The Origin Of Sickness
If I asked you, "Where does sickness come from?" you would probably reply, "Sickness comes from the devil," and you would be correct. The Bible clearly teaches that Satan is the author of sickness.
The Bible talks about a demonic spirit of infirmity that binds people with sickness and disease. Jesus came to release us from the spirit of infirmity. When God created us, He made us in His own image, and He made us good. Genesis 1:31 says that when God looked at everything He had made, He approved of it completely.
Everything in His creation, including man, was perfectly suitable. God did not create illness, and He did not want people to get sick and die. He wanted man to live forever on earth. However, God gave dominion over the earth to Adam, and Adam disobeyed God. We often refer to this event as "the great fall of mankind," because it brought the curse of sickness and death into the world.
So we see that it is the devil who tries to place sickness upon mankind. God does not bring trouble into our lives. The Bible teaches us that He does not give us sickness, storms, or darkness of any sort.
Occasionally, I talk to people who say, "I don't know why God made me sick. I'm praying about it so that I can find out why He did this to me."
When I hear a comment like that, my heart is grieved. The Word of God is very clear: God doesn't bring sickness. He has provided healing for us, and desires us to walk in health every day of our lives!
Jesus Wants You To Be Healed
No one in Heaven has colds, headaches, allergies, upset stomachs, or heart disease. God does not pour anything bad on the inhabitants of Heaven, and His Word clearly states that He wants us to be healed, too.
Jesus says in John 10:10 that He came to give us zoë life, God's heavenly life, which brings deliverance from sickness and infirmity. We have heard so much about healing that it isn't an exciting message for us anymore. "I already know about healing," we say. And yet our churches are filled with sick believers.
Obviously, we don't know everything we need to know about healing, and we need to study it again.
Young's Understanding Of Hebrew Scripture
One day, while I was praying, God's Spirit showed me that His people come to church believing that He makes them sick because of verses they have read in the Old Testament.
For example, people read Deuteronomy 28:27, which says that God smites the disobedient with tumors, hemorrhoids, scurvy, itch, madness, blindness, and dismay of heart from which no man can save them. So, they think, When people sin, God makes them sick.
People read Ezekiel 32, which says that God will scatter the Egyptian pharaoh's flesh upon the mountains and darken the sun and stars, and they think, When nations are carnal, God gives them political upheaval and natural calamity.
Young's Literal Translation, which was written by a Hebrew scholar, examines these difficult verses by returning to the original Hebrew text. According to Young and other scholars, the Hebrew language has two tenses—the causative and permissive tenses.
The causative tense is the active tense; the subject of the sentence causes the action. For example: The bullet hit the tree or The runaway train ran into the mountainside.
The men who translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to English used the causative tense, so the Old Testament is filled with verses that say, "God did this. God did that. God smote this. God destroyed that."
The permissive tense is best translated, "It was allowed." Verses that say, "God causes sickness," have been incorrectly translated. They were originally written in the Hebrew permissive tense and should read, "God allows sickness to come."
I know that some people think, Causative, pausitive. I don't care about any of that. But, it is important to look at Scripture in the proper tense to exact the true meaning.
The Ministry Of Jesus
We have already established that sickness, which comes from Satan, entered the world as a result of Adam's sin. A curse hangs over mankind because of Adam's disobedience, and sickness is part of that curse.
There are some who think, Well, there you are. We're born with a curse hanging over our heads, and as long as we're in this world, we're going to be sick. We may as well accept it, because that's the way it is. However, Jesus came to cure the sin problem.
Galatians 3:13 says that when He went to Calvary, He redeemed, or repurchased, us: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
He bought us back from Satan, cleared our debt of sin, bought our freedom from sickness and lack, and set us free. Healing comes from Jesus and the redemptive work that He did at Calvary.
Sickness originates with Satan, and Adam allowed sickness to enter the world when he disobeyed God. But, the good news is that Jesus paid the price—not only for our sin—but for our sickness and infirmities.
God's in the healing business, and it is His desire that you be healthy!
Copyright © 2005 Faith Family Church
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
If I asked you, "Where does sickness come from?" you would probably reply, "Sickness comes from the devil," and you would be correct. The Bible clearly teaches that Satan is the author of sickness.
The Bible talks about a demonic spirit of infirmity that binds people with sickness and disease. Jesus came to release us from the spirit of infirmity. When God created us, He made us in His own image, and He made us good. Genesis 1:31 says that when God looked at everything He had made, He approved of it completely.
Everything in His creation, including man, was perfectly suitable. God did not create illness, and He did not want people to get sick and die. He wanted man to live forever on earth. However, God gave dominion over the earth to Adam, and Adam disobeyed God. We often refer to this event as "the great fall of mankind," because it brought the curse of sickness and death into the world.
So we see that it is the devil who tries to place sickness upon mankind. God does not bring trouble into our lives. The Bible teaches us that He does not give us sickness, storms, or darkness of any sort.
Occasionally, I talk to people who say, "I don't know why God made me sick. I'm praying about it so that I can find out why He did this to me."
When I hear a comment like that, my heart is grieved. The Word of God is very clear: God doesn't bring sickness. He has provided healing for us, and desires us to walk in health every day of our lives!
Jesus Wants You To Be Healed
No one in Heaven has colds, headaches, allergies, upset stomachs, or heart disease. God does not pour anything bad on the inhabitants of Heaven, and His Word clearly states that He wants us to be healed, too.
Jesus says in John 10:10 that He came to give us zoë life, God's heavenly life, which brings deliverance from sickness and infirmity. We have heard so much about healing that it isn't an exciting message for us anymore. "I already know about healing," we say. And yet our churches are filled with sick believers.
Obviously, we don't know everything we need to know about healing, and we need to study it again.
Young's Understanding Of Hebrew Scripture
One day, while I was praying, God's Spirit showed me that His people come to church believing that He makes them sick because of verses they have read in the Old Testament.
For example, people read Deuteronomy 28:27, which says that God smites the disobedient with tumors, hemorrhoids, scurvy, itch, madness, blindness, and dismay of heart from which no man can save them. So, they think, When people sin, God makes them sick.
People read Ezekiel 32, which says that God will scatter the Egyptian pharaoh's flesh upon the mountains and darken the sun and stars, and they think, When nations are carnal, God gives them political upheaval and natural calamity.
Young's Literal Translation, which was written by a Hebrew scholar, examines these difficult verses by returning to the original Hebrew text. According to Young and other scholars, the Hebrew language has two tenses—the causative and permissive tenses.
The causative tense is the active tense; the subject of the sentence causes the action. For example: The bullet hit the tree or The runaway train ran into the mountainside.
The men who translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to English used the causative tense, so the Old Testament is filled with verses that say, "God did this. God did that. God smote this. God destroyed that."
The permissive tense is best translated, "It was allowed." Verses that say, "God causes sickness," have been incorrectly translated. They were originally written in the Hebrew permissive tense and should read, "God allows sickness to come."
I know that some people think, Causative, pausitive. I don't care about any of that. But, it is important to look at Scripture in the proper tense to exact the true meaning.
The Ministry Of Jesus
We have already established that sickness, which comes from Satan, entered the world as a result of Adam's sin. A curse hangs over mankind because of Adam's disobedience, and sickness is part of that curse.
There are some who think, Well, there you are. We're born with a curse hanging over our heads, and as long as we're in this world, we're going to be sick. We may as well accept it, because that's the way it is. However, Jesus came to cure the sin problem.
Galatians 3:13 says that when He went to Calvary, He redeemed, or repurchased, us: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
He bought us back from Satan, cleared our debt of sin, bought our freedom from sickness and lack, and set us free. Healing comes from Jesus and the redemptive work that He did at Calvary.
Sickness originates with Satan, and Adam allowed sickness to enter the world when he disobeyed God. But, the good news is that Jesus paid the price—not only for our sin—but for our sickness and infirmities.
God's in the healing business, and it is His desire that you be healthy!
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Pastors Mike and Barb Cameneti are the founding and lead pastors of Faith Family Church. What began as a small basement Bible study in 1988, has flourished into a multi-faceted ministry reaching the world and helping people establish and grow in their relationship with God.
