Healing: God Has More Mercy Than Man

All I can say is, God can and still does heal..

Matthew 12:39
But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Matthew 16:4
A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Then He left them and went away.

Matthew 24:24
For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible

2 Thessalonians 2:9
The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders,

Bobber said:

Many debate as to whether God desires to heal.

Here's one thing that needs to be considered and I think it answers various questions.
In Luke 13:14 we read,

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Many have suggested the only reason Jesus healed was to prove his deity. I wouldn't deny there isn't an aspect of that which isn't true BUT it lets go of the real core reason why Jesus healed. What really is the nature of healing or of staying sick?

Many say Jesus doesn't heal today. That's equivalent to saying we're living in a Sabbath age. The Pharisees said it was wrong for healing to take place on the Sabbath. God doesn't heal on the Sabbath or in this present time. But if God is not permitted to do so because men say so then why is it that they have a right to do so? Jesus wants people to KNOW what is the nature of HEALING. What is healing? It's MERCY! The religious leaders in Christ day didn't get this. They thought healing was fine but really not a big deal and should never go against their religious traditions....NO HEALING on the day or AGE where God isn't supposed to heal! You can see what Jesus called them above for thinking this way. What did he call them? Hypocrites.

He said look if your ox or donkey needs water DON'T YOU provide water for it? Well we see here that the Lord puts healing down as important as giving someone water. Is God not willing to give people water today and let them die of thirst? So really he's saying....HEALING... IS... MERCY! And what do we see today? Religious people are so VERY QUICK to tell someone with physical afflictions where they can get relief from their physical sufferings.

They say try this Doctor, that one or this! So they likewise like the religious leaders of old, are more than willing to provide the mercy of helping a person to become relieved from a physical affliction but NOPE sorry God won't and can't do that today! So what is that really? Isn't that really claiming that MEN are more merciful than God himself! You go and try to help people to get well and you don't think twice about it. You do so for you know it's a good thing to do! So God isn't as good as us?

In this time of covid I fear religious people will have to be accountable for what they didn't tell the people of this generation....that the Lord wants, longs and is more than eager to bring healing today. People either say that Jesus, God cannot bring healing in this sabbath type of age today even though their mercy would allow them to do so or they say if it's the will of God they'll be healed although they'll go right away to a doctor to get his mercy. They KNOW what they need. Mercy. In their way of thinking the Great Physician God might not do it. The human doctor not God, always has the mercy willing to help. Does this seem right?

Thoughts? Opinions?

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Can't ignore that all the Apostles were given the power to heal people.

Bobber said:

Many have suggested the only reason Jesus healed was to prove his deity. I wouldn't deny there isn't an aspect of that which isn't true BUT it lets go of the real core reason why Jesus healed. What really is the nature of healing or of staying sick?

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Jesus healed people in his humanity, not in his deity. How could he expect us to do it if had to do it in his deity?

Matthew 10:8 NIV
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Bobber said:

Thoughts? Opinions?

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As I scanned the topic titles again, I saw this one and thought, not sure if I agree with that from the view of the standard dogma about the final judgment.
Healing: God Has More Mercy Than Man

I hope this isn't too far off topic, but should probably be considered in reference to the spiritual principle here. Does God have more mercy than humankind?

God requires us to forgive and even to love our enemies. But what is the standard belief about what God intends to do with his enemies? Is it to forgive and love? There is no way to reconcile that thought with a forever burning hell.

Even humankind has correctional institutions to rehabilitate our criminals. What does God have, if Damnationism (a forever burning hell) is true? Humankind even has laws to prevent cruel and unusual punishment. Is God more merciful than Humankind?

Maria Billingsley said:

Can't ignore that all the Apostles were given the power to heal people.

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Only the Apostles? Was Ananias an Apostle? (and what about the spiritual gift of healing given to the whole Body of Christ? Without which, we would be an amputee body, missing a limb)

Acts 9:17-19 NIV
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Bobber said:

Many debate as to whether God desires to heal.

Here's one thing that needs to be considered and I think it answers various questions.
In Luke 13:14 we read,

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Many have suggested the only reason Jesus healed was to prove his deity. I wouldn't deny there isn't an aspect of that which isn't true BUT it lets go of the real core reason why Jesus healed. What really is the nature of healing or of staying sick?

Many say Jesus doesn't heal today. That's equivalent to saying we're living in a Sabbath age. The Pharisees said it was wrong for healing to take place on the Sabbath. God doesn't heal on the Sabbath or in this present time. But if God is not permitted to do so because men say so then why is it that they have a right to do so? Jesus wants people to KNOW what is the nature of HEALING. What is healing? It's MERCY! The religious leaders in Christ day didn't get this. They thought healing was fine but really not a big deal and should never go against their religious traditions....NO HEALING on the day or AGE where God isn't supposed to heal! You can see what Jesus called them above for thinking this way. What did he call them? Hypocrites.

He said look if your ox or donkey needs water DON'T YOU provide water for it? Well we see here that the Lord puts healing down as important as giving someone water. Is God not willing to give people water today and let them die of thirst? So really he's saying....HEALING... IS... MERCY! And what do we see today? Religious people are so VERY QUICK to tell someone with physical afflictions where they can get relief from their physical sufferings.

They say try this Doctor, that one or this! So they likewise like the religious leaders of old, are more than willing to provide the mercy of helping a person to become relieved from a physical affliction but NOPE sorry God won't and can't do that today! So what is that really? Isn't that really claiming that MEN are more merciful than God himself! You go and try to help people to get well and you don't think twice about it. You do so for you know it's a good thing to do! So God isn't as good as us?

In this time of covid I fear religious people will have to be accountable for what they didn't tell the people of this generation....that the Lord wants, longs and is more than eager to bring healing today. People either say that Jesus, God cannot bring healing in this sabbath type of age today even though their mercy would allow them to do so or they say if it's the will of God they'll be healed although they'll go right away to a doctor to get his mercy. They KNOW what they need. Mercy. In their way of thinking the Great Physician God might not do it. The human doctor not God, always has the mercy willing to help. Does this seem right?

Thoughts? Opinions?

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If it is God's desire to heal everyone today, then why doesn't he? Every year tens of thousands of people go forward for healing at faith healing services such as those by Benny Hinn. But the vast majority are not healed. Did God not have any mercy for these people? Of the few that are healed most are usually only suffering from minor, unverifiable or psychosomatic illnesses such as back pain or depression. Most people in wheelchairs or suffering from visibly incurable conditions never even manage to reach the stage - they are turned away by his staff. Multitudes leave these events disappointed, disconsolate, and feeling that God has failed them.

Bobber said:

It's because the way and manner they're seeking to get healed.

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So Christians asking God for healing is not the correct way to obtain it?

What is the correct way to obtain healing?

Bobber said:

But God had and has a better way for ALL to be healed through the believing of his gospel (good news) and the hearing of what the covenant says about the subject of healing.

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So if you are a believer you will always be healed, and never need to see a doctor?

And the reason people are not healed is because they are not true believers?

Is that correct?

Bobber said:

He told us not just to ask but to ask in FAITH....not out of FAITH....but in FAITH.

Jm 5:15, Mk 11:23,24, Jm 1: 6

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So, according to you, the reason that the majority of Christians are not healed of their afflictions after prayer is because they did not have sufficient faith, and God does not show any mercy to such people.

The reason God did not heal the devout Christian man at our church, who exhibited all the fruit of the spirit, who regularly preached the gospel from the pulpit, but who died of cancer in his 50's despite months of prayer, is because he did not enough faith. When his grieving family ask me why he wasn't healed, I have to say it was because God punished him for not mustering up enough faith. It was all his own fault.

And the reason why God did not heal millions of other faithful Christians who died after suffering a long illness, despite intense prayer, is because they similarly did not have enough faith.

What an incredibly cruel God you have!

Bobber said:

I actually believe most Christians have great faith, more than they think they have. So did Jesus when they came to him saying Lord increase our faith. They were going down the wrong road of how to even think about faith. He appealed to their way of thinking for a moment and said, "If you had faith (small as you say you have for you're claiming you need it increased) if you have even faith as a grain of mustard seed (something small) you would say to the mulberry tree or the mountain be thou removed and be cast into the sea and it would obey you. Lk 17:6/ Mk 11:23 Your problem he said isn't needing MORE faith but understanding how to release the faith you've got.

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Ok so according to you, the reason millions of prayers for healing are not answered is because they did not "release their faith" (whatever that is)? It is still their own fault that God did heal them. You still have a cruel unmerciful God who is punishing them for not following some magic formula.

You haven't said what 'releasing your faith' is. I know 'Releasing your faith' is a phrase often used by 'Word of Faith' false teachers such as Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, etc, so I'm guessing you are a proponent of the 'name it and claim it' doctrine?

Luke 17:6 does not say 'If you release your faith', it says "If you have faith....". And, as you rightly say, most Christians have faith as small as a mustard seed. So the reason their prayers for healing are not granted is not because of their faith.

Bobber said:

Again the measure isn't primarily important. Knowing how to release one's faith to receive is. Keep in mind he did say it's the prayer of faith which get's results. Not begging and pleading but the prayer of faith. God might listen to a pleading cry outside of the prayer of faith but depends on how much light and revelation he's sought to give one. If they keep rejecting there is a method to faith James said, NOT I but James let him not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord. Jm1:7 So isn't God a merciful God? Yes he is but he does insist certain things be done a certain way.

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But the prayer of faith in James 1 is begging and pleading. "But WHEN YOU ASK, you must believe and not doubt". This is not a "name it and claim it" prayer.

Bobber said:

When it comes to actual individuals that's not my business to say why one wasn't healed. There are reasons though and we're called TO TEACH THEM. Paul the Apostle did as well. He asked why are many....MANY weak and sickly among you. 1 Cor 11:30 ...and he went on to explain why. Each one is to do their own personal inventory are you missing it here are you missing it there. That's why Paul told them to make sure they're keeping themselves in check.

Nope you say I can't say. Not your business to get into particulars about an individual case. You are however called to teach the body of Christ the principles he's laid out in the Bible about the subject. If you don't believe at least that do you not believe you are to teach what Paul stated in general way as to why some are weakly and sick among you? Are we to take that out of our teaching package because someone might say are you saying I'm guilty of that? There are others things taught in the scriptures' beside just 1 Cor 11:30 as well. Yes it takes courage to teach them for people gravitate to make critical statements that one is being unlovely but we must provide the full scope of what God says about it if we truly love each other.

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There are indeed many reasons why prayers for healing are not answered. Sinning against the body and blood of the Lord is one of them (1 Cor 11:30). Another is....

1 John 5:14 "If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.".

Our prayers for healing are not always answered because it is not always God's will for people to be healed. Nowhere does it say it is God's will for Christians to be continually healthy. The fact that we fall sick in the 1st place is proof of that. Sometimes it is God's will for us to suffer....

• He may be testing us, just as he tested Job by allowing terrible afflictions to come upon him.
  
  
• It may be to produce perseverance...
  
  Rom 5:3 "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;"
  .
• He may be refining us like silver or gold in refined by fire...
  
  1 Peter 1:6-7 "you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
  
  Isaiah 48:10 "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."
  .
• It may be to cause us to rely more on God. The same reason that God refused to heal Paul of his 'thorn in the flesh'...
  
  2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Whatever the reason God chooses not to heal, he does so for our benefit. Rom 8:28 "All things work together for good for those who love God"

The prayer of faith then is not some magic formula. It is simply praying with the belief that God will answer our prayers according to our best interests. It is praying in the same manner that Jesus prayed - "yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42

Bobber said:

The answer now and its seems you're expressing it is don't ever, ever suggest any one can teach or understand why some aren't healed. Obviously Paul didn't agree with that, 1 Cor 11:30, neither did Jesus Mt 9:29 neither did James. Jm 1:7

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Eh? I've already provided several biblical reasons why people are not healed. I can't see anywhere that says people are not healed because they are not 'releasing their faith'.

Bobber said:

God is a good, kind, and gracious God but he does have a way of doing things. He told Noah to build and ark but he didn't tell him to do it in any way he saw fit but insisted he build it according to instruction. So would you say about that well then God was an unmerciful God by insisting things be done by the formula of Gen 6:15? God tells us to build a prayer life too and doesn't want us to build it just any way...he wants us to pray to get results the way he told us to do it.

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So what is the way God tells us pray that will ensure it will always be answered? All you've said is that it must be by "releasing our faith", but you haven't explained from scripture exactly what this is.

Bobber said:

You might find Mark 11:24 good to study. Now James says we're to ask in faith, in faith and Mr 11:24 gives us a good indication what that means.....and he says the one who doesn't do so let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord. He starts off by talking about wisdom in James 1 but ended off talking about ANYTHING. Sorry but that would include healing.

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Mark 11:24 says "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours". The 'whatever' here is not anything you particularly desire, such as a desire for healing. There are qualifications for prayers to be answered. We know this because in the very next verse Jesus gives one of them..."And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” A prayer for forgiveness is not going to be answered if you are not forgiving others.

There are many other qualifications. Another one is that God will only answer prayers that are according to his will (1 John 5:14) and I've already provided 4 biblical reasons why healing may not be according to God's will. Another is that we are not asking God to satisfy our selfish desires (James 4:3).

Bobber said:

And it wasn't a magic formula when God insisted Noah to build the ark a certain way. And it wasn't such either when God told Israel EXACTLY how to build the tabernacle. We build the way God says to build if we want it to work. And it wasn't I who said the one who doesn't do this let him not think he'll receive anything from the Lord. It wasn't I, it wasn't I, it wasn't I. (at least see that) And it wasn't some Word of Faith preacher....It was James an Apostle of the Lord. It wouldn't be wise to yield to what he says?

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Jm 1:7

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To "ask in faith" in James 1 is to ask with full confidence in God. We are to fully trust that he knows what is best for our lives. It does not mean that if we think positively enough and believe it will happen then he will grant whatever we ask for, as if God is some kind of a genie.

Bobber said:

I think you'd find it of benefit to adjust how you might be thinking about Rom 8:28. The following provides many good things you might consider.

Rethinking Romans 8:28 (It Doesn't Mean What You Were Taught It Means) - Benjamin L. Corey (benjaminlcorey.com)

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So says some oddbod on his website. I prefer commentaries by professional bible scholars....

Romans by C. E. B. Cranfield
Emeritus Professor of Theology, University of Durham

Paul’s meaning is that all things, even those which seem most adverse and hurtful, such as persecution and death itself, are profitable to those who truly love God. But not every sort of profit is meant. So the expression has to be made more precise. Hence the addition of `for their true good’. Paul does not mean that all things serve the comfort or convenience or worldly interests of believers: it is obvious that they do not. What he means is that they assist our salvation.

We understand the first part of the verse, then, to mean that nothing can really harm - that is, harm in the deepest sense of the word - those who really love God, but that all things which may happen to them, including such grievous things as are mentioned in v.35, must serve to help them on their way to salvation, confirming their faith and drawing them closer to their Master, Jesus Christ. But the reason why all things thus assist believers is, of course, that God is in control of all things. The faith expressed here is faith not in things but in God. Why then, it may be asked, does Paul make `all things’, and not `God’, the subject of his sentence? It is, we suggest, because he wants to draw attention to the transcendent power of Him who helps us. His power, His authority, is such that all things, even the actions of those who are disobedient and set themselves against Him, must subserve His will. To say that all things assist believers is thus - in a biblical context - a heightening of the statement that God assists them; for it is to assert not only that He assists them, but also that His help is completely effective.


The Epistle to the Romans by John Murray
Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary

But it is unnecessary and perhaps arbitrary to depart from the more natural sense, namely, that in the benign and all-embracing plan of God the discrete elements all work together for good to them that love God. It is not to be supposed that they have any virtue or efficacy in themselves to work in concert for this end. Though not expressed, the ruling thought is that in the sovereign love and wisdom of God they are all made to converge upon and contribute to that goal. Many of the things comprised are evil in themselves and it is the marvel of God’s wisdom and grace that they, when taken in concert with the whole, are made to work for good. Not one detail works ultimately for evil to the people of God; in the end only good will be their lot.


Romans by Thomas R. Schreiner
Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Despite the possibility that God is the subject, it is even more likely that ʌάντα serves as the subject.[1] This is the most natural way of reading the text as it stands, and elsewhere in Paul ʌάντα serves as the subject of verbs (e.g., 1 Cor. 3:21; 6:12; 8:6; 10:23; 16:14; 2 Cor. 4:15; Col. 1:16). These verbs are either stative or passive, but ʌάντα is found as the subject of an active verb in Matt. 23:36, and the parallel in Col. 1:17 is striking, for ʌάντα is the subject of σȣνέστηκεν (synestēken, stand together). Whether the subject is “God” or “all things” is not a matter of vital importance, for in either case the idea is that all things work together for good because of God’s agency

In saying that all things work together for good ʌάντα focuses especially on sufferings and tribulations, but the all encompassing character of the term should not be ignored. What is remarkable, though, is that even suffering and tribulation turn out for the good of the Christian.[2] The idea expressed here cannot be compared to Stoicism or to a Pollyannaish view of life. The former is excluded by Paul’s creational theology, which posits God as the Lord, creator, and personal governor of the world. The latter is a misunderstanding of the text, for the text does not say all things are intrinsically good or pleasant, but instead that the most agonizing sufferings and evils inflicted on believers will be turned to their good by God. It is correct, then, to say that ἀγαθόν (agathon, good) is eschatological since the “good” will be evident and fully realized only at the end time.[3] Yet by virtue of this promise believers know “now” that everything conspires to their good, and this knowledge fortifies them with courage in facing any situation.


The Epistle to the Romans by Douglas Moo
Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College

This leaves, then, what may be the most straightforward reading of the clause: "all things work together for good" (KJV, NIV margin). If, however, we adopt this translation, it is important to insist that "all things" do not tend toward good in and of themselves, as if Paul held to a "naively optimistic" interpretation of history (Dodd's objection to this rendering). Rather, it is the sovereign guidance of God that is presumed as the undergirding and directing force behind all the events of life. This being so, it does not finally matter all that much whether we translate "all things work together for good" or "God is working in and through all things for good."

A second difficulty in the verse is the scope of "all things." We would expect that Paul has particularly in mind the "sufferings of the present time" (v. 18; cf. vv. 35-37), but the scope should probably not be restricted. Anything that is a part of this life — even our sins — can, by God's grace, contribute toward "good." A third issue is the precise meaning of the main verb. Should we render, with most English translations, "works together" or simply "work," in the sense of "help, assist"? If we adopt the former, then Paul might think of all things "working with" the believer" for good, or of all things "working together, with one another" (interacting and converging together) for good, or of God "working with" the believer in all things to produce good. However, we think the second, simpler, translation to be preferable: all things work for good on behalf of believers. In any case, the uncertainty about the word should make us cautious about concluding that it is only in the interaction of "all things" that good comes.

...God may well use trials in these areas to produce what he considers a much higher "good": a stronger faith, a more certain hope (cf. 5:3-4). But the promise to us is that there is nothing in this world that is not intended by God to assist us on our earthly pilgrimage and to bring us safely and certainly to the glorious destination of that pilgrimage.