When God created man, he created him perfect—blameless and without defect. Indeed, God who gave us this life is good. In his epistle, James declared this truth saying, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). But because of sin, that which was perfect in the beginning became defiled. As a consequence, sickness came and death followed. Sin corrupts not only the spirit of a man so that he dies spiritually, but also his body so that he dies physically. However, we are not without hope if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. The apostle Peter clearly stated the hope of believers when he said, “Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24).
Since sin corrupts and defiles our body so that we get sick, it has to be dealt with in the spirit. The Scripture clearly says that the penalty of sin is death. Therefore, unless sin is arrested, it will continue to bring defilement and destruction to our body. No one shall be spared from this because we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross served as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Unlike in the time of our forefathers where animals were offered to God once a year to atone for their sins, we no longer have to do so because Jesus offered his body once for all. Also, in the past only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies to offer the sacrifice for sin, but now we can enter the presence of God in a new and living way because of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross.
When our sins are forgiven, the healing of our body comes next. When Jesus said to a paralytic man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (Matt. 9:1-8), the next thing that happened was the man’s healing. This proves that when the spiritual defilement of the body is removed, it is restored to health. Again and again in Scriptures, we could see that sickness is the result of sin. Sin can come because of our disobedience and neglect. When we go against what we know in Scriptures, and by the law of nature, as the right thing to do, we sin. Those who indulge themselves in food that they know is harmful to the body will surely get sick, because the principle of sowing and reaping will apply. Many also get sick either because of the abuse or neglect of their bodies, yet they blame God and everyone else but themselves. However, when God revealed himself as our healer, he set some conditions. He said, “If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26).
Some wonder if it is God’s will that we be healed. In encouraging Israel who had been going through tough times, God said, “I will restore you to health and heal your wounds” (Jer. 30:17). Indeed, it is God’s will that we be healed of our sicknesses. We only need to heed his commands, repent of our sins and sin no more. The apostle Paul said, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness” (Rom. 6:12-13). We are created for the glory of God and should use our body to serve him. As our body is redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, we should never use it again to indulge the desires of the sinful nature. While we were hopeless and living in fear due to our sickness, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ liberated us from that fear and hopelessness. Now we can appropriate for ourselves the redeeming blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must remember that although God is our healer and he is willing to heal all, not all will be healed, but only those who are willing to obey his commands. In the same manner, not all that are sick will be healed by the Lord Jesus Christ but only those who are willing to let him deal with their sins. Since sin is a root of sickness being the defiler of the body, we need to repent of our sins so that we can be forgiven and be healed. Let us receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour so that sin will no longer be our master and that we can offer our bodies as instruments of righteousness. Indeed, we are created for the glory of God. Hallelujah!
