Through Jesus

Where Does Sickness Come from?

Sickness comes from original sin. ()

When Adam and Eve sinned it caused catastrophic consequences. One of these consequences is that they caused death (sickness) to come into the world.

It is important for us to remember how many of the sicknesses we have today that would be deadly in generations before us.

Sickness comes from personal sin. (; 1)

Sometimes the connection between personal sin and sickness is easy to see (drunkeness=liver trouble)

Other times the connection between sin and sickness is not as obvious. Paul talks about sickness that came from taking communion in a unclean state

Sickness comes directly from Satan/Demons (; Matt 9:32-33)

This is the least often of the three, but this does still happen

Why Does God heal us?

God heals us because sickness is not his plan or desire

There is a difference between “willing” and “allowing”

God heals us to reveal who he is

There are aspects of God’s character we will never understand until he delivers us

Israel in Egyptian Captivity

God heals us for His glory ()

How does God heal us?

Jesus is the vehicle of all healing (; 7)

In the next few weeks we will discuss how God uses:

Prayer

Scripture

Confession

Anointing

A wealthy businessman lay on his deathbed. His preacher came to visit and talked about God’s healing power and prayed for his parishioner. When the preacher was done, the businessman said, "Preacher, if God heals me, I’ll give the church a million dollars." Miraculously, the businessman got better and within a few short weeks was out of the hospital.

Several months later, the preacher bumped into this businessman on the sidewalk and said, "You know, when you were in the hospital dying, you promised to give the church a million dollars if you got well. We haven’t received it as of yet."The businessman replied, “Did I say that? I guess that goes to show how sick I really was!”

No matter who you are, or where you come from- all of us will get sick from time to time. From the common cold, to kidney stones, cataracts, to cancer- sickness is a part of life. There is no avoiding sickness, but as Christians, we are called to have a different way of understanding and acting in the midst of sickness. For the next 5 weeks we are going to be unpacking some of what the Bible has to say about sickness and healing.

The businessman replied, “Did I say that? I guess that goes to show how sick I really was!”

So, today we are going to start at the beginning, building an understanding of where sickness comes from, and then talking about the primary cornerstone of healing- Jesus Christ.

The first question we need to wrestle with is where does sickness come from? The answer to this question comes in three parts.

First, we need to look at and the fall of man. You see, when Adam and Eve ate the apple there were grave consequences on mankind. It was God who told Adam “If you eat from that tree you will surely die.” This consequence brings about sickness- the main way that physical death falls upon mankind.

The fall begins the cycle of sickness in mankind- and the cycle will continue until God makes a new heaven and a new Earth- that are not tainted by sin- as promised in Revelation. This means that most of the sickness that we encounter in our lives is from the fall of man. When I get a cold, or the flu, or last year when I got a bowel infection, I did not think it was a demonic attack or a sign that I was out of God’s will- we will get to these in a moment- it was a part of the fall of man. We will see in a few moments that there is sickness that comes from personal sin or an attack from Satan, but more times than not the sickness that you are dealing with is a part of living in this fallen world. Does that mean that God cannot heal sickness that comes from the fall? Of course he can! What it means is that we should not beat our heads against a wall trying to figure out what we have done to deserve this sickness, or convince ourselves every time we get a kidney stone that the Devil is responsible.

Second, some sickness is a directly result of sin or disobedience. There are times and moments in our lives when we need to examine ourselves, because our choices and lifestyles bring sin into our lives. We see this in the story of Israel in :

The New International Version Chapter 28

If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God—59 the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed

So, clearly there can be a connection between sickness and personal sin. Sometimes this connection is easy to see. For example, a person who drinks their entire life and gets liver cancer. This is an obvious consequence of their disobedience.

However, there are times when the connection is not as easy to see. Consider what Paul told the church of Corinth in :

The New International Version Chapter 11

27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep

Paul points out to the people that their careless treatment of Communion has lead to sickness. Probably not an obvious connection, but one that was pointed out to them by the Spirit of God. Now, even though this is not an obvious connection God did reveal to them what was happening. I believe this is always the case if God is allowing sickness in your life to invoke repentance. I do not think that God will allow sin to effect our lives in order to invoke repentance and not show us what it is we need to repent of.

Third, there are times that Satan directly brings sickness against us. The most memorable case of this is the story of Job. When God allows Satan to test Job to show his faithfulness. The story of Job shows us that there are times when God will step out of the way of Satan and allow us to be tested and tried. But, I want to also point out that Job’s faithfulness did not go unnoticed. At the end of Job’s story all he had was restored because of his faithfulness to God and God’s faithfulness to him.

The second question, then, is why dose God heal us? Part of having a will is having a motive. When we ask what God’s will is, part of the answer reveals God’s motives for doing something or allowing something to happen. The Bible tells us a few reasons why God heals people.

Why Does God Heal us?

First, God heals because sickness and disease are not God’s desire. Let’s think back to the scene in the Garden of Eden- God makes a perfect garden and inside of it he places Adam and Eve- they are perfect. There is no disease, no sickness, no death, and no sin. This was God’s original plan. When Adam and Eve sinned then everything got thrown off axis and God’s plan was altered. That is the problem with saying things like “God’s will was for him to die” No, it may have been time for him to be called home, but God’s original will was not for anyone to die. So, we must remember, when we are struggling with sickness God is not sitting in Heaven saying “Sorry, this is my will” God is in heaven watching and wishing that it did not have to be this way.

Also, we must remember that there is a big difference in willing and allowing. Just because something comes into your life does not mean God has willed, sometimes God has allowed it. After all, God can do anything he wants. But, because it will increase our faith, or the faith of someone else, or because it will reveal who God is, or because of choices and effects of people God takes his hand off situations and allows for things to happen.

Second, God heals us to reveal new parts of his character to us. There are aspects of God character you will never understand unless God delivers you from something. I think about the Israelites in the OT- most of their understanding and worship of God was based on God freeing them from the most horrible circumstance of their existence- being free from Egyptian slavery. Perhaps they would have never understood who God was unless they were free from the Egyptians, and in order to be freed for Egypt God had to allow them to be slaves in the first place.

Some of us have seen this in our own lives. You would have never understood God’s mercy if you hadn’t been cured of cancer. Or God’s faithfulness without walking through diabetes, or God’s presence if you never sat in an ER.

Bottom line- God does not enjoy seeing us in pain. He is not an evil dictator that enjoys seeing suffering. God always has a purpose in your pain.

Finally, God heals us for HIS glory. When God heals us he always does so to glorify himself. God is a God who desires our worship and praise. When he heals us it is not so that we can just “move on” and get back to life- it is so we will glorify him. I struggle sometimes with the amount of “Christians” who receive healing from God, get the healing, and then move on paying no mind to God and taking little to no time to worship him or give him thanks.

Have you ever given someone an AMAZING birthday or Christmas gift? You got them something so good, and so amazing you knew they were going to flip out when they saw it? Or guys, do you remember the moment before you proposed to your wife? You had the ring in your pocket just waiting for the moment. What it your kids opened that gift and never said a word, or didn’t give you a giant hug? What if your wife took the ring, put it on her finger and just kept on rambling about how good her nachos are, or telling you a story about what happened at work? Wouldn’t you be crushed? Yet we do this to God all the time.

So, how does God heal us? I am glad you asked! So much so that we are going to take 4 more weeks to answer that question! But today we are going to begin to answer it with this one truth: God heals us through Jesus!

In we are told that it is by the stripes of Jesus that we are healed. If sin is the root of all sickness then in order to heal sickness sin had to be defeated- and Jesus defeated sin on the cross. When someone get’s cancer we often say that “the name of Jesus is greater than the name of cancer” and that is 100% true- because Jesus rose from the tomb! We pray to Jesus and in the name of Jesus for healing because we know that the name of Jesus is the most powerful name in heaven and Earth, because Jesus rose from the tomb! Jesus’ victory over death is the driving force in our healing.

But Jon, some may say, my healing came through chemo, or through surgery, or because I had an amazing team of doctors. I am glad you mentioned that! Check out :

The New International Version Chapter 1

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18

All things are created by Jesus and for Jesus, and are held together in Jesus-

Chemo- created for and by Jesus and held together by Jesus

Dialysis-created for and by Jesus and held together by Jesus

Penicillin- created for and by Jesus and held together by Jesus

The surgeon- created for and by Jesus and held together by Jesus

I like to think about it in these terms- healing either come by direct involvement of Jesus or indirect involvement of Jesus, and both are miracles.

There is a miracle in direct involvement of Jesus when he provides miraculous healing. There was a tumor there last week and now there isn’t; WHAT A MIRACLE PRAISE GOD!

But there is also a miracle in the indirect involvement of Jesus. It is a miracle that Jesus gave that doctor the intellect to know how to do this procedure, that someone had the vision and ability to create a little robot that goes in our veins and clears them, or the nurses that have the heart and compassion to care for us.

I see a miracle in the man who has been diagnosed with diabetes for 35 years and has controlled his diet, resisted the urges of double chocolate brownies with ice cream countless times! And time after time has made the decision to work for his health and wholeness.