A Theology of Healing - Part 1

In Exodus 15:26 God announced and revealed Himself to His people with these incredible words: "...I am the Lord who heals you." The Hebrew term is "Jehovah-Rapha." 

I fully believe God still heals. In this series of posts, I will be sharing a theology of healing...

A Theology of Healing:

1. God is loving and God is good. 

A.W. Tozer once wrote, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." 

The Bible describes God as a God who is loving and good.

I love the way Sally-Lloyd Jones in The Jesus Storybook Bible describes God’s heart for His kids.

She describes our rebellion against God, and how we broke God's law and God's heart by doing our own thing and going our own way. Then, Sally writes:

…in another story, it would all be over and that would have been…THE END.  

But not in this Story.

God loved His children too much to let the story end there.  Even though He knew He would suffer, God had a plan – a magnificent dream.  One day, He would get His children back.  One day, He would make the world their perfect home again.  And one day, He would wipe away every tear from their eyes. 

You see, no matter what, in spite of everything, God would love His children – with a Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.  —Sally Lloyd-Jones 
The prophet Jeremiah described God's love like this:

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” —Jeremiah 31:3 NIV

The Message translates that passage like this: “I’ve never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love!” —Jeremiah 31:3 MSG

The most famous verse in the Bible is probably John 3:16. It describes God's love like this:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. —John 3:16 NIV

God is loving and God is good! 

You are good, and what you do is good… —Psalm 119:68 NIV

GOD is good to one and all; everything he does is suffused with grace. —Psalm 145:9 MSG

The New Testament stresses the fact that Jesus is the perfect revelation of the heart of God. In fact, Jesus said, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father…” —John 14:9

Finally, in Matthew 7:11 Jesus described God's heart for us like this:

…if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. —Matthew 7:11 NLT

God is loving and God is good! 

2. Sickness is usually not the result of personal sin. 

Unfortunately, the church sometimes perpetuates pain, shame and guilt on those who are suffering and sick among us by sometimes subtly and, at other times, not so subtly implying that sickness is a result of personal sin and failure.

Jesus forever set the record straight on this issue in John 9. I love the way The Message reads:

   Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”
   3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do…” —John 9:1-5 MSG

I love that! "You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do..."

In other words, "Instead of spending loads of time and energy in theological speculation as to what caused this guy's illness, why not look for God to show up, show out and do what only God can do? Why not look for ways you can partner with God and minister grace, kindness and healing to this man?"  

At a2 Church, we reject any system, structure or belief system related to sickness and healing that produces guilt, shame and escalates the pain of people who are already suffering. This is not the model of the New Testament, and it is certainly not the model Jesus provided for us.

...we reject any system, structure or belief system related to sickness and healing 

that produces guilt, shame and escalates the pain of people 

who are already suffering. 

3. Jesus healed hundreds, possibly thousands of people in the New Testament. He is able and willing to heal today! 

Healing was a common aspect of Jesus’ ministry. It shows up all throughout the gospels.  One of my favorite passages is Matthew 4:23-24.

Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. 24 News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all. —Matthew 4:23-24 NLT

The New Testament indicates that Jesus healed everyone who came to him. When He walked this planet, if someone asked, they were healed!  Jesus healed everyone who came to Him, everyone who asked Him for healing, and, He even healed some people who didn’t ask!

Three Important Realities:

• God is able to heal!

Most people don’t question this statement, they readily agree, “God is able…”

• God is able and willing to heal!

This is where the statement gets a little more difficult for some. Some people don’t doubt God’s ability to heal, but they question His willingness or desire to heal, especially to heal them.

As a pastor, this has been interesting and heartbreaking to me. Many people believe that God is not only able but willing to do something loving, gracious, kind and even, miraculous, for someone else, especially someone they view as being morally or spiritually superior. Their thought process often looks something like this: “Well, maybe for you? Maybe for someone exceptionally good?”

Unfortunately, a significant number of people have trouble believing that God is willing to help someone as broken, jacked-up and messed-up as themselves!

The good news of the Gospel is that those are the only kinds of people God helps, because 

those are the only kinds of people who exist!

All of us are broken, jacked-up, messed-up and sinful! That was the reason for the cross! I love the way Tim Keller describes this:

“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” —Tim Keller

Romans 5:8 says it like this:

...God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. —Romans 5:8 NLT

• God is able and willing to heal me!

This is where the statement gets even more challenging and difficult for a significant number of people! “Sure God is able… Sure, He’s willing (to heal someone else)… But I’m not certain He’s willing to heal me?”

Mark 1 gives us an example of a guy who struggled with the same kind of mental hang-ups!

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. —Mark 1:40

It’s interesting that this guy didn’t doubt Jesus’ ability for one moment when it came to healing! He knew Jesus could heal! He said matter of factly, “You can heal me…” His only question was, “If you are willing…”

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” 42 Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. —Mark 1:40-42 NLT

First of all, note those three words, "moved with compassion." One of Jesus' primary motives for healing in the New Testament was His compassion. When Jesus saw sickness, pain and suffering, He was "moved with compassion." 

And then Jesus established the record as to whether or not He is willing when He said, “I am willing…”

We'll continue unpacking a theology of healing tomorrow. Until then, I leave you with these three beautiful and important realties:

Three Important Realities:

God is able to heal!

God is able and willing to heal!

God is able and willing to heal me!