The God of Scripture is a God who forgives. He calls us to draw near by confessing our sins and embracing his pardon. This confession is not only a requirement but also an opportunity for us to deepen our communion with God, to experience his mercy and power to renew. In the same way, we must draw near to him by rejecting sickness and receiving the healing he provides. To draw closer to God is to acknowledge his word to forgive and heal, and to receive these gifts by faith. It is not optional to seek and receive healing, and it is not selfish or unspiritual. On the contrary, it is a moral obligation that aligns us with God’s word and the work of Christ.
Accepting sickness as something honorable is a perversion of God’s revealed will and an insult to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Jesus took upon himself our pains and diseases. He bore them in his body so that we might be free from both sin and sickness. To reject this healing, or even to merely neglect it, is to treat his suffering as worthless and to regard his blood as something of little value. It is our moral obligation to receive the healing that Jesus has secured, for in doing so we honor the sacrifice he made for our complete redemption. When someone attributes nobility to sickness or dares to call it a gift from God, he shows contempt for what Jesus accomplished. We do not honor the cross by embracing what Jesus died to destroy, and we dishonor him if we reject the healing that his suffering was meant to produce.
Jesus made it clear that sickness is not a blessing from God. He declared that it is from Satan, and he healed all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. He treated sickness as an enemy, something to be cast out, something that belongs to the dominion of darkness. Therefore, when someone calls sickness — something from Satan — a gift from God, he is exalting Satan and calling him his God. He partners with the devil and spits in God’s face. He defies God’s nature to heal and mocks the work of Christ. To say that sickness is a gift from God is, theologically speaking, an act of demon worship.
The Bible provides definite instructions regarding healing, and these instructions reveal God’s intention for people. It teaches multiple ways to receive and to minister healing. One is to call for the elders of the church to pray for the sick. But in the same context, it also tells all believers to counsel and pray for one another, so that they may be healed. This is a command, not a suggestion. In Scripture, instructions on healing are presented with the same force as those on confessing our sins and receiving forgiveness. Healing is a moral commandment and spiritual obligation. God has made healing available through faith, and we are required to accept it. It is our duty to honor his provision by approaching him in faith and receiving what he has supplied. To refuse is rebellion. The prayer of faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. The promise is also worded as a command to receive healing.
We must condemn sickness in the same way that we condemn sin. God never tells us to accept sin, to glorify it, or to call it his gift. He commands us to repent, to denounce it, and to turn away from it. Sickness must be treated the same way. We are not instructed to glorify it or to embrace it as something holy. We are commanded to reject it and to receive the healing that God has provided. To tolerate sickness as if it were sacred is to defy God just as much as tolerating sin. Both were targeted by redemption and settled on the same terms. They are enemies of righteousness and must be condemned.
We do not condemn the sinner who is repenting and receiving God’s grace to change. Rather, we come alongside him, encourage him, and help him receive forgiveness and victory. But the sinner who refuses to leave his sin, who clings to it and rejects forgiveness, stands in rebellion against God. He must be condemned along with his sin.
The same applies to sickness. We do not condemn a person who suffers and seeks healing from God. We stand with him, pray for him, and encourage him to receive. But if someone refuses to receive healing, if he clings to his sickness and persists in unbelief, then he stands in rebellion just like the one who refuses to repent of his sin. He is failing in his moral obligation to accept what Christ has secured through suffering.
This is a rejection of God, and the person must be exposed and condemned. God has revealed himself as Healer. It is his nature, his name, and his identity. To refuse healing is to refuse God, just as to reject forgiveness is to reject God. Never honor the faithless and stubborn person in his unbelief. Pain does not exempt him from faith. Suffering does not give him the moral right to disobey God or to reject the benefits of the gospel. Just because he is suffering does not mean that God, Jesus, and everyone else must cater to him and feel sorry for him. Grace is being extended to him in the form of a miracle of healing, and he is the one refusing it. Exhort him to acknowledge what the word of God teaches. Admonish him to believe and to receive. If he persists in rejecting healing from God, then condemn him along with his sickness.