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Concerning illness, there are a few things we need to consider before God.
Before man sinned, he had no sickness and was never ill. Man only became sick after he sinned. In a general sense, we can say that sickness, like death, comes from sin. Through one man's fall, sin and death came into the world. Just as death came upon all mankind through sin, so also sickness came upon mankind through sin. Although we did not personally commit Adam's sin, mankind, nevertheless, is fully identified with Adam. Death has come to all because of Adam's sin. Where there is sin there is death. Between sin and death, there is something called sickness. This is the cause of illness in general.
However, there are two different reasons a man becomes ill. One kind of illness comes from sin, while the other kind of illness does not come from sin; some sicknesses are not the result of sin. We have to separate the two kinds of sickness. There would surely be no sickness without sin, in as much as there would be no death without sin. There would not be any sickness if there were no death in this world. With sin comes death, and with death comes illness. There are many individuals whose illness is caused by sin, but there are others whose illness is not caused by sin. We need to understand the relationship between illness and sin as it pertains to individuals and to mankind in general.
In the Old Testament, namely in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, we find God protecting the Israelites and delivering them from illnesses whenever they obeyed Him, accepted His way, obeyed His law, and abstained from sin. Here God shows us clearly that some illnesses do come from disobedience and from sin.
In the New Testament, we also find some who became ill through sin. In 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 Paul spoke of his judgment to deliver one who sinned "to Satan for the destruction of his flesh." This shows us clearly that sickness can come from sins. If the sin is less serious, the result is sickness. If the sin is serious, the result is death. Second Corinthians 7:9-10 shows that Paul's desire was that through illness there would be repentance, not death. When the man repented with a repentance "which is without regret," Paul said that he should then be forgiven (2 Cor. 2:6-7). First Corinthians shows us that a person's flesh, not his life, was delivered to Satan. To deliver one's flesh to Satan means to cause him to become ill, not to die. This shows us clearly that the person became sick because of his sin.
Paul said that there were some in the church in Corinth who took the Lord's bread and drank His cup without discerning the Body. As a result, they became weak and ill and a number of them died (1 Cor. 11:29-30). Clearly, disobedience to the Lord was a reason for their sickness.
There is sufficient evidence in the Word to show us that many illnesses come from sin. However, this does not mean that all illnesses come from sin. Nevertheless, the first thing you should check when you are ill is whether or not you have sinned against God. Many people can tell you that they became ill because they sinned against God.
Among the brothers and sisters that I personally know, I can name over a hundred cases to prove my point. When they check the reason for their sickness, they find that many of their illnesses come from sin. Some have disobeyed the Lord in certain areas. Others have not kept His word and have taken a wrong turn in specific instances. When they discover their sin and confess it, their sickness goes away. Many brothers and sisters have experienced this, and I myself have experienced similar things. The moment we identify the reason for our sickness, the sickness is gone. This is something that medical science cannot explain.
Illnesses may not come from sins. However, like death, very often they are the result of sins. We can discover natural causes for many illnesses, but we cannot blame these natural causes for all of our sicknesses.
Often it is clear that a man's illness comes from sin. I remember a brother, a medical professor, who once told his students in the Shanghai Medical College in Chungking, "We found that there are natural causes for many kinds of illnesses. For example, staphylococcus, streptococcus, and pneumococcus cause a number of diseases. One kind of bacterium can produce several kinds of diseases. Different kinds of germs produce different kinds of illnesses. While doctors can discover the kind of germ that produces a certain kind of illness, we have no way of determining the reason that a germ infects one person but not another person. Ten people may enter the same room at the same time, and everyone can come into contact with the same germ. Some with good health may be infected, while others with poor health may not be infected. Normally, those who have poor health are more easily infected, and those who have good health are not as easily infected. But sometimes those with poor health are not infected, while those with good health are infected. Those who do not meet the conditions for infection are infected, while those who do meet the conditions for infection are not infected. There is no explanation for this!" He went on, saying, "We must admit that, besides natural causes, God's sovereignty is above everything." This is true. Often a person takes every precaution yet still becomes ill.
I still remember a classmate of mine who told me a story about his professor at the Peking University Medical College. The professor had a bad temper, but he was a very knowledgeable man. All the questions that he designed for his examinations were simple. One time he asked a very simple question: "Why does a person develop tuberculosis of the lungs?" Many students failed to give the right answer; they wrote, "Because there are tuberculosis germs." Every such answer was marked as wrong. Eventually he told the class, "The world is full of tuberculosis germs. Does this mean that everyone in the world will be infected?" He went on to explain, "Tuberculosis germs will incubate and develop into a case of tuberculosis of the lungs only under suitable conditions. You cannot say that tuberculosis of the lungs occurs simply because there is the presence of the germs." The students thought that as long as there were germs, there would be an illness. They forgot to point out that suitable conditions were necessary. This same thing is true when Christians become ill. There may be many natural causes for sickness, but God will allow a sickness to occur only when the right conditions are present. Without a certain environment, God will not allow any sickness to occur.
We absolutely believe that there are natural causes for sickness. There are enough reasons and scientific proof to keep us from disputing the natural causes of sickness, but at the same time, we must acknowledge that many illnesses come upon God's children because of their sins. It is sin against God, as described in chapter eleven of 1 Corinthians, that brings about illnesses. With such cases, we need to ask God for forgiveness rather than for healing. A person must first seek forgiveness before he can ask for healing.
Often when a person becomes sick, he can quickly discover how he has sinned against the Lord, in what matter he has been disobedient, and where he has turned against His word. Once the sin is exposed, the sickness is gone. I have seen many people with such experiences. The illness stops when a certain issue is settled before the Lord. This is very strange. It is very important to discover the relationship between sin and illness. Sickness in general comes from sin. When a person is sick, he may have committed some specific sins.
Isaiah 53:4-5 says, "Surely He [Christ] has borne our sicknesses,/And carried our sorrows;/Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,/Smitten of God and afflicted./But He was pierced because of our transgressions;/He was crushed because of our iniquities;/The chastening for our peace was upon Him,/And by His stripes we have been healed."
Isaiah 53 is the most quoted chapter in the New Testament. This chapter speaks of the Lord as our Savior. Verse 4 says, "Surely He has borne our sicknesses,/And carried our sorrows." This verse is paraphrased in Matthew 8:17: "He Himself took away our infirmities and bore our diseases." It is a translation of Isaiah 53:4. The Holy Spirit taught Matthew to describe the earthly Lord Jesus as One who took away our infirmities and bore our diseases. We need to note that He bore our sorrows and took away our infirmities before His death on the cross, while He was still on earth. This means that the Lord Jesus made healing His burden. He considered healing His business. His business was not only preaching the gospel but also healing diseases. He did not simply spread the gospel; He strengthened the weak, restored the withered hand, cleansed the leper, raised the paralytic, and He sent them home. He healed all kinds of diseases. While He was on earth, He gave Himself to preaching, as well as to the performing of miracles, to doing good, to training His disciples, to healing, and to the casting out of demons. We have to realize that the overthrowing of sickness that comes from sin is one of the Lord Jesus' commissions. The Lord Jesus came to the earth to deal with sins. He came also to deal with death and illness.
Many of God's children are familiar with Psalm 103. I love to come back to this psalm again and again. David said, "Bless Jehovah, O my soul;/And do not forget all His benefits" (v. 2). What are His benefits? David said, "He pardons all your iniquities,/He heals all your diseases" (v. 3).
I would like to point out that sickness has two partners. One is death, and the other is sin. Sickness and death are a pair, and sickness and sin are another pair. We have seen that sickness and death are a pair. The result of sin is death, and because there is death, there is sickness. Both sickness and death are results. The intrinsic nature of sickness and death is the same — both came from sin. Psalm 103:3 shows us that sickness and sin (iniquity) are another pair. It says, "He pardons all your iniquities;/He heals all your diseases." Because my soul has sinned, there is sickness in my body. When the Lord deals with the sins in my soul and forgives them, the sickness in my body is healed. Our body is plagued on the one hand with inward sins, and on the other hand with outward illnesses. Today the Lord has removed both of them for us.
However, we have to make a distinction. God's forgiveness of our sins is basically different from His healing of our diseases. He deals with our sins in a different way than He deals with our sickness. The Lord Jesus bore our sins when He was crucified on the cross. Is there any sin that has not been forgiven? No! God's work is absolute; the work of the cross is so complete that sin has been absolutely taken away (John 1:29). While the Lord Jesus was on earth, He bore our diseases and took away our infirmities. But even though He bore our illnesses, He did not remove them all. He took away our infirmities, but He did not remove all infirmities. Paul even said, "When I am weak, then I am powerful" (2 Cor. 12:10). Of course, Paul did not say, "When I sin, then I am sanctified." Sin is totally and absolutely taken away, but illness is not totally and absolutely removed. The Lord's redemption deals with sickness differently than with sin. Sin is absolutely taken away, while sickness is removed in a limited way.
Timothy's stomach remained weak. He was a servant of the Lord. Yet the Lord allowed infirmity to remain in his flesh. Salvation and redemption have brought about a complete solution to sin, but sickness is not completely removed. One group of people thinks that the Lord's work deals only with sins, not with sickness. Another group of people think that the Lord deals with sickness to the same extent that He has dealt with sin. Neither of these views represent our stand. The Bible shows us clearly that the Lord's work has dealt with sins as well as sickness. While His dealing with sin is absolute, His dealing with sickness is limited. We must realize that the Lord has dealt with sin in an absolute way. He has resolved all the problems of sin. The Lamb of God has borne everyone's sins. His blood has taken away the sin of the entire world. The problem of sin is fully settled, but sickness still exists among God's children.
We can consider the matter from another angle. God's children should not have so many illnesses, because the Lord Jesus has borne our illnesses. The Lord Jesus paid much attention to the matter of healing while He was on earth, and although His cross has not taken away all our illnesses, healing is definitely an item included in His work. The fulfillment of Isaiah 53 is Matthew 8, not Matthew 27. This fulfillment was realized before Golgotha. He did not begin to bear our diseases at Golgotha. He bore our diseases on earth before He ever went to Golgotha. The bearing of diseases is not something absolute, like the bearing of sin. This should be quite clear to all of us.
There are many reasons a believer becomes sick. I am afraid that many have missed their chance for healing through ignorance of the Lord's work in bearing their illnesses. Let me say a few more words on this matter. Unless you are as confident as Paul, who after praying three times realized that his illness was for his perfection, you should seek healing. Paul prayed, and by the third time, he was clear. The Lord showed him that his weakness was necessary. The Lord's grace was sufficient for him, and Paul's weakness was for a greater manifestation of God's power. Paul accepted his infirmity. If a person is not clear that God wants his infirmity and illness to remain in him, he should by all means seek healing. He should boldly ask the Lord to bear his infirmity and illness. God's children do not live on earth to be sick; they live to glorify God. Illness is good if it glorifies God, but many illnesses may not glorify God. You have to learn to trust in Him. You must realize that the Lord Jesus is a Savior who bears our sickness. The Lord healed many patients when He was on earth. He is the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can ask Him for His healing. We can commit all our illnesses into His hands.
A believer should first go before the Lord to discover the cause of his illness. He should not hastily seek healing as soon as he becomes ill. Consider the process a person goes through in an illness. Whenever a person has an illness, the first thing he should do is to discover the cause of the illness. Paul was clear about his own illness. This sets a good pattern for us. God wants us to be clear about the cause of our illnesses. We have to ask whether or not we have disobeyed the Lord. Have we sinned? Have we come short of others? Have we acted against some natural laws? Have we been negligent in certain matters? Often our offense against natural laws is an offense against God, because these laws were created and ordained by God; God rules the universe through these natural laws. There is always a reason for our illnesses.
Many people are afraid that they will die as soon as they become sick. They immediately look for a doctor after they become ill and anxiously look forward to their healing. This should not be a believer's attitude. A person first must find out the cause of his illness. Many brothers and sisters have no patience at all. The first thing they do when they are ill is to look for healing. They hastily find a doctor. They are afraid that they will lose their precious lives. On the one hand, they pray as if they trust in God for their healing. On the other hand, they rush to the doctor for medicine and injections. They are afraid, and they treasure their own lives very much. This shows us clearly that they are fully obsessed with themselves. They are too self-centered during ordinary times. When they become sick, they become even more self-centered. It is impossible for a man to be full of the self at ordinary times yet be free from the self when he is sick. Those who are full of self at ordinary times will surely anxiously seek healing when they are sick.
I can assure you of the futility of such anxiety about your sickness. Being healed is not that simple in the case of a person who belongs to God. Even if you are healed, your sickness may come back. In addition, other kinds of illnesses may come. You must first take care of your problem with God before you can settle the problem of your body. A problem of the body cannot be resolved if a problem before God is not resolved. You must first discover the cause of your sickness before God and then seek healing afterward. You must learn the lesson that comes along with your illness. Even in the case of a sudden severe illness, you must not ignore this lesson. If you deal with God in this way, He will intervene for you and will deliver you out of your woe in a short time.
Very often we find that we are sick because we have sinned or have committed some mistakes. We must confess to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. Only then can we expect any healing. As we advance a little further in God, we may realize that there is not only sin but also Satan's attack. At times sickness may be a matter of God's discipline. He disciplines us in order that we would become more sanctified, tender, and obedient before Him. There can be many reasons for our sicknesses, and we have to deal with them one by one before the Lord. As we deal with them one by one, we will discover the actual cause of our illness. Sometimes God allows help to come from natural means or from medicine, but at other times, God may not want us to receive help from medicine. He can heal us in an instant.
We need to realize that healing is always in God's hands. We need to learn to look to the God who heals! In the Old Testament God has a name: "For I am Jehovah who healeth thee" (Exo. 15:26, New Translation). This name of God is a verb; it is a very special name. We need to learn to look to Jehovah, the One who heals. He will always deal graciously with His children.
When a person is sick, the first thing he should do is to discover the cause of his illness. After finding the cause, there are several things to do. One of them is to call for the elders of the church to pray and to anoint him (James 5:14-15). This is the only charge in the Bible for believers who are sick: "Is anyone among you ill? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him."
When a person is sick, and he has dealt with the Lord about his sickness, one of the things that he can do is to call for the elders of the church to anoint him. This means that he allows the anointing of the Head to flow to him as a member of the Body. He is a part of the Body, and he is asking for the anointing to flow from the Head to him as a member. Some illnesses disappear as soon as life flows through the person. The purpose of the elders' anointing is to convey the anointing of the Head to the members. Some- times a person has moved away from the protection and circulation of the Body through disobedience, sin, or other matters. When he calls for the church elders, he is asking to be received once again into the circulation of the Body. He is asking to be placed once again in the Body of Christ and to receive the flow of life.
As soon as a member does something wrong in his standing as a member, the life of the Body stops flowing into that part of the Body. The anointing restores that flow. This is the reason behind the calling of the church elders. The elders stand for the church; they are the representation of the Body in a locality. They should anoint for the Body and bring the anointing of the Head once again to the blocked member. Our experience tells us that this kind of anointing can even heal a seriously ill person. We have witnessed God's frequent and speedy intervention in things which are humanly impossible. When this happens, the person is healed.
Sometimes there is another reason for illness — individualism. Please remember that individualism is the biggest source of illness. Some people are individualistic; they do things according to their own will. They act by themselves and are always on their own. When God disciplines them, they become ill, and the supply of the Body no longer reaches them. If this is the reason for a person's illness, he needs to ask for the supply of the Body to flow through him once again.
I dare not say that I have listed all of the reasons for our sicknesses. There are many causes for sickness. Some become sick because they have disobeyed a command of the Lord. Others become sick because they have not fully carried out the Lord's command. Still others become sick because of a certain sin or because of their individualism. Some are individualistic, yet God does not discipline them. However, there are many people, especially those who know the church, who become ill as soon as they become individualistic. Those who do not know the church have less illness. The more we know about the church and the more we are related to the church, the more the Lord will put us in a situation where His hand will be heavy upon us as soon as we become individualistic.
Sometimes a person becomes sick because he has defiled his body. Whoever defiles his body will find God destroying His temple in that person.
There are many causes for illness, and I cannot give a list of all of them. I can say only that there is always a reason behind any illness. We must always find the cause of our illnesses. There may be one or more than one reason. Once you discover these reasons, you must confess them one by one to God. Then call for the responsible ones of the church, confess to them, and pray together with them. Ask them to anoint you and to recover you to the life of the Body. You will find your illness immediately gone when life begins to flow through you once again. Although there are natural causes for sickness, you must know that spiritual reasons far outweigh natural reasons. Once you take care of the spiritual reasons, the illnesses will leave promptly.
It is interesting to note that unbelievers often are easily healed, while Christians are not healed so easily. The New Testament shows that when unbelievers went to the Lord, they were healed immediately. The Bible also speaks of the gift of healing. Both believers and unbelievers can be healed through the gift of healing. However, the Bible also shows that some Christians were never healed. Trophimus was one, Timothy was another, and Paul was a third. These three were the best brothers in the New Testament. Paul kept Trophimus in Miletus because he was sick and nothing could be done (2 Tim. 4:20). Paul advised the sick Timothy to take some wine because his stomach was not clean; Timothy was not healed. Even Paul himself suffered and was weak because of an eye disease or some other malady. This is why he said that there was a thorn in his flesh (2 Cor. 12:7). A thorn always irritates people. Even though a thorn is very small, it is very uncomfortable when lodged in the flesh. Even when it is lodged in the little finger, it can be very painful. Paul's thorn was not a small one but a big one. This thorn caused discomfort to his whole body. In verse 9 he used the term weakness, which tells us how much he suffered! These three persons were the best brothers, yet they were never healed. Instead, they bore their illnesses.
Illnesses are different from sins. Sins cannot yield the fruit of sanctification, whereas illnesses can yield the fruit of sanctification. It is wrong to lump illnesses together with sins. There are some similarities between the two, but there are also many dissimilarities. The more a man sins, the filthier he becomes. But a man does not become filthier by becoming sick. In fact, he can become holy through his sickness, because God's disciplining hand is with his sickness. Sickness can result in discipline. When God's children are sick, they have to learn to submit to God's mighty hand (1 Pet. 5:6).
If you have an illness, you should learn to deal with your problems one by one before the Lord. After you have dealt with them, you may conclude that God's hand is upon you and that He is doing this to stop you from becoming proud and wild like other sinners. You should remember that you must accept not only the illness but also the lesson that comes with this illness. Having an illness alone is useless; you must learn the lesson that comes with the illness. Illness alone cannot sanctify a person; it is the acceptance of the lesson that comes with the illness that sanctifies a person. You must reap the benefit and result that come with the illness. Perhaps God put His hand on you in order to humble you as He did Paul. He prevented Paul from becoming proud through the revelations that he had received. God may allow a sickness in our flesh to soften us because we are too strong in our disposition. These things can explain why He does not heal us immediately. Sickness alone does not profit anyone; only the softening brings the profit. There is no point in being ill all our lives unless the illness will soften us. Many people have been sick all their life, yet they have never been dealt with by the Lord. Such sickness is in vain. Sometimes a person recovers from an illness after a period of time. But even though the sickness is over, the Lord may not let the person go. Other things will come along the way. As soon as one becomes sick, he has to go to the Lord and seek His speaking.
Often we can identify the Lord's discipline in our sickness. God disciplines many people through their illness and touches them in certain areas.
Never consider sickness to be something dreadful. The "knife" is not in just anyone's hand. If the one who shaves my hair is my brother, I would not be scared even if he used a big knife. But it would be very frightening indeed if I allowed my enemy to cut my hair. We have to ask in whose hand is the knife. I would be scared if the surgeon who operated on me happened to be my enemy. But I would not be scared if the scalpel was in my brother's hand. Please bear in mind that all sicknesses are in God's hand. Many sick brothers and sisters who are so anxious about their health seem to believe that their sicknesses are in the enemy's hand.
Please remember that every sickness has been measured by God's hand. Satan is the creator of sickness, and I believe that Satan can make people sick. But everyone who has read the book of Job knows that sickness happens only with God's permission. Every sickness is under God's limitation. Job shows us clearly that Satan cannot make a person sick without God's permission and limitation. God's permission and limitation are the abiding factors. Consider Job's case: God allowed him to be sick, but He did not allow his life to be harmed. Whenever we are sick, we should not feel hopeless and we should not worry. Do not insist on being healed. Do not complain that the sickness has continued too long and that you are afraid of death.
Please bear in mind that sickness is in the hand of God. It is measured by Him and under His limitation. After Job's trials ran their course, the illness went away; the illness accomplished God's purpose in him. In Job's story we see an end to God's discipline (James 5:11). I would like to say that many people's sicknesses do not have a proper ending; they have not learned the lesson. We must realize that all illnesses are in God's hand; they are all measured by the Lord. Often all we have to do is confess our sins, and the matter is over.
God allows many illnesses to remain in us in order for us to learn a lesson. The sooner we learn the lesson, the sooner the illness leaves. Many people love themselves too much. Let me say a frank word to them: The only reason many of them are sick is that they love themselves too much. Many people love themselves to the extent that sickness becomes inevitable. We are of little use to God if He does not purge us of our self-love. We have to learn to not love ourselves.
Some people think only of themselves all day long. They think the whole world revolves around them and that they are the center of the universe. They think that everyone should live for them. Their thoughts are occupied with nothing but themselves day and night; in their view everything revolves around them. God in heaven is for them, and God on earth is for them as well. Christ is for them, and the church is for them. In fact, the whole world is for them. God has no alternative but to tear down this center. Many people are not easily healed because they expect sympathy from others. I know that some sisters have experienced this. When they reject the sympathy of others, their sicknesses leave.
Perhaps many are ill because they like to be ill. They are loved only when they are ill, so they like to be ill. No one loves them when they are not ill, so they always try to be sick in order to be loved. In fact, they want to be sick forever so that they can be loved forever. I have seen such cases. Sometimes it takes someone to rebuke them strongly, saying, "You are sick because you love yourself too much. You want others to love you and to pay attention to you in your illness. You want others to visit you and to sympathize with you. This is why you are always sick." As soon as they accept God's dealing and acknowledge the cause of their illness, they are healed immediately.
I can report hundreds of cases that I have witnessed during the past twenty or more years of my life. They all prove that many people are sick for specific reasons. Their illnesses are healed immediately when they identify the causes, deal with them, and remove them. As long as the causes remain, they cannot be healed.
I know of a brother who always desired affection from others. He wanted to be loved, to be spoken to nicely, to receive visits, and to be treated in a gentle way. If anyone asked how he was doing, he immediately would relate everything that had happened the previous night or that morning in a detailed way. He could tell others almost the exact time of his fever, from what hour to what hour, and the kind of headache he experienced, from what hour to what hour. He could tell you exactly how many times he breathed and how many times his heart beat a minute. He was always feeling ill, and he always liked to tell others about his illness. He wanted the warm sympathy of others. If you talked to him, he would have nothing to talk about except his illness. Every day he talked about his illness, and he wondered why he was never healed.
It is not an easy thing to speak an honest word to others. One must pay a price to speak the truth. One day I gathered enough strength within myself to speak to this one. I said, "The only reason you have been sick so long is that you like to be sick." He denied it. I said, "Do you not love your illness? You are afraid that this illness will leave you. You love your illness." He denied it again. But I said, "You like others to sympathize with you and to love you. You like others to take care of you and to treat you nicely. You cannot have it by other means, so you try to get it by becoming ill. If you want to be healed by the Lord, you must rid yourself of this thought! When others ask how you are doing, you need to learn to say, `I am fine.' See what will happen if you do that! When others ask how you were doing the night before, you should say, `Fine!'" He said, "My heart is sincere. I cannot lie. I feel that I am not fine. What should I do if I truly was not well the night before?" I said, "Let me read you a verse. The son of the Shunammite woman was lying on the bed already dead. She went to see Elisha, and he asked, `Is it well with you?...Is it well with the child? And she said, It is well' (2 Kings 4:26). Actually, her son was lying on the bed already dead. Why did she say that it was well? She said it because she believed. She believed that God would save her son. Today you can believe, too. When others ask, `How were you last night?' You should say, `Fine.' It is fine even if you died the night before. You have to believe that it was fine." He had nothing to say after these words. As soon as he denied his self-love, rejected sympathy, and dropped his expectation for consolation, his illness went away.
We must realize that many illnesses have internal causes as well as external causes. A man must learn to believe in God. When God's purpose is achieved, the sickness goes away. Once God achieves His spiritual goal in us, our sickness is over.
I believe that when Paul wrote 2 Timothy, Timothy and Trophimus, as well as Paul himself, still had their illnesses. However, they acknowledged that their illnesses were there to help them in their work; they learned to look after themselves and to be restricted for the sake of God's glory upon them. Paul advised Timothy to take a little wine and to take care of his eating. At the same time, both were serving the Lord. Of course, the Lord supplied them with enough grace to overcome their weaknesses. Although Paul was sick, he still worked. When we read Paul's Epistles, we have to agree that the amount of his work equaled that of ten men. But God could use such a weak vessel. He was able to get more from him than He could get from ten strong men. Although his body was weak, God gave him the strength and the life to do what he should do.
In the Bible, there were not too many men like Paul, Timothy, and Trophimus who were continually sick. God only arranges such unusual circumstances for those whom He will use and perfect. As for the rest, especially the new believers, they should examine themselves and should ask whether they have sinned in any way when they become ill. When one confesses his sins and deals with them, it is easy for him to be healed.
Finally, I would like to point out that sickness can be the result of Satan's sudden attacks, and sometimes it can be the result of offending the laws of nature. There may not be a spiritual cause for our sickness, but we can bring everything to the Lord. If it is an attack from the enemy, we can rebuke it in the name of the Lord, and it will leave. There was a sister who had a fever that would not go away. There was no special reason for her fever. Later she found out that it was Satan's attack, and she rebuked it in the Lord's name. The illness immediately went away.
Sometimes sickness can be the result of acting contrary to the laws of nature. If a person puts his finger in the fire, he will be burned. We should take good care of ourselves whenever possible. We should not wait until we are sick to confess our sins. Once we confess our sins, we will surely be forgiven. But we should not wait until we have sinned and something is wrong with our bodies before we look to God for healing. We should not neglect the ordinary duties and care.
What happens when a man prays for healing? We need to have a brief discussion about this.
There are three expressions in the New Testament, specifically in the Gospel of Mark, that I have spent much time studying and learning. These three expressions have been particularly helpful, at least to me. The first is a matter of the Lord's power, the second is a matter of His will, and the third is a matter of His act.
Once I read the Gospel of Mark while I was sick and found a few words that were especially helpful to me. The first portion is in Mark 9:21-23: "And He questioned his father, How long has this been happening to him? And he said, From childhood. And it has often thrown him both into fire and into water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, You say, If You can. All things are possible to him who believes." Do you understand what this means? The father told the Lord Jesus, "If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." The Lord Jesus replied, "If You can"! Why did He say, "If You can"? These three words of the Lord Jesus are a quotation of the father's remark. The Lord Jesus repeated what the father had said. The father said, "If You can do anything...help us." The Lord Jesus exclaimed, "If You can. All things are possible to him who believes." It is not a matter of whether the Lord can, but a matter of whether the father could believe. All things are possible to him who believes.
When a man is sick, he is often full of doubts. He cannot believe in the power of God. It seems to him that the power of germs is stronger than the power of God. In effect, he is saying that the power of a little bacteria which can be seen only under a microscope is stronger than the power of God. When a trial of sickness comes, one finds the threat of the germs magnified to a great degree. But the Lord rebukes those who doubt His power in the midst of their sickness. The Bible seldom records the Lord Jesus interrupting a man's speaking. But here He said, "If You can"! It seems as if the Lord was angry, as if He had lost His temper! (The Lord forgives me for saying this.) When the father said, "If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us," it seemed as if the Lord Jesus was saying, "How can you say, `If You can'? What do you mean, `If You can'? All things are possible to him who believes! It is not a matter of if I can, but a matter of whether or not you believe. Why do you ask whether or not I can?" The first thing a child of God should learn when he is sick is to lift up his eyes and say, "Lord, You can!"
Recall the incident when the Lord healed the paralytic. (I like the Lord's words very much because each time He speaks He chooses His words very carefully.) He told the Pharisees, "Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise and take up your mat and walk?" (Mark 2:9). The Pharisees must have thought that it was easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven." Saying such words is, of course, very easy, because they can be said, but no one will actually know whether the sins were forgiven. But it is not easy to say, "Rise up and walk." The Lord's word proves that He can forgive as well as heal. Look at the Lord Jesus' question carefully. Consider whether this is better: "Which is harder: to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise and take up your mat and walk?" However, the Lord did not say this. He used a different word. He said, "Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise and take up your mat and walk?"
The Lord Jesus was asking which was easier because both are easy from His point of view. Forgiving sins is easy, and asking the paralytic to rise up and walk is easy as well. This is why He said, "Which is easier?" Actually, the Pharisees were asking which was harder. From their point of view, forgiving sins and asking a paralytic to pick up the mat and walk were both difficult. Both were difficult, and they were just trying to find out which one was more difficult. However, the Lord Jesus said, "Which is easier?"
It is true that God can heal us, but how do we know that He will heal us? We do not know His will. Suppose the Lord is not willing to heal us. What should we do? This is the second consideration. Mark 1:41 says, "Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, `I will; be clean'" (RSV). Here is the second question. It is not enough for a sick person merely to know the power of God. He needs to know that God is willing. No matter how great His power is, it is useless to us if He is not willing to heal us. Here the question is not whether God is able, but whether He is willing. No matter how great His power is, it has nothing to do with us if He has no intention of healing us. The first thing to be settled is whether or not God can. The second thing to be settled is whether or not God will. Here we see the Lord Jesus telling the leper, "I will." There is no sickness more unclean than leprosy. All of the sicknesses in the Old Testament are merely illnesses, but leprosy is a kind of defilement. Whoever touches a leper will be infected with leprosy (at least this was what men thought). However, the Lord was full of love. He said, "I will." He stretched out His hand and touched the leper. The leper was cleansed! The Lord Jesus was willing to cleanse the leper. Can it be possible that He is not willing to heal us? We can say that God can and God will. It is not enough to know that God can. We must also know that God will.
God is willing to heal, but this is not enough. He still needs to do one thing. We need to look at Mark 11:23-24: "Truly I say to you that whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says happens, he will have it. For this reason I say to you, All things [including sickness] that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them." This passage speaks of what God has accomplished. Here we see three things: God can, God will, and God has done.
What is faith? Faith is not just believing that God can and will but believing that God has done something. It is believing that He has accomplished something. Believe that you have received them, and you will have them. If you have faith, you will have the assurance that God can and God will. If He gives you a word, you will thank Him, saying, "God has healed me. He has done it!" Many people are confused about this. As a result, their sickness is not healed. They are always hoping to be healed. Hope involves the expectation that something will happen in the future, whereas faith knows that something has happened already. I can believe that God will heal me, but this healing may take place twenty years later, or a hundred years later. But those with a genuine faith will rise up and say, "Thank God, He has healed me! Thank God, I have received! Thank God, I am cleansed! Thank God, I am well!" When faith is perfected, it does not say merely that God can or will, but that He has done.
God has accomplished it! He has heard your prayer. His word has healed you. He has already accomplished it! Believe that you have received it, and you will have it. The faith of many people is a faith that believes in what they will receive. As a result, they never receive anything. You should have the faith that you have already received. Faith proclaims, "It is done," not, "It will be done."
Consider one simple illustration. Suppose we preach the gospel today, and a person hears the gospel, believes, and repents. He says that he has believed. If you ask him, "Have you believed in the Lord Jesus?", he may say, "I have believed." If you also ask him, "Are you saved?", he may say, "I will be saved." You know from this answer that something is wrong. Suppose you ask him again whether or not he is saved. He may say, "I will surely be saved." You know that something is still wrong with this, and you ask him again, "Are you sure that you will be saved?" He may say, "I will surely be saved." Something is not right. He may say that he will be saved, definitely will be saved, or surely will be saved, but something does not sound right. If you ask him, "Do you believe in the Lord Jesus and are you saved?", and he answers, "I am saved!", then he has struck the right chord. A person is saved as soon as he has believed. Faith always relates to the past tense. Faith in being healed is like one's faith in his salvation. He does not believe that he will be healed, shall be healed, or must be healed. These are not faith. When a man has faith, he will say, "Thank God I am healed."
We must lay hold of these three things: God can, God will, and God has done. Our sickness will leave once our faith reaches the stage of "God has done."
