DOES GOD PROMISE PHYSICAL HEALING?
When I am asked by someone does God promise physical healing? My response back is always yes & no meaning yes - God does heal, but no - God doesn't guarantee physical healing. My response usually catches them off guard & they proceed to prove their point that God does promise physical healing by quoting and showing me bible verses on healing. The most popular verse I'm usually shown is Isaiah 53:5 which states" But he (Jesus) was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace & with his wounds we are healed."
To them, this verse means that when Jesus was beaten with a braided leather whip with pottery shards & sharp stones affixed to the end, which tore open his flesh ( like movie passion of the Christ) those beatings brought us physical healing. But is that how we as Christians should interpret that passage? Let's take a closer look by defining those two crucial words use in that verse transgressions & iniquities.
Webster's dictionary defines transgressions as "an act that goes against a law, rule, or code of conduct, an offense"
Now iniquities are defined as “immoral or grossly unfair behavior.
So as we can see those two words are talking about a person's behavior or actions. One of the true riches to the bible is that it’s a book without error & scripture should interpret scripture, which simply means books of the bible will harmonize with each other. So for example Apostle Peter confirms what Isaiah 53:5 said. To back this up 1 Peter 2:24 states “He (Jesus) himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin & live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. " Now although Isaiah 53:5 & 1 Peter 2:24 are central to the topic of healing they are often misunderstood & misapplied. The word "healed" as translated from both Hebrew & Greek can mean either spiritual or physical healing. However, the context of Isaiah 53 & 1 Peter 2 makes it clear that they are referring to spiritual healing, sin & righteousness, not physical healing. Jesus was brutally beaten for us to be forgiven of our sins.
However many proponents of the guaranteed faith healing doctrine will further proceed to prove their point by going to Deuteronomy 28 (see for reference) where God promises to bless Israel’s faithfulness with freedom from disease, long life, victory over their enemies, etc. Unfortunately, this type of scriptural interpretation further highlights their lack of biblical hermeneutics. What I’m trying to convey is that any serious bible student will know that Israel was under the Mosaic Covenant with them under a theocracy; such a promise is not given to the church. The Mosaic Covenant is a conditional covenant made between God and the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19-24). Likewise, there are promises given to the church that is separate from Israel. Unfortunately, there is not enough room in this blog post to go deeper into the purpose of the Mosaic Covenant. But the main point I’m trying to make is we can’t rip out scriptures from the bible and isolate them without first getting an understanding of the true biblical and historical context it was written in.
But I have to admit it truly saddens me to watch these televangelist faith healing hucksters swindle thousands of hurting sick people out of their money by promising if they would just send them a magical dollar amount to their ministry; God will divinely heal them for their faithful giving. But what’s more tragic than that is when the same individual sends all they have to live on and never gets healed or for that fact even dies. The so-called faith healers dismiss them not getting healed for a lack of faith on their part. So not only does the sick individual struggle with their illness, but now they are burden with the thought of not having enough faith in God. So you may be asking didn’t Jesus go around healing people with various sickness & diseases? And the answer would be a definite yes. But again we have to place those healings into their proper context. The healings performed by Christ was not a license for televangelist to ask people for money in exchange for their healing. (This on a side note is confusing to me because I never once found any examples in scripture of Jesus asking sick people for money in exchange for their healing.) The purpose of Jesus's healings was always a sign from Heaven of Christ’s authority as Messiah. He was giving Israel a taste of the Kingdom of God. Jesus was foreshadowing a time in the future when all sickness and death will be eradicated. (New Heavens & New Earth) So does God still give physical healing today? absolutely! But only through his sovereign choice & faithful prayers of the saints. I'm thankful we have a God that loves us & hears our prayers!