Understanding God's Will Regarding Health and Healing

by Garry D. Pifer

Is it God’s will, His desire, His intention, to heal our physical sicknesses and diseases?  As we covered in the study on faith, most of us believe that He is ABLE to heal, that He does on occasion heal.  However, most of us have been taught or have come to believe in one way or another, that it is not God’s will to heal today as He did in Jesus’ time or in the time of the early N.T. church.  Somehow or for some reason, many feel that God’s will can’t be known regarding this subject.  It is felt by some that God’s will changes.  What do the Scriptures say?  Does the Bible tell us?

Perhaps the place to start is to define the word “will.”  A familiar Scripture is Matthew 6:10. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven.”  The word “will” is from the Greek word thelema, #2307 in Strong’s.  It is translated “will” 62 times, “desire” once and “pleasure” once.  The lexicon definition is “what one wishes or has determined shall be done” and “will, choice, inclination, desire, pleasure.”  The root word is thelo, #2309 in Strong’s.  It’s definition is “to will, have in mind, intend.” 

In this study I want to share with you, from the Scriptures, the expressed will of God regarding health and healing.  As I mentioned previously, Jesus revealed that He was the I AM.  He is the I AM, not the “I Was” or the “I Will Be.”  I don’t mean this to be a trite expression.  It is what the Word teaches. Look at a couple of familiar passages.

Whatever the will of God was yesterday is what the will of God is today and what it will be forever.  He doesn’t have one will for one group at one time and another will for another group at another time.

I mentioned the first statute and ordinance, the first covenant, I AM made with the Israelites as they came out of Egypt, as found in Exodus 15.

Exodus 15:25  And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, [which] when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,  Exodus 15:26  And said, 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 that healeth thee. 

He reveals that He wanted them to be healthy.  IF they would be obedient there would be no diseases and sicknesses upon them.  It is not God’s will that we be sick.  He desires us to be healthy.  He also revealed that He was “I Am, the One who gives you health, heals you, your physician.”  He hasn’t changed.  He is still YHVH rapha.

A fact that many of us have never noticed or considered is that at the time I AM made this agreement, this covenant, with the Israelites there apparently were NO sicknesses or diseases among the thousands that came out of Egypt.  Notice the Psalmist’s words in Psalm 105, verse 37.

Psalms 105:37  He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and [there was] not one feeble [person] among their tribes.  

Alternate translations show the word translated “feeble” to mean “weary” or “none that stumbled.”  They were not infirm, bed-ridden, or even “slowed with age.”   The impact of His words regarding health and healing are even greater when we understand this and comprehend His promise to keep them all in health.

Following the giving of the 10 commandments (Ex. 20) God began to reveal additional laws and ordinances.  Notice a few verses in chapter 23.

Exodus 23:25  And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.  Exodus 23:26  There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. 

God, the I AM, says that His desire, His will, is that His people be blessed.  The blessings He states are the basics of our physical lives; food and drink, and health.  He specifically says that sickness would be taken from the midst of His people, that  there would be no miscarriages, and there would be none that would be unable to bear children.  And, He states further that no one would die a premature death.  This is what God’s will, His desire, for His people is.

Just prior to the Israelites entering into Canaan Moses spoke the words recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.  Most of us are familiar with chapter 28, the blessings and curses chapter.  In the blessings stated for obedience we do not find a direct statement saying there would be health but there are implications of this. 

Deuteronomy 28:4  Blessed [shall be] the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 

Deuteronomy 28:11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 

Twice the statement is made regarding the blessing of “the fruit of thy body.”  This is obviously referring to not “casting their young” and being “barren” and “fulfilling the number of their days” as we read in Exodus 23:25.  What is more striking is the pronouncement of curses that follows.  Look at the following verses.

Deuteronomy 28:18  Cursed [shall be] the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 

Deuteronomy 28:21  The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. 

Deuteronomy 28:22  The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. 

Deuteronomy 28:27  The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. 

Deuteronomy 28:28  The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: 

Deuteronomy 28:35  The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. 

Deuteronomy 28:59  Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, [even] great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. 

Deuteronomy 28:60  Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. 

Deuteronomy 28:61  Also every sickness, and every plague, which [is] not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

God’s will, His desire, His longing, was for His people to be obedient and be in health as He had covenanted with them (Ex. 15).  However, He makes it very plain that if they would choose to not hearken to His words and obey Him numerous curses would come upon them.  And, in the verses above we see that terrible sicknesses and diseases would be among the curses.  This IS NOT what God wanted, not what He wills, but what He says will happen when His people are not following Him with their whole heart.

In the following chapters of Deuteronomy we see the exhortation to obedience.  Very specifically, in chapter 30 the command was to choose life, to choose the blessings.  Look at a few verses.  They show us very positively that God’s will, His desire, His longing for them (and us) is to be reaping His blessings, which include health and healing.

Deuteronomy 30:16  In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 

Deuteronomy 30:17  But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 

Deuteronomy 30:18  I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, [and that] ye shall not prolong [your] days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 

Deuteronomy 30:19  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 

Deuteronomy 30:20  That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, [and] that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he [is] thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.            

We are all familiar with the 53rd chapter of Isaiah.  It is a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  Some refer to this chapter as the redemptive chapter of the Bible.  In the last verse, verse 12, we read; “because he hath poured out his soul unto death:” This of course is referring to Christ shedding His blood for the atoning, the reconciling, of each of us.  This was pictured on the day of Atonement by the one goat that was killed and had its blood taken within the vail and sprinkled on the mercy seat. (Lev. 16:15) The last part of verse 12 of Isaiah 53 states, “and he bare the sin of many...”  In verse 11 it makes a similar statement; “for he shall bear their iniquities.”  Christ “bearing” our sins and iniquities was pictured by the second goat on the Day of Atonement.  We have missed this picture because of erroneous teaching that this “live goat” pictured Satan.  SATAN DOES NOT BEAR OUR SINS!!!  The Hebrew word translated “bare” in Isaiah 53:12 is the same word used in Leviticus 16:22, “bear.”  It is nasa, #05375 in Strong’s.  BUT, more than just our sins and inquities, Jesus also “bore” something else.  Notice verse 4.

Isaiah 53:4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 

The King James hides the real meaning of this verse.  The Hebrew word translated “griefs” is choliy, #02483 in Strong’s.  It is used 24 times in the Old Testament and is translated “sickness” 12 times, disease 7 times, grief 4 times and sick once.  The word translated “sorrow” is makob, # 04341 in Strong’s.  The lexicon defines the word as “pain, sorrow.”  It is translated sorrow 12 times, pain 2 times and grief 2 times.  When we see the real meaning in this verse we begin to understand that Jesus NOT ONLY bore, carried, our sins and iniquities but also our sickness and pain.  Verse 5 of Isaiah means what it says, “and with his stripes we are healed.”  NOT just “spiritual healing” but the healing of choliy and makob, our sickness and pain. 

Isaiah says “we are healed.”  Even though Jesus had not come and died at that time it still was a sure thing.  When Peter quotes this passage he words it slightly different, “by whose stripes ye were healed.”  This followed the sacrifice of Jesus.  It was God’s will and intent that we be in health and  be healed of any sickness and disease, so much so, that it was a part of His design and plan regarding the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Even before Isaiah wrote this prophecy the fact of the Messiah’s sacrifice covering both our sins and our sickness was known.  We’ve read it, maybe memorized it, but sadly we haven’t really believed it.

Psalms 103:1 ¶ <<[A Psalm] of David.>> Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, [bless] his holy name. 

Verse 3 is an absolute.  The LORD, the I AM, not only forgives all of our sins and iniquities BUT also is YHVH rapha, “health, healer, physician,” who heals ALL of our diseases.  Why do we believe and accept that it is His will to forgive our sins BUT don’t want to believe it is also His will to heal our diseases?

All of us know that Jesus performed many healings when He was on the earth.  We often assume that this was to merely show His power and authority.  But, it also was to show that as the I AM it was His will and desire to heal.  It was a major part of His ministry.  We have for the most part concentrated on His preaching of the gospel and ignored the healing.  Matthew 4:23 and Matthew 9:35 both tell us that He went about “teaching,” and “preaching,” and “healing.”  And, in chapter 8 of Matthew we see why He went about healing.  Verse 16 says they brought many possessed of demons and that He healed ALL that were sick.  Then, verse 17 tells us why.  “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” 

Jesus healed everyone that came to Him, He didn’t heal only a select few.  He didn’t pick and choose one here and one there.  In the verse just referred to, Matthew 8:16, it says, “and healed ALL that were sick.”  Notice a few more accounts.

Matthew 4:23 ¶ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing ALL manner of sickness and ALL manner of disease among the people.

Matthew 9:35 ¶ And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing EVERY sickness and EVERY disease among the people.

Luke 4:40  Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on EVERY ONE OF THEM, and healed them.

Matthew 8:1-3  ¶ When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.  And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.  And Jesus put forth [his] hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

The leper wasn’t sure that it truly was Jesus’ will to heal him.  He knew that Jesus was able to heal him and make him clean but he wasn’t totally confident that it was His will to do so.  Jesus’ response to him is also the response to us, “I will.” 

Was it also the will of God the Father?  Jesus told us more than once that He and the Father were “one.” (John 10:30; John 17:22) Their will was the same.  As a matter of fact what Jesus did was not just His own will but the will of the Father.

John 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. 

His actions, His thoughts, His will were not His own.  Jesus came doing the will of His Father.  Healing all that came to Him was the will of the Father. And, not just the will of the Father BUT the very work of the Father.  (John 14:10)

Earlier we looked at Matthew 9:35 and the fact that Jesus went healing EVERY sickness and disease among the people.  The following verses are also VERY interesting.  In verse 36 we are told that when He saw the multitudes He was moved with compassion on them.  And, in verse 37 we read His statement that has been repeated to us so many times; “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;” The emphasis has so often been that there is a need for more to support the preaching of the gospel, but note the context here.  The statement is made after healing EVERY sickness and disease and seeing the multitudes.  In verse 38 Jesus says to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers.  Continuing on into chapter 10 and verse one we see what Jesus then does.  He called the twelve disciples to Him and “He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”  Nothing is said about “preaching the gospel” here.  In verse 7 and 8 He gives more instructions.  “And AS YE GO, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.   Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:..”  The specific power they were given and the specific command was to HEAL.  But, in addition, as they went, they were to preach the gospel.  Clearly, Jesus’ WILL was to take the power of healing to the people and to have them healed.

We read a similar account over in Luke 10.  Here we find that Jesus appointed 70 and sent them out “two and two.”  In verse 2 He repeats the statement regarding the harvest being plenteous and to pray that more labourers be sent into the harvest.  In verses 3 through 8 specific instructions are given to them.  Then notice verse 9. “And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”  The first instruction was to “heal the sick” and secondly to preach the gospel to them.  Jesus’ will, His desire, His pleasure, was to have people healed.

Mark’s account of Jesus sending out the 12 is found in Mark 6.  In verse 7 it says he began to send them out by two and two, “and gave them power over unclean spirits.”  Following specific instructions we read what they did in verses 12 and 13.

Mark 6:12 -13   “And they went out, and preached that men should repent.  And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed [them].”

Luke’s account, found in Luke 9:1-6, says He gave them “power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.”  He then sent them “to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.” (Verse 2) Verse 6 says they “went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.”

ALL of the gospel accounts detail Jesus giving the twelve and the seventy POWER and AUTHORITY to heal, and sending them out to HEAL and to preach the gospel.  His will was for them to do as He was doing, healing ALL.

Before we move out of the gospel accounts I want to focus on the words of Jesus, spoken after His resurrection to the eleven, as found in the 16th chapter of Mark. 

Mark 16:14-18   “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.   And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.    He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.    And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;    They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

The final part of verse 18 is a very specific promise and statement of the will of Jesus.  “THEY SHALL LAY HANDS ON THE SICK, AND THEY SHALL RECOVER.”  I recently heard a man make the statement that he didn’t believe this statement to be literal.  He said we don’t see believers speaking in tongues or taking up serpents today.  Consequently, he said none of these are literal.  I may not understand “speaking in tongues” nor “taking up serpents” BUT that doesn’t mean the promise of healing is NOT literal.  I have to ask, “how does one decide what is literal?”  “Does this individual believe verse 16 is literal when Jesus says ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved’?”  I would think that he does.  So, how do you say one portion of the passage is literal but the other part isn’t?  With the weight of all of the other Scriptures we have looked at, I have to believe the Words of Jesus mean what they say. 

Acts 5:16  There came also a multitude [out] of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed EVERY ONE. 

Acts 8:5-7   Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.  And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.   For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed [with them]: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.

Acts 28:8-9  And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.   So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:

All of these accounts are in fulfillment of the promise of Jesus found in John 14:12.  “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.”  One of the “works” of Jesus was the healing of the sick, as we have seen.  He continued in John 14:12, “and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”    It is the will of Jesus that healing continue.  It is His will that greater and mightier works than He did be done.

Even if all of the Scriptures we have been looking at didn’t exist we still have the will of God powerfully stated in James 5:14 and 15.  We have all memorized it but I wonder if we really believe it.

James 5:14-15   Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

God does not tell us to pray for something that it is not His will to give or provide.  He says to have the elders pray over us when we are sick, anointing us with oil.  And, then He says very specifically that that prayer, if it be of faith, “shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.”  He desires us to be well, He wants us to be healed when sick; IT IS HIS WILL TO HEAL US.

There are many additional passages which also point to God’s will for us to be in health, and to be healed when sick.  Let us notice a few.

3 John 1:2 “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”  God’s will is for us to be “in health.”

1 Corinthians 6:20 “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”  Notice, we are to glorify God in BOTH body and spirit.  How does a sick body glorify God?  God’s will is for us to be healthy.

Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service.”    Those of you familiar with the requirements of the sacrifices of the Old Testament know that any animal with a blemish, or diseased in any way, was not acceptable as a sacrifice. Our bodies, not just our “spirit,” are to be presented as a living sacrifice.  God does not want a blemished or sick sacrifice.

There are other passages of Scripture that we could look at, but, I believe that IF we are honest with the numerous ones we have read and studied we must come to the conclusion that it is the will of God that we be in health and that we be healed of sicknesses and disease.  The question that arises  then is “Why don’t we see many healings today?”  As we have pointed out, God has not changed.  His will is the same.  His will is to heal.  There must be something or some things that are keeping God’s will from being accomplished in this area.  We will look at some of those things in the next installment.