Shocked? But doesn’t the Bible say he is? No, Jesus quoted mockers who had no faith in Capernaum, who would taunt him with a local proverb, “Physician heal thyself.”
Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” Luke 4:23.
Jesus didn’t use medicine to heal people—he used supernatural power! Even in the advanced medicine of the twenty-first century, physicians admit, “Medicine isn’t science—it’s an art. We only practice.” They also often say, “I don’t know. We don’t have a treatment for that.”
Jesus always knows what to do; his healing is free and is available to everyone. It does no harm and has no bad side-effects. He and his healing are way above any physician. That is good news!
Why wouldn’t he? The Bible, which people rightly point to as the final authority, never says that miracles have ceased or would no longer necessary. They can only point to I Corinthians 13:8, which says, “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.For we know in part and we prophesy in part,but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.” But they don’t believe that knowledge has passed away. They say that the “completeness” refers to the canon of Scripture, the final agreement of the number of books in the Bible, particularly the New Testament—but what about the Resurrection, the final judgment and New Jerusalem, aren’t those rather the completeness Paul referred to? Yes. And if prophecy disappears when the Bible was “finalized,” then a good part of the Bible would disappear as well, since a lot of it is prophecy.
Paul was speaking, not of the gifts of the Spirit “passing away,” or their being unimportant, but of the ongoing need of love as a “way” of life and of operating in the gifts of the Spirit. He went on to say that the Corinthians—and by extension, all believers should “eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy” (I Corinthians 14:1). Do not quench the Spirit. I Thessalonians 5:19
The only way that healing or miracles of protection would no longer be needed is if we were in New Jerusalem in the new heavens and new earth, where there’s “no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Revelation 21:4). As long as people become ill, are injured are in pain or die, as long as there is spiritual warfare, miracles are still needed.
Many say that since they don’t see any miracles, miracles can’t exist—as though they themselves were the defining authority of what exists. One would have to be hiding in a cave to miss the many healings that the Holy Spirit has done through the ages and continues to do. Lesser known, but still happening, are the miracles of multiplying of food, and of supernatural protection from bandits..
I have personally been supernaturally healed, and even raised from the dead, so I am an eyewitness that these things have not “passed away.”
Really? Are medical personnel a breed apart from the rest of the world so that none of them are Christians? That none of them witness to each other? That they never go to community events or even have Christian family members, and no one but sick people to speak to them about Jesus? In fact, many medical workers are Christians.
Yes, God will turn anything for our good as Romans 8:28 says, but he’s a good father, and good fathers do NOT make their children sick. When human fathers do this, they end up in jail—or worse.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:9-11
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
Jesus never ever told anyone that it’s better for them to not be healed because it will make a better testimony. Rather, every person who came to him was healed, as well as many he sought out. It’s good to be patient in sickness, but so much better to receive the gift of God’s healing, which brings glory to God!
The Bible instructs us, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act (Proverbs 3:27). It was definitely within Jesus’ power to heal everyone—he did not withhold the good, he gave freely.
Jesus said,“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:7-11
When we ask for healing, he doesn’t say no, it’s better if you’re sick.
Yes, I know all too well that not everyone who asks God for healing is healed. I don’t know why—there are many dynamics in each case, but he doesn’t say that it makes for a better testimony. I recommend though, that people who have this question ask God rather than making up their own reasons or putting words into Jesus’ mouth.
They say, “It would have been better if Hezekiah had gone on and died and not asked to be healed since his son, the extremely wicked King Manasseh was born during Hezekiah’s extra fifteen years.”
God told Hezekiah his time was up at the age of only thirty-nine (2 Kings 20:1) but Hezekiah cried out to the Lord to remember his faithfulness and heal him (v.3). The Lord heard his prayers and tears (vs. 4-6) and healed him—he even gave him a sign (vs. 8-11).
From a very narrow view, I can see how some might think that it would have been better if Manasseh, a king who led the Israelites into horrendous idolatry (even sacrificing his son in the fire, 2 Kings 21:6) had never been born but God has a broader view. First of all, to say that Hezekiah should not have been healed is to say that his faithfulness (to God) or his prayers should not have influenced God. Next, it is to say that God made a bad decision in healing him.
Though Manasseh’s son Amon was also evil (21:20) Amon’s son Josiah was a righteous king who restored the Book of the Law and renewed the covenant. Then we fast forward to the gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and in reading Jesus’ human genealogy (Matthew 1), we find not only Hezekiah (v.10) but the troublesome Manasseh and the righteous Josiah!
So while this was not Jesus’ direct bloodline but Joseph’s and though not his birth father, Joseph was the man selected by God to raise Jesus to manhood here on earth. God used Joseph’s lineage to place Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, the City of David, in fulfillment of prophecy. (Micah 6:2; Matthew 2:6) Without Hezekiah’s extra fifteen years there would have been no Joseph.
To sum it up, God made the right decision in honoring Hezekiah’s faithfulness and healing him. Yes, his son Manasseh was very evil but that was his personal rebellious choice (and that of the Israelites in following him). God still had a plan for good King Josiah, the faithful Joseph who watched over Jesus as he was born and grew, and the fulfillment of prophecy concerning Jesus. He also had a plan for all who would follow Jesus—to rescue them from the dominion of darkness and bring them into the kingdom of light and eternal life! (Colossians 1:12, 13)
I know of no New Testament scripture (since we “followers of Jesus” are people of the New Covenant) that even hints at this. The only one that is remotely close is John 9:3, the account of Jesus saying of the man born blind, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” Jesus immediately healed him. The work of God in this man’s life was his healing, not the blindness!
Jesus said that the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy but he (Jesus) came to give abundant life—not a lesson from sickness! (John 10:10)
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. I John 3:8
No, God permits sickness and other things that are of the devil to come into our lives so that we can fight it! That’s what the “full armor of God” is for (Ephesians 6:11-18). That’s what the “gifts of the Spirit” are for (1 Corinthians 12:7:11).
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4,5
When sickness comes your way, don’t embrace it—fight it!
Note: Of course, no teacher wants to let a “teachable moment” get by without using it for teaching. God certainly makes use of every opportunity, but why not be open to his teaching while you’re in health?!
It is said,“Even though he didn’t receive physical healing (and died), he got the ultimate healing—a spiritual one.”It i
If a person is a follower of Jesus, we can rejoice that when he dies, it’s not the end and his spirit will continue in Jesus’ presence though his body was not healed. (Take your questions about why he wasn’t healed to Jesus and his word—not to the “traditions of men” or your imagination.) However, the idea that the physical body (and thereby physical healing) is less important or unimportant, that only the spiritual counts, doesn’t come from the Bible but from Gnosticism, which taught that material things are evil and only the spiritual is valuable. Paul warned Timothy about such teachings. (1 Timothy 6:20, 21)
Physical healing was/is so important that Jesus considered it proof that he was “the one who is to come”. (Luke 7:20-23)
If a person has died, (sorry to have to put it so bluntly) his body is not healed; it is dead until the last day when it will be renewed.
The Bible does not portray death as healing— Jesus never said, Ah, because this person has died, she has received the ultimate healing. In fact, Jesus raised every dead person he encountered. The Bible does say that death is an enemy—the last one for Jesus to destroy. (1 Corinthians 15:26) While death is not our friend, Jesus removes the sting of death by receiving his followers’ spirits on the other side of it.
The Resurrection of the Dead on the final day is the ultimate healing.
Urban Legends About God, the Bible & the Christian Life 