Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt (5 page)
Persecution stirred up by this fallen angel is the weakness, the thorn, the buffeting, that Paul asked Christ to remove three times. However, Christ told Paul that His power was made perfect in Paul’s weakness. Paul reminds us in the next chapter that Christ Himself experienced the same sort of weakness that Paul was allowed to
experience
[vi]
. Christ was buffeted by His enemies as well. Christ was never sick but He was allowed to experience human weakness and frailty. Christ was crucified because He partook of human frailty and weakness but there is no evidence that He was ever sick. There is no evidence that Paul ever had any difficulties getting healed if he needed healing or that God used sickness for some divine purpose in his life.
[vii]
Doubts about Paul and Job are often built on a shadowy foundation of doubt about God’s will, purpose and timing. However as they are examined by means of the Light, Christ Himself, and what the New Testament reveals, it is completely reasonable to move beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Spiritualizing Sickness and Injury.
Often these days we see Christian people spiritualizing their sickness or their injuries and thereby creating doubts for themselves. For example, a person with an injured or painful neck might think that the root cause is stubbornness. They would be drawing this idea from the Old Testament where God describes the stubbornness of His people
Israel
as being “stiff-necked”. They might believe that they must deal with this character problem in their life before receiving healing. Another example is someone who is physically deaf who has been told that if their deafness is a result of not listening to God. A blind person might be told that their blindness is a result of being spiritually blind. A pastor once told me that his cancer was a reflection of the disunity of his church. When his church had unity, he would be healed of his cancer. I told him with a grin that he would probably die then since he had no control over the unity of the church. I disputed his spiritual interpretation of his sickness. Once he saw that healing was not based on unity but faith in Christ, he was healed of his cancer. These kinds of interpretations of sickness are out-of-control spirituality. Not once did Christ indicate that someone must solve a problem of character or anything else before receiving healing. These ideas create serious doubts in people. They create problems, some impossible to resolve, that must be fixed before someone can come to Christ for healing. They prevent reception of the kingdom simply in child-like faith.
Doubt about the Sovereignty of God.
Occasionally someone will assert that the sovereignty of God means that God does not heal if He chooses not to heal. Often they are relying upon Old Testament passages to support this doubt-producing idea. There are several very wrong ideas in this theology. First of all, this would have God the Father acting in a very different way than His Son Jesus demonstrates. When we see Christ, we see the Father. We contend that the Father’s will and purpose are exactly as Christ reveals them. We contend that these matters remain the same yesterday, today and in the future. Secondly, we contend that Christ reveals the sovereignty of God perfectly. He shows us exactly how sovereignty works out in practice. He heals all who come to Him in child-like faith. He does not heal those who respond to Him in unbelief as they did in
Nazareth
. He never demonstrates that the Father is making arbitrary or mysterious decisions about who will be healed and who will not be healed. Instead, Christ demonstrates that all can receive if they come to Him.
Doubts about an Incomplete Kingdom.
There has been a teaching has ministered doubt to many people. This teaching has stated that the
kingdom
of
God
is incomplete in healing until Christ returns. Therefore, we cannot expect God to heal in all cases. Some popular teachers have expressed this teaching like this:
kingdom now… but not yet
. This means that God will not heal in some cases because the kingdom is incomplete in this age.
This teaching is wrong at a basic level. The fullness of the kingdom to be expressed after Christ’s return is the resurrection of the body not physical healing. Resurrected believers in the ages to come will not need to be healed. Those dead in Christ do not need to be healed either. Living believers in this age need to be healed and healed completely. Total physical healing of all our sicknesses, diseases and injuries is the present expression of the kingdom of God in this age to living, un-resurrected believers, There is nothing inadequate about the kingdom of God to meet believer’s needs for healing in this age.
There is no incompleteness in the
kingdom
of
God
on God’s side of the equation. Christ work is finished and it is perfect. Christ demonstrates repeatedly that the kingdom present in this age is completely adequate to heal all who come to Him in child-like faith. His disciples would have known this from observation of Christ. Christ demonstrates to them and to us that the kingdom is present in this age to heal all. He demonstrates that the kingdom is complete by ministering healing successfully to everyone who comes to Him in a multitude. If incompleteness existed on God’s side of the kingdom, then surely Christ would reveal it but He does not reveal this. In fact, Christ says that His disciples would do greater things not lesser things.
The only incompleteness that is demonstrated in the New Testament is the human side of the equation. Christ is limited in power in His own hometown, not because there is a problem with God or His kingdom, but because of their unbelief. In like manner, the disciples are unable to heal an epileptic boy, not because there is a problem with God or His kingdom, but because of the littleness of their faith. The problem was on the human side of the equation. God’s kingdom, His rule, is perfect and adequate to heal all. All things are possible to him who believes. However, little is possible for those who doubt the adequacy of Christ’s work and the
kingdom
of
God
for their healing.
People’s reception of the kingdom by faith in Christ is imperfect often because of theology like this that produces doubt. Thankfully, we can be equipped to receive. We can grow in faith in Christ. We can capture these theological doubts about God’s willingness to help us in all situations. We can receive Christ as Healer in child-like faith. We can move beyond this shadow of a doubt.
Doubt about Death and Dying.
Another doubt that is related to the idea that God might be using sickness and injury in the life of a believer is the idea that God might want to bring a person to Heaven by this means. We affirm that sick born again Christians who die go to Heaven but in no way does this
mean
that God wished them to die in this way. We must remember that perfectly well people die also. Everyone eventually will die if Christ tarries. Some will be sick and some will be well. It is quite possible to put your head on a pillow completely well and wake up in Heaven. Sickness is not necessary to produce death. Therefore, healing is available to all who believe right up to the moment of their death. After death, after we sleep in Christ, a complete reception of what Christ accomplished at the cross will occur. Death and all that the
Fall
in the Garden, the curse and the devil have afflicted upon humanity will all be swallowed up in resurrection victory. In the meantime, healing is available to believers that they may live in abundant life until they die and then fully experience eternal life.
4
The
Specific Timing Doubt
One of the most significant doubts comes from the idea that God has a specific timing for healing a person. This misunderstanding of the nature of healing is common. This doubt is often tied closely to the previous two doubts that it is not be the will of God or the purpose of God for healing in the present time. This is how the doubt might be expressed in words:
God may have a specific timing for healing because He is working out a good and mysterious purpose in the sickness or injury. God may have a specific timing for healing because it might not be His will at present to heal. When God has completed His mysterious work, then it may be time to be healed.
You can see how believing that a specific timing exists for healing creates doubts when you are ministering healing to someone or trying to receive yourself. There are good reasons why there is no specific timing in the matter of healing. We will explain why there is no timing in the next few paragraphs.
The work of healing is already done at the cross.
The New Testament teaches that sickness, disease, pain, and injury were paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In the same way that we do not have to wait for forgiveness of sins, we do not have to wait for healing. Forgiveness and healing were available to us when we were born into this world. We received forgiveness when we heard the Good News and believed. We received when we decided, not when God decided. Healing is the same. When we believe in Christ as Healer and do not doubt, we will be healed in the same fashion that we believed in Christ as Savior and were saved.
The gift of healing is already given to the Church.
God has already given healing to His Church. God has placed those within the Body of Christ that freely minister healing to all who come with faith in Jesus Christ as Healer. It is a matter of their coming, hearing and believing the Good News about Christ as Healer. This is not when God decides but when they decide and believe. God is not portioning out healing and making separate decisions about each person. Healing is available to all when and where they believe in Christ as Healer.
Christ demonstrated that the timing for healing was always when they came to Him as Healer
. Each and every person that came to Christ was healed then and there. It did not matter how long they were ill or injured. It did not matter why they were sick or injured. Logically, the timing for healing is always when you are sick and injured. The timing is when you have the need or when you encounter a need in another person.
Christ never sent anyone way unhealed with a reason about timing.
He never said to anyone that it was not the proper time to be healed. He demonstrated thousands of times that it was proper time to be healed when they came to Him.
Christ preached the Kingdom was at hand and demonstrated the power of the Kingdom by healing all who came to Him.
This means that Christ never postponed dealing with a healing problem. The power of God was always present when faith was present. The Father was always willing and it was always the proper time for people to be healed by Christ. Any theology postponing healing for any reason creates doubt and may spring from doubt itself.
The Specific Timing doubt is usually connected with Will of God doubt and the Purpose of God doubt.
If one believes one of the previous doubts, then there is a logical basis for this doubt. If God has a purpose for sickness, then there might be a specific timing for healing. If the will of God is different for different people, then maybe there would be a specific timing as God’s will changes and circumstances change. However, if both of these ideas are wrong, then the idea of some specific timing is also wrong. If God has no purpose for sickness and His will is the same for all, then this doubt has no basis either. Since the ministry of Christ does not validate either one of those two doubts, the timing doubt should be rejected as well. If it is rejected with the other two doubts, we are moving well beyond a shadow of doubt.
Our experience can be misinterpreted through our doubts.
Since healing does come at a particular time, we can wrongly think that God had a specific timing in mind when we could have received at an earlier time. Sometimes, the idea of timing gets reinforced because healing seems to come at a specific time and with unusual circumstances. However, this is a misinterpretation of the experience of healing based on an erroneous foundation. This is how it happens. A person gets a word of knowledge or some other event that releases their faith that God wants them well. The Holy Spirit may quicken a verse of Scripture to them that makes them believe that they will be healed and they do receive healing as a result. Unfortunately, this reinforces the wrong idea that before the specific time of revelation, it was God’s purpose for them to be sick or injured. When the proper time arrived, they were healed. However, what has actually happened is that the Holy Spirit graciously worked around their doubts so that they could be healed. They could have been healed before this specific time but their doubts prevented them until the Holy Spirit mercifully acted to circumvent their doubts. If they didn’t have the underlying doubts, they could have been healed when they first needed it. Instead, they needed an additional push, an additional word, and an unusual circumstance from the Holy Spirit to inspire faith in Christ to receive healing.
Likewise sometimes confusion exists because it seems that healing comes in parts and portions over a period of time rather than completely in one situation. Of course, God is not giving healing in parts. Complete healing is already ours in Christ. We are simply receiving in parts and portions as our faith allows. We receive according to our faith. If we have faith for a little, that is what we receive. If we have great faith, then we get a great miracle.
Christ ministered to a blind man and the man received a partial healing of his blindness and then after Christ ministered to him a second time, the blindness was completely healed.
[viii]
The man received in parts but not because Christ was giving in parts. The will of God was for the man to be completely healed but he was only able to receive a portion by faith. The man received a portion of his healing at first. That experience shined light on the shadow of his doubts as well as his eyes. Once he had received this first portion, he was able to believe for the rest of his healing as Christ ministered to him a second time.
Christ made the following statement several times in healing situations or something similar eighteen times:
"Be it done to you according to your faith."
We receive according to our faith. We receive what we are able to believe for and no more or less. If we receive something, it is because someone has believed. This is not bad news. It is actually good news. It is always possible when we receive a little from God to build upon that and receive more. When we receive something from God, it does experientially reveal His willingness to do it all. Half a healing reveals God’s desire to do it all. This should encourage us to receive everything that we need. It should lead us beyond a shadow of doubt. However, God’s willingness to heal is already revealed in Jesus Christ and we should focus upon those biblical facts and not our experience. This will remove our doubts and enable us to receive all that Christ has purchased for us at
Calvary
.