If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. See, I am the one who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And I am the one who created the soldiers who cause destruction. No weapon that is formed against you shall succeed, and you will refute every tongue that shall rise against you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me, says the Lord. (Isaiah 54:15-17)

Isaiah declared God’s protective covenant with his people. It was a message of restoration addressed to Israel after a period of exile and suffering. God assured the people of his everlasting kindness and his commitment to their future prosperity. He promised to protect and vindicate his people, and to restore them to a position of security. This assurance was given to a nation that had experienced great turmoil, emphasizing that the attempts to harm them would fail.

Here we are interested in the language God used. He asserted his direct sovereignty over all things, including the very existence of the blacksmiths who made the weapons and the soldiers who caused destruction. Yet he said, “If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing.” Scripture makes a distinction between God’s decree and precept, often within the same context, and it also makes a distinction between the actual and absolute cause of something versus the apparent and relational cause of something. And Scripture often speaks at the apparent and relational level, because that is the realm in which we live, while the metaphysical sovereignty of God is assumed. It would have been correct for someone to say, “This attack is not from God. He is on our side. He will protect us, and he will defeat the enemy for us.” It would have been the response God wanted from his people on the basis of what Isaiah said.

The application of divine sovereignty is also significant. In faithless theology, it is assumed that since God is sovereign over all things and that all things happen according to his will, this somehow turns into the idea that we cannot know the outcome of any event until it happens, even if God has promised a definite outcome, such as an answer to prayer or a miracle of healing. His sovereignty makes everything unpredictable regardless of the blessings and miracles that he explicitly promised, as if his sovereignty means that he reserves the right to break his promises. However, God himself did not apply his sovereignty this way. He said that it was because he was the creator of the blacksmiths and the soldiers that he could guarantee that no enemy could successfully attack his people.

God created Israel’s enemies, and those enemies were under God’s constant control. Yet, God could say that when they attacked Israel, it was not his doing. And because God was the one who created these enemies and their weapons, he could guarantee Israel’s victory. This is only one of many examples showing that God himself makes a sharp distinction between the metaphysical, absolute, and direct cause, versus the practical, apparent, and relational cause. And again, the Bible often speaks only at the latter level.

Although this is simple and straightforward, many people have difficulty grasping this. One reason might be that this distinction is only true when we refer to God. He alone has metaphysical power, and at the same time, he interacts with his creatures that live on the apparent and relational level. Nevertheless, Scripture is clear about this and the subject is not complex. The fact that God is a unique case does not make the topic difficult. The truth is that people fail to grasp this because they refuse to accept it, even when it comes directly from God, and their unbelief makes them stupid.

In any case, this serves as an illustration of how we should talk about sickness and healing. God is sovereign over all things, including sickness and healing. However, Jesus repeatedly declared that sickness comes from the devil. Therefore, it is appropriate, even obligatory, for us to say that sickness is not from God, but from the devil. And the fact that God is sovereign does not mean that his promises concerning faith, healing, and miracles become uncertain. Rather, the fact that God is sovereign guarantees that he will fulfill these promises and that nothing can stop him from doing it.

The fact that God is sovereign does not mean that we must lack certainty for healing. He has already sovereignly promised it and accomplished it. We can declare, “Sickness comes from Satan. Healing comes from God.” And the fact that God is sovereign means that healing is guaranteed. Thus we can affirm, “No sickness formed against me can succeed.” To say, “Oh, it will happen if it is the will of God,” is to treat his word like trash. It is to treat Christ, who carried our sicknesses, as a piece of dung. As Peter said, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Sickness is from Satan. Since God is the one who created both the devil and the body, he can guarantee healing. Sickness cannot win. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their healing, their vindication against sickness, comes from God.

Scripture does not instruct us to accept sickness as a lesson or a mysterious work of God; rather, it empowers us to rise against it in faith. God has given believers the authority to condemn sickness as an unlawful trespass. The believer’s attitude toward sickness should be one of resistance, not acceptance. Sickness is an attack that cannot succeed against the faithful. To say, “God has made me sick,” or “This sickness is the will of God,” or worse, “This sickness is a gift from God,” would be unbiblical and blasphemous. The correct response is to declare, “This sickness is of the devil, and it is wrong. It is not from God, and I reject it.” Condemn any person who claims that sickness is the will of God or a gift from God.