Last week, I posted something on Gracyn DenBestin. I spoke of the power of God to heal, and Gracyn’s life is a testimony to that. 

God’s power to heal is not limited to the physical. In fact, his power to heal the physical pales in comparison with his power to heal the spiritual. Since these bodies are temporary and our souls are eternal, how much greater is the work that heals the sickness of our souls? 

John Piper recently delivered a message titled, Healing for the Sake of Holiness. I recommend it to you. There are some excellent principles found within. Specifically, there are two principles which I want to show here. 

Jesus Heals to Make us Holy
The first is that Jesus heals to make us holy. In the fifth chapter of John, Jesus heals a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. We must take notice of Jesus’ motive behind healing this man. “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you” (John 5:14). The ultimate reason that Jesus heals the man is not for his physical health, it’s for his spiritual health. Piper puts it this way:

The issue is holiness mainly, not health. “I have healed you to make you holy.”

Do you see this? “Sin no more. Stop sinning. My aim in healing your body is the healing of your soul. I have given you a gift. It’s free. It came first, before my command. You didn’t earn it. You weren’t good enough for it. I chose you freely. And I healed you. Now, live in this power. Let the gift of healing, the gift of my free grace, be a means to your holiness.”

And yes, he warns him that, if he turns away, and mocks this gift, or makes an idol out of his health, and embraces sin as his way of life, he will perish. I take that—final judgment—to be the “worse thing” (in verse 14) that will happen because there aren’t many natural things worse than the 38 years this man endured, and because in verses 28-29, Jesus says, “An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

In other words: “I have healed you that you may be holy, that you may stop doing evil, and that you may not rise to the resurrection of judgment, but to the resurrection of life. I have pointed you to myself as a life-giver. I heal in more ways than one. Don’t turn from me to a life of sin.”

Gracyn DenBestin received a new heart nearly five months after she realized her old heart would not last. Praise God for it! But don’t stop there. See the gospel in it. I received a new heart after fifteen years of living with a heart of stone. I was dead for the first fifteen years of my life before God awakened faith in me. I was a hell-bound hater of God. And while I was a hater of God, he saved me. After fifteen years of ‘astonishing the heavens’ by drinking from broken wells that hold no water, God opened my eyes to see and drink from the gushing Fountain of living water. O that we would see the healing that has occurred in our souls, and rejoice with Gracyn that “Nothing is Impossible” with God! We can come and “buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Sinners,we can enjoy fellowship with the perfect God! Do not wait to come to God until you have cleaned up your life. If you wait until everything is straightened up in your life, you’ll never come! He meets us right where we are, as paralytics unable to heal ourselves. 

Healing is the Exception, Not the Rule (for now)
Secondly, it is also important to see that although God has the power to, he does not always heal our physical ailments. To quote Piper, healing is the exception, not the rule. In John 5, we see Jesus heal one man among a multitude of invalids. 

Most people who suffer from disabilities in this life will have them to the day they die. And all of us, till Jesus comes again, will die of something. Here and there, some are healed. We believe in miracles. But even though Jesus had all the power to heal, he did not usher in the final day of perfect wholeness. His ministry points to that day. But while this age of groaning lasts (Romans 8:23), healing is the exception, not the rule. And that is not because we are weak in faith. – John Piper

God heals. He healed Curt Heffelfinger’s head and neck cancer. But physical healing does not always occur here on earth. But there is a day in which all sickness, disease, and disability will be fully healed for all of God’s children. I think of Scott Alexander. His physical illness did not lead to death because of the wellness of his soul. Scott is in the care of Jesus, dancing on two tumor-free legs! Scott’s 8-year battle with lymphoma is followed by his everlasting perfect health, paid for by the love of Christ on the cross.