Healing is in God’s Character and Nature

Jesus said “if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

Jesus also said “I always do things that please the Father.” (John 8:29)

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the exact representation of the Father (Hebrews 1:3)

Jesus came to reveal the Father to us…to make Him known to us…to show us what He is like.  Based on the three passages above (along with many others), I believe that we can look at the life of Jesus to learn some things about the character and nature of God, and get to know Him better.  We can learn how God the Father feels about different subjects.  We can see what it looks like for the Father’s will to be demonstrated and obeyed perfectly on the earth.

Those are some general statements, and now I would like to be more specific. Let us view the actions and attitudes of Jesus during His time on earth in a physical body to get a view of how God our Father feels about sickness, disease, and other physical ailments.

Acts 10:38 – God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Matthew 8:2-3 – And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Matthew 8:5-6 – Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

Luke 9:10-11 – And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done.  Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.  But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.

Matthew 14:14 – And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.

Luke 4:40 – When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.

Matthew 4:24 – And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

For many more examples just like these, you can read through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, looking for instances where people approached Jesus that needed to be healed.  You won’t find any cases of a person coming to Him in need of healing, and going away without being healed.

But don’t just take my word for it.  Read it and study it yourself.  See what you find.  When I read about Jesus in the bible, I see him having compassion on sick people, and ministering healing to them.  Healing was a large part of what He did, and it was always included in the instructions whenever He sent out people to represent Him.

In John 5:19, He says this: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”

Jesus was doing what His Father showed Him to do.  All of these times that Jesus was healing people, it was the will of God the Father being acted out by God the Son…Jesus.  It was God’s will to heal people.  If we go by the accounts provided to us in the four Gospels, it looks like it is ALWAYS God’s will to heal people, because that’s what we see Jesus doing.

Are there exceptions to this?  Are there times where God’s will is for the person to remain in their sickness?  Read the Gospels and find out for yourself.

(NOTE: If you are thinking about Paul’s thorn right now as an exception, it isn’t.  Click here to read about it.)

There is only one place that I’m aware of the Gospels where people didn’t get healed by Jesus.  But in the story it wasn’t because he wasn’t willing to do it, it was because the people wanted nothing to do with him, and so they wouldn’t allow him to minister to them.

Mark 6:5-6 – Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

Notice that is says he “could” do no mighty works there.  It doesn’t say that he “would” do no mighty works.  The implication is that He was willing, but the people were not interested because of their unbelief.  If you read the surrounding verses for context, you will see that they were offended at Him, and basically wanted nothing to do with Him.  In spite of all this, He still healed a “few sick people.” He can still heal people even when there is unbelief around. Just come to Him.

(A note on the word “unbelief” in this passage: This is not the Greek word for doubt, or for little faith.  It means “faith in reverse” or “believe against.”  These were not Christians who were struggling with doubt.  These were people who “believed against” Jesus and wanted Him to go away.  In spite of this, He still healed some of them.)

So, if we look at Jesus as an accurate representation of the character and nature of God the Father, then we have to conclude that healing is a big part of it.  Healing is part of God’s character and nature.  It is a part of who He is.  He is a healer.