[Faith-talk] Sickness and Disability by Pastor Robert Rathbun

[Paul Smith]

Hello and greetings once again for the second time today for most of 
you.  I hope that your day is going well, by God's matchless grace and 
His providential care.

The following article was written some years ago by Pastor Robert 
Rathbun who conducts two online Bible studies every Tuesday on the Out 
of Sight web location.  This is the first of two parts, and I'm 
presenting them in the way they were originally written.  It may prove 
controversial for some of you, but my advice is to have a Bible in your 
format and version of choice as you read or listen to him and, based on 
what you read in both areas, Pastor Rathbun's article and your Bible, 
make up your own mind whether he is right on or way off base.  Let me 
add here that I have no ax to grind, but merely will present the 
information in such a way that hopefully you will grow deeper in the 
Word.  Fortunately Pastor Rathbun who turned 80 this year is still 
alive and well.  And now here is Part One of "Sickness and Disability."

One of the areas of life that many people greatly fear is sickness.  
Oh, how we hate to get sick, and, oh, how we fear serious illness or 
bodily impairment.  I myself am physically blind, and I have had people 
tell me how terrible blindness must be and that they simply wouldn't be 
able to go on if they lost their sight.  Well, let me tell you, there 
are a lot worse physical impairments a person can have than blindness.  
Not that blindness is a bed of roses, but neither is it a burying ground.

In Old Testament times, when God was especially dealing with the nation 
of Israel, sickness was one of the punishments for disobedience and 
good health was one of the rewards for obedience.  "And (God) said, if 
thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt 
do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His 
commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these 
diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians:  for I am 
the Lord that healeth thee" (Exodus 15:26).

However, there was also the other side of the coin:  "If thou wilt not 
observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, 
that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful Name, THE LORD THY GOD, 
then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful (so severe that it will 
cause wonder or amazement), and the plagues of thy seed, even great 
plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long 
continuance.  Morover, He will bring upon thee all the diseases of 
Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; for they shall cleave unto thee.  
Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book 
of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be 
destroyed" (Deuteronomy 28:58-61).

Aren't you glad that you live in the age of grace and not under the 
dispensation of law?

The Jews were not obedient to God's law, and, thus, all kinds of 
physical sufferings resulted.  In 2 Kings 1:2, we read of an accident 
which befell the king of Israel: "And Ahaziah fell down through a 
lattice (window) in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was 
sick:  and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of 
Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease."

We also read of one of the kings of Judah suffering disease:  "And Asa 
in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, 
until his disease was exceeding great:  yet in his disease he sought 
not unto the Lord, but to the physicians" (2 Chronicles 16:12).  This 
passage is often used to show that physicians are not in the will of 
God and that Christians should steer clear of them.  But as I read this 
Scripture verse, it is not an indictment against doctors, but against 
Asa, because he sought help from doctors, but did not seek the Lord's 
help.  The doctor may be the means God uses of healing a person, but 
the sick person should always first go to the Lord and commit himself 
and his situation unto the Lord.

It's strange how sicknesses and disabilities seem to attract the 
religious quacks and the well-intentioned.  Doubtless, the "quacks" 
find these people a ready prey, willing to try most anything to regain 
their health.  The well-intentioned and zealous find these people 
suitable subjects for their belief in faith healing, and they wish to 
do them good.

There is a doctrine taught in some churches today that physical healing 
is in the atonement and is for the church age, and, therefore, a 
Christian does not have to remain sick or impaired.  They base this 
teaching on the great 53rd chapter of Isaiah, which speaks so clearly 
of the Messiah.  The fourth verse of this chapter says, "Surely He hath 
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrow:  yet we did esteem Him 
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted."

In the New Testament, we read several passages similar to the 
following:  "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their 
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all 
manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people.  And 
His fame went throughout all Syria:  and they brought unto Him all sick 
people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those 
which were possessed with devils (demons), and those which were 
lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them" (Matthew 4:23-24).

Now note the teaching in Matthew 8:16-17:  "When the even was come, 
they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils (demons):  
and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were 
sick:  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaiah the 
prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our 
sicknesses." Note then that the healing of the multitudes was spoken of 
as fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 53:4, and note also that this 
occurred prior to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.  Physical 
healing, then, is not in the atonement, for the prophecy was fulfilled 
prior to the atonement.  Jesus' healing ministry will also occur 
throughout the millennium in a similar way to what was practiced during 
His first advent.

To find the significance of such healings, then, we must read from Luke 
4:16-21:  "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up:  and, 
as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and 
stood up for to read.  And there was delivered unto Him the book of the 
prophet Esaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place 
where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He 
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to 
heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and 
recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are 
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  And He closed the 
book and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down.  And the eyes 
of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him.  And He 
began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your 
ears." Jesus was saying here that, according to Isaiah, the Messiah was 
to preach the gospel and to heal folk, and Jesus said that they had 
lived to see the fulfillment of this prophecy, for He had done these things.

This same evidence of His Messiahship was offered to John the Baptist 
while he was in prison:  "Now when John had heard in the prison the 
works of Christ, He sent two of his disciples, and said unto Him, Art 
thou He that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and 
said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear 
and see:  The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers 
are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor 
have the gospel preached unto them.  And blessed is he whosoever shall 
not be offended in me" (Matthew 11:2-6).  You see, the physical 
healings which Jesus did were His messianic credentials to the Jews, 
that He indeed was their long-awaited Messiah.  These credentials were 
shown publicly prior to His crucifixion, and they offered convincing 
proof that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah of Israel.

And there you have the first part of this two-part series on sickness 
and disability as expounded by Pastor Rathbun.  I'll find out if he 
would accept emails from you good people on this article and, if he 
will, I'll give you his email address, if you are so inclined to send 
him a message of inquiry or further explanation of a particular point.

And that will do for today.  Until tomorrow when, Lord willing the 
second part of this article will be posted or until hopefully your 
presence will be seen in the Cjoy virtual studio or listening online, 
may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually 
and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian 
friend and brother, Paul