You can have everything (money, power, beauty, fame, etc.) but if you don’t have health, you don’t have much. Certainly, there are those with chronic health conditions who learn to overcome and make big contributions to society and enjoy their existence; but the loss of health has probably more to do with the loss of both productivity and happiness than anything else. Wouldn’t it be great if there were no such thing as bad health–no infectious, malicious microbes, no breakdowns in our DNA, and no wearing out of our organs?
Jesus demonstrated His dominance over illnesses several times. He cured the blind, the deaf, lepers and the paralyzed. Every vector of illness, He proved He could fix immediately. He used no surgery, no medicines, just the power of His words. The biblical explanation for illness is the existence of the curse. What exactly is the curse? The Bible doesn’t describe exactly how the curse works. The result of the curse is that a creation that worked flawlessly now seems unbalanced (even though it is still complex and amazing) The healing miracles of Jesus are physical demonstrations of a promise regarding Heaven and the New Earth.
No longer will there be any curse. Revelation 22:3
This may seem like a superstitious, impossible dream; but if the creative genius that made all living things in the first place decides to put His original system or even a new system back in place, a system that is not “out of balance”, why should this be hard for Him? Jesus demonstrated the ease with which He could do it.
The curse must run its course. God does not promise anywhere that people with “enough faith” can avoid the effects of the curse today. Freedom from the curse is a future thing. Nor does God command that we not find ways to bring healing through medical means. Direct, miraculous intervention by God to undo the impact of the curse requires more than prayer. It requires a God approved purpose. Often God can use the negative results of the curse, even illness, to accomplish a good purpose. He did so with Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.
Wholeness of health, even to the point of the elimination of physical death is a part of God’s plans for the New Earth. It is definitely something for which to look forward–especially when you are sick.
In Revelation 22, mention is made of the “Tree of Life”. The leaves of the tree are for the “healing of the nations”. What sort of healing could be required in a place without the curse? The Garden of Eden had the Tree of Life as well. Adam and Eve where permitted initially to eat from this tree. There was no curse until they disobeyed God. Something about the tree promoted the eternal sustenance of their bodies even then. While that may remain true in the New Earth, there is no concern about its absence. The phrase “yielding its fruit every month” is something similar to “always in stock”.
Many aspects of Heaven and the New Earth are hard to even imagine. Permanent, flawless health is something we can grasp and hold on to.
afterdeathsite 