Reason #2

We expect God (the Holy Ghost) to heal our bodies today, because of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus. In that, He atoned for our sicknesses as well as for our sins.

In Isaiah 53: 4 we read, “Surely He (Christ) hath borne our griefs (kholee

REASON #1

Because God used to heal the sick, and He is an unchangeable God.

(a) In Old Testament times God was man’s healer.

In Exodus 15:26 we read, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord, thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord which healeth thee.”

In Exodus 23: 25 we read, “Ye shall serve the Lord your God . . . ; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.”

Psalm 103:3, “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases.” God is still forgiving sins, and He is still healing diseases, or else He is not the same God He used to be.

Psalm 105:37, “He brought them forth also with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” Why? Because God was their healer.

Psalm 107: 20, “He (God) sent forth His word and healed them.”

(b) In New Testament times God was man’s healer through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 9:35, “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching . . . and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness, and every disease among the people.”

Note, Christ preached and healed publicly. Then Mark 6:12 informs us that Christ gave power to His disciples to heal the sick. Mark 6: 12, “And they (the disciples) went out and preached that men should repent. (13) And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”

These disciples, like their Lord, also held great preaching and healing campaigns. Has God changed, or is He the very same God today as in Old and New Testament times?

In Malchi 3:6 we read, “For I am the Lord, I change not.”

In Hebrews 13: 8 we read, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

Again James says (Jas. 1:17), “Every good gift (including the gift of healing) is from above, and Cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Here then James declares that God does not change even slightly. Now God used to he:

(1) Jehovah-shammah

Let us begin by asking a very important question, How did sickness enter this world?”

Our answer is found in Romans 5: 12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Then physical death and all that produces it are the direct results of sin.

But how came man to sin? Read Genesis 2: 17 and Genesis 3: 1-19 and you will find that it was Satan who caused our first parents to disobey God. Then Satan is the real originator of sin, sickness and death. Many deny this, and say that God Himself is the real author of sickness and death because He said to Adam (Gen. 2: 17), “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” But who caused Adam and Eve to disobey God’s command, and so bring sin, sickness and death into this world? Satan. Then Satan, and not God, is the real author of sin, sickness and death.

This explains why Christ said to the man whom He cured at the pool of Bethesda (Jno. 5:14), “Sin no more lest a worse thing come upon thee.” His sickness had come as the result of sin. This explains also Christ’s words in Mark 2: 9, “Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy. Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say. Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? (10) But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (He saith to the sick of the palsy), (11) I say unto thee. Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.”

The people would not believe that Christ had power to forgive this man’s sins, so He says to them in effect, I will now prove to you that I have the power to forgive sins by curing this palsy, which is one of the consequences of sin. When you see that I can cure or take away this sin-produced disease, then you will know for a certainty that I can also take away sin itself.

Again we are absolutely sure Satan is the author of sickness as well as sin, because Christ always uses the same harsh word, “epitimao,” to rebuke sickness (Satan’s work), as He uses to rebuke evil spirits.

In Luke 4: 35 we read, “And Jesus rebuked (epetim