He Heals
In recent years, I’ve experienced painful health issues. It’s because of the vulnerability of this “earth suit” I inhabit. Before we get to heaven, we all suffer from glitches in our frail frames. From having our first “ouwie” and crying for a Band-Aid, we discover an excruciating reality: We don’t escape life without experiencing physical failings. We’re all vulnerable to pain, disease, injury, and deterioration.
After the youthful need for Band-Aids, we eventually learn about non-physical problems. We’re broken in ways that bandages don’t address. Emotional, psychological, and spiritual concerns also remind us that we’re not in the Garden anymore. So it’s no surprise that some conflate the spiritual healing that Christ provided on the cross with physical and mental healing. One is guaranteed for us through Jesus’ sacrifice, and the other is not. Redemption gives us forgiveness, justification, adoption, reconciliation, and freedom from sin.
That’s not to say that Jesus doesn’t heal in other ways. He does. When my disorder is causing me pain, I’ll take all the prayers I can get. I also seek professional medical help. I thank God for the relief when it comes. It’s ultimately His choice, and I’m grateful. But Christ’s death in our place paid for sin, the disease common to everyone.
However, the topic of sin lacks enough appeal for those looking to draw huge crowds to their churches and revivals. But crowds pour in if people believe they can escape their physical suffering through an evangelist who promises miracles. Of course, God does miracles, but they don’t necessarily start when the “health and wealth” revivalist takes the stage and end when he leaves the building.
Some might say, “But the Bible clearly states that healing is part of the atonement: ‘By His stripes, we are healed!’” But the word “healed” is not restricted to physical healing. And it is not referring to it as related to Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. Jesus refers to spiritual healing, not physical when He says,
“For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’ (Matthew 13:15)
That’s the spiritual healing—salvation—that Christ guarantees in the atonement. However, salvation eventually leads to complete physical healing. We will be raised incorruptible, no longer subject to illness, pain, injury, or any physical problem common to this world! In the meantime, good faithful Christians still get sick and die.
One very cruel aspect of the theology of faith healers is this: If you’re sick, it is because you lack faith. But unfortunately, if this is true, many of the godliest people we know, inside and outside the pages of the Bible, had weak faith. And if their faith was too weak to heal them, perhaps it was too weak for their salvation.
The same passage people like to quote, allegedly supporting Christ’s obligation to heal physically through the cross, makes clear that the healing is for sin. Isaiah 53 says:
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
Jesus had a healing ministry. He still heals today. But if you look closely at those accounts in the gospels, the writers emphasize Christ’s teaching and preaching. His healing drew crowds and confirmed His authority. But the crowds asked with amazement, “What is this? A new teaching with authority!” (Mark 1:27). Luke wrote, “they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority” (Luke 4:32).
Today, His authority is established. So let’s spread His message of salvation to all who need healing from sin and trust Him to heal in other ways, if not here, then one day there, completely.
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” —Revelation 21:4