonal process, and the local Arabs typically avoid this bitter and impure water—not even allowing their camels to drink it.
The Israelites' physical, emotional and spiritual state immediately after their deliverance from slavery was very desperate. In an immediate sense, they needed physical intervention—they needed water or they would die. Much more importantly, they needed to be taught spiritual lessons. They needed divine intervention and healing in a national sense—through which God began to reveal what He expected from Israel, and what He expects from us. It is at this early point in the Exodus when the Eternal intervened and gave His children profound instruction. "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" (Exodus 15:26). How important is healing? Here we see God identifying Himself by a name—Yahweh Ropheka—rendered in English as "the Eternal Who heals you."
So, what did God instruct Israel to do? How did God want Israel to obey? What did God then promise? God wanted Israel not just to obey Him, but to do so in the way that most pleases Him. In return, God promised to protect Israel from the diseases and pestilences that they had seen afflict the Egyptians. This promise of divine healing and protection was not just for ancient Israel during the Exodus—it is for us as well, and is repeated in scriptures where God states that though thousands may fall all around us from disease, pestilence or violence, those who really obey God will receive His protection and shall not be afraid (Psalm 91:4–8).
When we understand what God expects from us as we seek divine healing, we can see that the answer never changes. God expects of us what He expected of the Israelites at Marah. His expectation is the same when we are healthy. His expectation is the same when a family member or loved one is sick. We are not to just "go through the motions" of being Christian, but we are to really obey Him in meekness, in humility and in complete submission to His will.
Stated another way, God has shown us what is good, and what He requires of us—to do justly (keep the commandments), to love mercy (be kind and merciful with each other), and to walk humbly before Him. These characteristics are summarized in Micah 6:8, and this is how we "do what is right in His sight"— whether we are sick or healthy.
Developing Righteous Character
Divine healing is a sign that has always accompanied God's true Church as it carries out the Great Commission. God has used healings to comfort others, to show His mercy, to build faith and to show where He is working. We should continue faithfully to seek God's intervention for ourselves and for others when we face illness, injury or disease. We should continue to believe and faithfully accept the promises of Romans 8:28, Hebrews 11:6, 1 Peter 2:24 and Isaiah 53:5. But we must also understand that there is no contradiction between those truths and the reality of our situation when we, or those we love, may desperately need God's healing intervention.
God's promises will always stand. And just as the Eternal was not challenged by Israel's desperate situation and lack of water, neither is He challenged by our disease or sickness. But it is also vital to understand that He wants us to keep His commandments in a way that pleases Him—showing mercy, kindness, humility, faithfulness, and remaining in a good attitude no matter what our condition. This is what God expects of us, whether we are healthy or sick. This is what allows God to build righteous character in us. We must always remember that it is not our physical healing, or the healing of a loved one in this lifetime that is ultimately important. Rather, our spiritual health and righteous character are of utmost and eternal importance.
God loves us more than we can imagine. He is "the Lord Who heals," and He is working out a grand plan on this earth that includes each one of us individually. This is why He gave His Son to die for our sins. This is why Christ was beaten for our physical healing. This is why He has given us so many health principles in Scripture. And, this is why sometimes He heals us, but sometimes He requires that we wait until Christ's return—whether Christ returns in our lifetime or not.
Ultimately, we understand that it is the spiritual character that God is developing in us, through various tests and trials, including health trials and even death, that will truly matter in the end (Hebrews 9:27–28). Ultimately, we must fully believe that "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). Whether He works with us in sickness or in health, God is working with us to develop our confidence in His promises and our complete submission to His will. This is what He expects of us, whatever our circumstance.