Unfortunately, we often hear Christians – not to mention preachers – who say that God does not want to heal everyone. They reason, “God is Almighty, and He would have healed everyone if He wanted to”. However, this is incorrect theology, built on wrongful assumptions. Using the same logic, we would have to conclude that famine, genocide, rape, and wars must be God’s will too. If He is Almighty (which He is), He could have stopped it (which He obviously does not always do).
New Testament Scripture shows us that God is a good God, who only does good things, and only sends good gifts to mankind:
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there isno variation or shadow of turning” (Jm. 1:17).
God is not light one day and dark the other. He is only good. He is exactly like Jesus!
It isn’t God’s will that things like famine, genocide, rape and wars occur. He has given man authority to rule over the earth. Although God is in “ultimate control”, He does not micromanage every happening, or action conducted by men. We have a free will!
Preachers who say that God doesn’t want to heal everyone, are putting a veil of unbelief upon people. If we don’t know for sure that God wants to heal everyone, we can never really be sure about whether He wants to heal anyone (including ourselves), and if we don’t know that, we can never truly believe God for healing.
The question whether we can receive healing, or not, has very much to do with our heart attitude; what we believe. When Jesus visited his hometown of Nazareth, people were so familiar with Him and His family members that they simply did not want to believe that He was the Messiah. Because of their attitude of unbelief, Jesus could only heal a few people there, although He had wanted to heal many more. The problem was not that Jesus was unwilling – the problem was the unbelief of the locals.
To understand God’s view on healing, we must ask ourselves: What is the ultimate source of sickness? Most theologians would agree that sickness is a result of the fall. Adam’s sin lead to that death – and thereby also sickness – entered the world. Sickness is thus a result of Adam’s sin.
What then, was the consequence of Jesus dying for the sins of the world, putting away sin, and reconciling the world to Himself? We find the answer in 1 Pet. 2:24:
[Jesus]…”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”.
We see clearly that we have been healed by the stripes of Jesus, and that healing is connected to that Jesus carried our sins in His own body upon the cross. The fact that healing is connected to the forgiveness of sins, is also shown in Psalm 103:
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases”. (Ps. 103:2-3)
Can you see it? Healing goes hand and hand with the atonement – the forgiveness of sins. Note that Psalm 103 says that God forgives ALL SINS and heals ALL DISEASES.
Repeatedly, we find in the Gospels that Jesus healed all that came to Him. At one moment, a man with leprosy, who doubted whether Jesus wanted to heal him, said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus answered, “I am willing; be cleansed”, and healed the man (Mt. 8:2-3, Lk. 5:12-13). Jesus came to show us who God is. If Jesus was willing to heal then, He is willing to heal today, because He “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
In fact, God has, through the finished work of Jesus, already done everything for us to be able to walk in divine health. God does not withhold the healing. When He sent Jesus, He sent everything He has. At the cross, Jesus dealt with every sin, sickness, and disease. There is not one single sickness that Jesus didn’t pay the full price for!
Instead of seeing God as the problem; that He might want to heal some people, but not all, we need to learn how to better cooperate with the Holy Spirit, so that more people can receive the healing that Jesus already paid the price for. We need to rediscover the Gospel, because the Gospel is the power unto salvation, healing, and deliverance (Rm. 1:16). We need to believe right about what Jesus has done for us. We need to understand the forgiveness of sins and God’s great love for us! Faith for healing will then rise within our hearts.
Jesus asked whether He would find faith on earth at His return (see Lk. 18:8). It was as if He was saying, “Will people on earth still believe that I am good, that I want to heal everyone who is sick, or will they intellectually try to rationalize, and explain away My supernatural intervention in peoples’ lives?”
I want to be one of those in whom Jesus finds faith when He returns. If there are symptoms in my body that do not agree with the fact that I have been healed by the stripes of Jesus, I do not change my theology based on my circumstances. Instead, I use the word of God in the Scriptures to change my circumstances! By faith and endurance, we will the see the promises of God manifest (Heb. 6:12).
Dear friend, if you suffer from sickness today – turn your eyes upon Jesus. He can do for you what no man, or doctor, can ever do. He is your Healer. Connect with Him, rest in Him, meditate on His finished work. Resist the sickness in Jesus’ name, and you will discover that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. You might actually experience His healing power right now, even as you read this message!
