Do what?
Yeah...I asked the same things as I was heading out yesterday morning to go take pictures at a local school when that thought was impressed upon me. Say again?
I was thinking about that passage from Matt. 9 where we saw how Jesus ‘went about all the cities and villages’...and not only was He teaching and preaching (something we in the church world know all about), but He also was found to be “healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” (9:35). That would be something unfamiliar and seen in our churches today.
If you have been reading along with me here, I referred to a couple of promises that God had made to His people when they were coming out of Egypt back where we read in the book of Exodus. They were some rather impressive promises at that...regarding how if they would just pay attention and do as He instructs, that He(God) would ‘put none of the disease on them which He had brought on the Egyptians’ (15:26) and that He would ‘take away sickness from their midst and even went as far to say that not one of them would be barren or miscarry’. (23:25)
I had not yet got to the promises in Deuteronomy where God was renewing His covenant and ‘benefits’ with that next generation of Israelites out there in the wilderness where they had wandered for forty years. Do you remember why they had the extended ‘vacation’ in that difficult and inhospitable place? They called God’s hand and said He couldn’t do what He promised to do. (Num. 13-14). Not a wise move at all. That first generation of folks were destroyed as their bodies were scattered about in the desert. (1 Cor. 10:5; Heb. 3:17-19)
But we read, once again, God make this promise: “You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren (or sterile) among you...or among your livestock. And...the Lord will ...take away...from you...ALL sickness and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.” (Deut. 7:14-15).
I know...lots to process in that. But get this: We are told that today...those who walk in covenant with God...are under a ‘better covenant’...with ‘better promises’. (Heb. 7:22; 8:6)
Would you just take a moment here and ‘connect some dots’ with what we just read out of our bibles please. No need to put a ‘spin’ on this and try explaining why God does not mean what He says. That never fairs well for anyone who does that.
God promised to remove all...sickness and disease and sterility and barren wombs from those who walked in covenant with Him and then we are told we have even ...’better promises’ than those? Really?
So it is no small thing when we fast-forward to the NT and see Jesus began to minister...”healing every sickness and every disease among the people”. (Matt. 9:35). Oh, and that verse from Ex. 15:26...ends with this declaration: “For I Am the Lord who heals you.” So again it bears worth asking...”When did God change?” He hasn’t. (Mal. 3:6)
Does anyone recall my illustration I closed out with the other day regarding the two parachutes and which one would you choose to use? I know it gave some folks pause; but I only used it to challenge our thinking here regarding what we read when it comes to God’s promises. I had cited Ps. 103:2-3 that declares the benefits of God who ‘forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases’. For some reason, we find it easier to believe God can forgive sins but the ‘healing part’ ...meh...not so much. Why is that? Because how many times have we prayed and pleaded and begged God for others, if not ourselves, to be ‘healed’ and those prayers seemed to go unanswered?
Now the question I was posing there, and it is vital that you not jump to conclusions, is this: We tell others: ’pray this prayer asking God to forgive you of your sins (which we are promised He will) and when you die, you will go to heaven’. All I was asking is how certain are we that prayer will ‘work’...if all those other prayers didn’t seem to work? Hence, the idea of grabbing ‘one parachute and hoping for the best when you die’ vs. using that ‘other parachute of promise’ that we have seen fail too many times before.
We just find it easier to believe for things we have yet to see, than deal with all the other things we have seen...(or not seen, maybe?). I don’t know about you, but when I travel, I like to see those defining ‘mile markers’ and such that let me know or confirm I’m on the right road headed in the right direction. (Whoop- someone is getting ahead of me here again). This is not about seeking after ‘signs and wonders and faith healing’ either. And you didn’t hear me quote Mark 16:16-18.....yet. ;-)
So back to the passage in Matt. 9 where Jesus went about healing every manner of sickness and disease. We also read in many other places in the gospels where he spent much time ‘casting out devils and unclean spirits’ from people as well. (Good thing we don’t have that problem anymore, right?) – Not!
Why did Jesus do this -All this healing and such? Lepers were cleansed, blind eyes were open, the lame were made to walk, deaf ears were unstopped, people ‘bent over’ with physical deformities ( caused by a ‘spirit’ Luke 13:11) were set free. Why Jesus even raised a few dead folks. And all those unclean spirits driven out of people, my goodness! Why He even did that for some folks who were not even in covenant with God nor heirs to the promises. Wait, do what? (Matt. 15:24-28)
If you have a moment, go look what Jesus commissioned those first twelve followers to do themselves there in Matt. 10:6-8. He sent them to ‘lost sheep’...and then instructing them to ‘heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons...’. Why would so many of God’s ‘sheep’ have such ‘afflictions’ given the promises that had been made to them way back in Ex. 15 and 23 and Deut. 7? (We listed those earlier). We’ll come back to this later. (But for those of you who are curious, go read Jer. 13:15-17 real quick)
We often read where all these acts or works of healing and deliverance performed by Jesus most often came on the heels of the ‘gospel of the kingdom’ being preached. (let’s not forget there are plenty of ‘other gospels’ out here today as well- 2 Cor. 11:3-4; Gal. 1:6-9)
And so while driving in to town yesterday morning, I was musing over the reason Jesus did perform so many works of healings and such. Was it to ‘confirm’ or bear witness or prove to all that He was teaching? (As in ‘signs following to confirm the word’? Mark 16:20).
And that is when that thought came to me...about it not being that big of a deal. I mean, have you never read where Jesus had a lame man brought before Him and everyone was watching to see what He would do after He told that man his sins were forgiven? People were incensed, questioning his authority to say such a thing. You can almost see Jesus just shrug His shoulders as He asked...”What’s easier...to tell this man his sins are forgiven...or simply take up his bed and walk’? (Matt. 9:1-5). Both of those, are ‘benefits’ for those who turn to God. (Ps. 103:2-3)
But here is where this opened up to me as I pondered these things more. Look how many multitudes of people...were miraculously healed by Jesus...and yet...still turned and ‘walked with Him no more.” Look at the story of the ten lepers who came pleading for healing...and they all were...before all running off. Yet, only one...returned to Jesus. (Luke 17:19).
We can read over and over back in the OT how God did some pretty amazing things for His people and they still rebelled and hardened their hearts and bowed to other gods and idols. There is no shortage of examples recorded there for us to read making all that known.
Then it dawned on me...what’s the point of having blind eyes opened...if you still can’t see? What’s the point of lame legs being made whole...if you are not going to walk in a way that God has called us to walk? And why be set free and delivered of unclean spirits...if we are just going to let them back in and we end up in a worse condition? (Matt. 12:43-45). Why...what’s the point of ‘raising the dead’...if we are going to continue living as ‘dead men’? (Eph. 2:1-3)
Then, all of a sudden, that passage in Matt. 18:8-9 made more sense to me...where Jesus said it was ‘better to enter into life ...lame or maimed or with one eye’...rather to be physically whole and ‘cast into the everlasting fires of hell’.
Here’s the good part though...God’s benefits still remain today and we can have ‘both’. It is not the will of God for any to perish or suffer needlessly. (2 Pet. 3:9). But we are being presumptuous to think that just because someone gets healed...that their hearts are going to just be surrendered to God and receive His gift of life and salvation. More often than not, from what we read, it is just the opposite. Hence, this idea of wanting to go out and perform works of healings and such so you can help God’s kingdom to grow has already proven not to work. But make no mistake about it...regardless of how people respond, He still is in the business of ‘forgiving all our sins and healing us of all our diseases’; not to mention ‘healing all who are oppressed by the devil’. (Ps. 103:2-3; Acts 10:38). But there is just more to it than ‘praying harder and louder’.
Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will explore this lack of ‘power’ in the church today and why we’ve had to write so many books explaining why God doesn’t work that way anymore...(unless He can get doctors and modern medicine to help Him out). And what is it...about all those ‘sheep’ who are afflicted? That is...how Jesus looked on them...as ‘weary and scattered sheep having no shepherd’. (Matt. 9:36). And it was with ‘compassion’...that He looked upon them that way.
One last thought for today- for those who may remember much of the 'faith & healing' teachings over the past decades that was prevalent, what if the not receiving that healing and not having those prayers answered...was Not about simply having more faith and 'confessing' more often?
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