​IS HEALING THE WILL OF GOD?

God reveals His will to us through His Word. The Bible clearly shows that healing is God's will for His children, as it is revealed in the nature and character of God, the harmonious relationship with His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit, as well as in Jesus’ ministry and sacrifice. Jesus told us that He and the Father are one (John 10:30), as well as that “the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). Jesus performed healings, deliverances, resurrections, and miracles, and from what He told us, we can understand that He saw them all fulfilled in the spiritual world by His Father, before they became reality in the physical world. So healing is God's will.
 
Let us consider the following verses, prophesied of Jesus by Isaiah more than 700 years before He came in the physical.

• Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

 
On the cross, two thousand years ago, Jesus already healed all the diseases of mankind by His stripes. You may be asking yourself, “Then why are there still sick people and why am I suffering?” On the cross, Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of mankind, and yet there are multitudes of people who have not accepted the sacrifice of Jesus and are not saved, on the contrary, they live sinful lives, led by the evil one. I think you've already guessed what we may conclude from this. In order for someone to be saved, he must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died for their sins and live according to God's will. Also, for someone to be healed, they must believe that healing is God's will, truly desire to be made whole again, and even hate the disease, fight against it, and receive the healing that Jesus has already accomplished on the cross. So, salvation and healing are both received through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus forgave the sins of all people and healed all diseases through His sacrifice on the cross, but each person must believe and act accordingly in order to be saved and healed. In other words, whoever believes that through His sacrifice, Jesus forgave their sins, can also believe that He healed all their sicknesses, because the Lord accomplished both at the same time. For most Christians it is easy to believe that Jesus has forgiven their sins, but when it comes to healing, it is difficult to accept that it has already been done, in order to be able to receive it, and be healed.

• Exodus 23:25-26 “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”

 
In His Word, God lists various diseases and disabilities as curses  for those who reject Him, do not keep His commandments and rebel against Him (Deuteronomy 28:18,21-22,27-29,35,60,61). But the Lord promises blessed and prosperous lives in healthy bodies to those who obey Him and do His will (Deuteronomy 28:1-14).

• Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.

• Psalms 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.

 
These are just two of many verses that show God's wonderful attributes. God's nature shows that He does not change, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. God's love, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, justice, patience and mercy are supreme and will remain so forever, for all His children.

• Psalms 107:17-20 Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

 
In His great love and goodness, whenever we realize that we have erred and need His help, God hears our cries, helps and heals us, no matter how sinful we have been up to that point.

• Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.

 
King Solomon passed on to his son the words of God that he learned from his father, David. What he said to his son is also true for us. We must pay attention to what God promises us about healing and health in the Bible, and incline our ears to His words, which means to really hear them. If we declare aloud the Bible verses through which the Lord promises to heal us, until they become real in our spirit, we appropriate them and know that they are valid for us. And if we want to be healed and live healthy, it is not enough to have faith once. We need to keep our faith alive, by daily feeding on the truth of the Scripture, and at the appearance of any symptoms, resist the sickness in the Name of Jesus until it leaves.

• Exodus 15:26 and said, “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.”

 
God calls Himself Jehovah Rapha, “I am the Lord who heals you” meaning “the God who heals us continually, who never changes.” The first condition that God sets is to be our Lord and to listen carefully to what He tells us. We must choose not to be deceived by the symptoms, pains or lies of the devil by which he wants to make us accept the disease and suffering, and rebel against the Lord. When Jesus is our Lord, we choose to do what is good and fulfill what He teaches us in His Word. Everything God asks us to do is for our best in the long term, and the more we do what He asks of us, the happier we are. When we live this way, God promises to heal us. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word translated "to heal" is "rapha" and it occurs 67 times, including in Isaiah 53:5, where we are told that by the wounds of Jesus we are "rapha,” meaning healed or made whole.

• James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

• Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 
God never changes, never changes His mind (James 1:17) and His gifts and callings “are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Also, Jesus never changes. If in the Old Testament, God promised to heal His children, He has not stopped and will never stop healing those who are His. Jesus healed the sick while He lived in a human body and never stopped doing so after He left the earth. Hallelujah!

• Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

 
Jesus healed and performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit, because He chose to be as one of us and not to exercise His own power as God. Nowhere in the Bible is it written that Jesus ever told anyone that it is not the will of the heavenly Father to heal them, or that someone's illness is incurable or impossible to heal, or that He cannot heal someone because Father God wants to teach him something. Jesus told us in John 16:23-24 that “whatever” we ask the Father in His Name, He will give us, without mentioning any exceptions. So “whatever” includes healing too.

• John 6:37-39 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.”

 
Jesus came to do the Father's will. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit worked together for the salvation of all who believed in Jesus, as well as for the healing of all who came to Him. And they never stopped doing so.

• 1 Peter 2:24 Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

 
The original Greek word translated “healed” is “iáomai” meaning “healed by the supernatural Healer, by the Lord, i.e. beyond healing itself and its benefits” (according to “HELPS Word-studies”) and occurs 27 times.
 
A common Greek word used for the healings that Jesus did is “sozo,” and it means “to save, heal, preserve; deliver from destruction and bring into divine safety: to make well, heal, restore to health” (according to “Strong’s Concordance” and “HELPS Word-studies”). The word “sozo” and its derivatives appear 108 times throughout the New Testament, being translated both as salvation and healing. The term refers to what Jesus did for us on the cross, where He not only saved us, but also healed us by His stripes.
 
Another frequently used word in the original New Testament for healing is "therapeuó,” and it means "therapy, to treat; to heal, restore the physical condition of a person who has a disease or infirmity.” The word is the root of the words "therapy" and "therapeutic" which usually also involve natural elements in the healing process,” i.e. requiring appropriate actions (according to "HELPS Word-Studies"). This word is used 43 times for healing, which means that Jesus had many complete an act of faith so they would be made whole.

• Matthew 12:10,13 And behold, there was a man in the synagogue who had a withered hand. They, that they might accuse Jesus, asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” [...] Then He said to that man: “Stretch out your hand!” He held it out and the hand became healthy, as did the other.

 
When the Pharisees asked if it was permissible to heal on the Sabbath, the word used is “therapeuó.” It was an active healing that involved work on the part of the sick person on the day of rest, which the Pharisees could not accept in their legalism. Jesus answered them that there were exceptions to the law, to save the animal that fell into a pit and that man is much more valuable than a sheep. Then He said to the man with the withered hand (paralyzed, unable to move), “Stretch out your hand!”  which meant to act on the faith that he would be able to use his hand, and that is what the Lord asked him to do. What happened after the man listened and did something he knew he couldn't do? His hand was healed and was the same as the other. That means that instantly the Lord restored the muscles that had atrophied from inactivity and restored all the normal functions of that hand.

• Matthew 4:23-25 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

 
If we analyze the meaning of the main words in the above passage with the help of “Strong's Concordance,” “HELPS Word-studies” and “Thayer's Greek Lexicon,” we can better understand the extent of Jesus' ministry. The original word translated “healing” is “therapeuōn,” meaning basically “treating, actively healing;” “any” is the word “pasan,” meaning “all, entirely, any kind;” “disease” is the word “nosois,” and it means “disease, condition, terminal disease for which there is no cure, a disease caused by an evil spirit, disease that does not heal naturally;” “infirmity” is the word “malakian” which means “weakness, disease leading to disability or paralysis, with which you can live but cannot function normally.”
 
We see that people were talking about the miracles that Jesus was doing throughout all Syria. Sick people in those days had to accept their fate, because most diseases could not be treated by doctors. There were many sick people and Jesus was their only hope to be healed, that's why multitudes followed the Lord, not only from Israel but also from neighboring countries.
 
Those who were brought to Jesus, were those who could not walk alone, “those suffering from various diseases and torments.” The original word for “diseases” is “nosois,” explained above, and “basanois,” meaning “torture, torment,” and together they mean all kinds of diseases and disabilities or infirmities with which they were afflicted and made them suffer.
 
The “epileptics,” “selēniazomenous” means “epileptics, lunatics, those with a disease that set in as a result of occult practices on the full moon, when some people became possessed by demons, ’someone controlled by the moon’ rather than reason.” Then there were the "weak,” "paralytikous,” meaning "those suffering from paralysis.” All these Jesus healed, "etherapeusen,” meaning that He “healed by a supernatural flow of healing power that became effective only after the patient cooperated.” Jesus was asking them to cooperate, to act by faith.
 
So we might paraphrase Matthew 4:23-24, based on the explanations of the original words used, as follows:
 
Jesus went through all Galilee, teaching the people in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing the sick, asking them to cooperate, from all diseases, terminal diseases for which there are no treatments, diseases caused by evil spirits that do not heal naturally, and all the infirmities and diseases leading to disability or paralysis among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to Him all who were suffering from various diseases, terminal illnesses and torments, those who were tortured by all kinds of diseases, disabilities and infirmities; the epileptics, the lunatics, the demon-possessed, those who suffered from paralysis, and He healed them through a supernatural flow of healing power that became effective after the patient cooperated with the Lord, through faith.
 
We can say without exaggeration that Jesus healed all the diseases in those times and asked the sick to cooperate by believing that they could do what they could not do before. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, so even today He heals every kind of sickness and disease if we believe and cooperate with Him. Faith without works is dead, we must strive to do what we could not do before we prayed for healing, that is to act on faith.

• Mark 1:32-34 At evening, when the sun had set, they brought (“pheró,” meaning “carried, brought forth, brought”) to Him all who were sick (“kakos,” meaning “sore-misery related to experiencing grievous harm, affliction”) and those who were demon-possessed (“daimonizomai,” meaning “demon possessed, that could not control themselves”). And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed (“therapeuō,” meaning “actively healed, cured, restored to health”) many (“pollous,” meaning “many as high in number, numerous multitudes”) who were sick (“nosois,” meaning “disease, condition, terminal disease for which there is no cure, a disease caused by an evil spirit, disease that does not heal naturally;”) with various diseases, and cast out (“exeballo,” meaning “cast out; drive out; to send out;”)  many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.

 
In the above verses we see again that Jesus healed all who came to Him, including extreme, terminal cases. And this is another recorded evening where they brought to Jesus all the sick and possessed people in the region.

• Mark 1:39 And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.

 
The Bible records many examples of individual healings and situations where they brought to Jesus all the sick and possessed in the region where He was, and He healed them all. And in John 21:25, the apostle John wrote that, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” Because we know that Jesus did what He saw the Father doing, and neither Jesus nor God the Father changes, we can be sure that the Father and Jesus will heal us too.

• Luke 4:40-41 When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick (“asthenountas,” meaning “sick, feeble”) with various diseases (“nosois,”   meaning “disease, condition, terminal disease for which there is no cure, a disease caused by an evil spirit, disease that does not heal naturally”) brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed (“therapeuō,” meaning to actively heal, cure, restore to health”) them. And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking “epitimon,” meaning “rebuking — in order to curb one's ferocity or violence, forbitting”) them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.

• Luke 5:15 However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed (“therapeuō,” meaning actively healed, cured, restored to health”) by Him of their infirmities.

• John 4:45, 47-51 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen (“horaó,” meaning “they became acquainted with by experience, they saw with their own eyes”) all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal (“iaomai,” meaning “to heal supernaturally, bringing attention to the Lord Himself as the Great Physician”) his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
  

 
Jesus did all these miracles 2000 years ago, but because He is the same yesterday, today and forever, He does the same now and will continue to do so, as long as healing is needed. Any teaching to the contrary does not reflect the truth of God's Word.
 
If someone believes that sickness is the will of God, it means that they cannot take any treatment, or go to the doctors, because if they are healed, they are not in God's will and therefore they sin. In fact, all those I have heard say that it is God's will that they should be sick, have been to doctors and followed treatments of various kinds. Thank God that they tried to do something for their healing, but unfortunately they believed so, because they did not understand the truth of the Bible and accepted as truth what they have been taught by those who did not receive the healing when they prayed. It is sad, that we find it okay to say that it is not God's will for us to be healed, when we don't get what we ask for. We make God responsible for the failure, when we should admit that the problem is on our end. Through His Word, God has shown us that He wants us to be blessed throughout our lives, including towards the end of it. The more we study the Word of God, the more we build our faith to receive the healing we need.  

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Copyright © 2015 Carmen Pușcaș. May be used for personal study or instruction but shall not be copied and/or distributed in whole or part without permission or for financial profit.