No matter how much “faith” a person believes they possess, or how much and how often they “name and claim” healing, there is one disease that has absolutely NO cure in this life – DEATH! It is a brutal enemy of all humanity. It is ugly. It smells. It hurts. It tears at the heart like a ravenous beast. It has no remorse, no regrets, and no mercy. It is the final hurrah for the devil – his greatest victory against God’s most magnificent creation - and it was never intended for human beings.
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor 15:26-27 NIV)
I was by the side of my wife during the final days and moments of her life. Watching her die was far beyond words to describe the anguish I experienced - and it was absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done. I will NEVER get over it.
Her life was plagued by chronic illness and debilitating pain that ended only a couple of hours before she took her last breath. I have diligently tried to understand and reconcile the love of God in contrast to her suffering over the years. I have found NO legitimate answers. I have been consoled by others - who I am sure were well-intentioned - but they could offer only hollow spiritual platitudes – which I think were said more out of their fear of facing the very issues I have had to confront for decades rather than from a deeply personal and experientially emotional understanding.
My wife lived to share the love of God with others. Throughout her life, she prayed with many to receive the gift of salvation – and she continued up to her final days. I was sort of hoping that she would pass over at 3:16 pm as a kind of prophetic soul winning climax to her life. However, it was precisely at 4:44 pm, February 24 she finally graduated from this world into the next. February 24 that year was the day of Purim on the Jewish calendar, which is a joyous celebration of deliverance from destruction. The number 4 in the Bible represents the earth. It is where we came from, where we live, and where we return when we die.
“By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return." (Gen 3:19 NLT)
I did a lot of contemplation in those final days and hours spent with her. I wish I could say that her death had the glow of glory shinning in the room as the sound of Angels singing could be heard in the background while doves flew in to carry her away to her heavenly home. That was truly not the case - it was quite to the contrary.
In the midst of all this agony, gut-wrenching grief and despair that rolled over me like a Tsunami, I found myself being forced to confront another one of the many paradoxical mysteries of Christianity.
As I watched the pain and suffering this world offers brutally inflict itself upon the one whom I loved explicitly for more than three decades, I simultaneously experienced Love Himself – holding, comforting - and as He has always done - filling me with the wondrous peaceful beauty of His limitless love that is beyond human comprehension and understanding.
I am continuously - and forever - amazed by Jesus, and even now, after all this pain, I am more desperately in love with Him. I will forever be fascinated with His beauty. I don’t know what the future holds for me, but I do know that Jesus will hold me in His everlasting arms of love and I have nothing to worry about and absolutely NOTHING to fear.
“This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Tim 1:9-11 NIV)
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jer 29:11-12 NIV)
The Author of Death
God had nothing to do with the suffering and pain my wife endured throughout her life. Nor is He the author of death. It was not God’s will – nor was it ever His intention for any human to suffer the pain of death. The Father is a good God.
Death comes when the body ceases to function - the heart stops, and life ends. All organic life ultimately dies. Yet, death is not the cessation of existence (See Dan 12:2-3, John 5:24-30, Phil 1:21-24, Rev 20:11-15).
Physical and spiritual death was first mentioned in the book of Genesis (2:17) and was a result of the fall of Adam and Eve as sin entered the world and into the DNA of humankind (See Rom 5:12-21). Death has its roots in the spiritual reality of human sinfulness and rebellion against God.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, death came. Adam’s sin opened the way for the curse, which opened the door to sickness, disease, war, famine, death, and poverty.
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” (Rom 5:12-13 NIV)
God told Adam that because he disobeyed Him, and ate from the tree from which He commanded him not to eat, the very ground he walked upon would be cursed. God then gave over to mankind the full management rights to Earth. All mankind would have to now “eat of it” through “painful toil” the rest of their lives because of his sinful disobedience. The Earth from that day forth would:
“produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Gen 3:17-19 NIV)
Sin is the reason people have to work their fingers to the bone to get through this world. The sweat on the brow from trying to make ends meet is a part of the suffering due to sin. The words "thorns and thistles" in the Scripture verse above have a broad meaning in Hebrew and represent both natural evil and suffering in general.
This natural evil includes floods, tsunamis, tornadoes, disease, earthquakes, droughts, hurricanes, volcanoes, and so on. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, commonly called “Entropy,” states that in all energy exchanges if no energy enters or leaves the system, the potential energy of the state will always be less than that of the initial state. It is why things deteriorate, and the body breaks down as it ages. People go bald, hair turns gray, glasses are needed to see, skin wrinkles, bones get brittle, teeth decay, and organs ultimately fail.
Everything dies because cells stop dividing and organs stop working, which 'impairs normal functioning' - that is the definition of disease. No matter how much 'faith' a person conjures up, they can't escape it. Natural death can't be cured. In other words, things wear out because of decay, which is ultimately the result of sin entering the world!
A person puts on spiritual immortality when they become Born-Again. Death is the ultimate sickness. However, the mortality of this life that ends in death is swallowed up by eternal life when a person dies in Christ (1 Cor 15:53-55).
The sin nature of man is not born-again when a person receives Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior through repentant humility. Everyone on this planet sins before God. The Born-Again Christian is a ‘saved’ sinner, but still a sinner, none-the-less. That can be seen in the Apostle Paul's statement about the battle of the flesh:
"So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (Rom 7:21-25 ESV)
The author of death, who Jesus said was a “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44 NIV), is the devil - satan himself, who comes ONLY “to steal, kill and destroy.” (John 10:10a NIV)
The Bible says that when Jesus walked the earth, He healed all those who were under the power of the enemy (See Acts 10:38). The devil has NO authority over a Born-Again Christian to oppress them. In the Greek language, the word oppressed means to “exercise dominion (rule/authority) against.”
Sickness is part of the devil's kingdom. Through the shed blood of Jesus, every Born-Again Christian has already been “rescued”…“from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13-14 NIV).
The heavenly Father does not “put” or “allow” suffering in a person’s life to punish them, or teach a lesson, or test their faith - nor does He guarantee deliverance from the suffering of this world. Suffering is inevitable while living on this planet.
Job questioned God about this when he asked, "Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” (Job 21:7 NIV). Job shows later on that he acquired a greater understanding of God’s mercy in suffering when he wrote,
"But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.” (Job 36:15 NIV)
A great deal of suffering that people experience is actually brought upon by their own actions. The adversary and his minions cannot indwell the spirit, mind, and body of a Christian, but they can motivate them by whispering in their ear. No one can really say, "The devil made me do it," but rather, “I allowed the devil to persuade me to do it."
The mind is the devil’s playground. It is there that he can talk a person into doing something they should not do, and it is there that he can talk them into not forgiving their self, as well as others. Poor choices and sin cause more suffering in this world than anything else. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions, so they find someone else to blame. The result is that people tend to look to either God or satan to blame, when, in fact, it is most often the wrong actions taken on their part, and by their own free choice, that cause the problems.
The Bible teaches that every human being is both a physical and spiritual being and that physical death does not mean the end of a person’s existence but rather a transition to another dimension where the spirit lives forever. EVERY Christian faces the reality of their own physical decline, disease, and ultimate death. There is no getting around it no matter how much “faith” they have.
There is no suggestion in the New Testament that all Christians were always healed of ALL sickness and disease. The biblical truth is that humans have a perishable body that is subject to weaknesses because it is mortal and will need to be replaced by an imperishable body raised in (1 Cor 15:42-43). This is why the Bible states that our tent/body is being destroyed, torn down, decaying (2 Cor 4:16-5:1).
Ultimately they will be totally redeemed from the power of sin when there is a new Heaven, and new Earth and the universe is finally cleansed of the effects and power of sin (See Rev 21:2-4).
When Jesus suffered His horrific scourging, and death on the Cross, He broke the power of sin (See Is 53:4-6, 1 Per 2:24). Christians have been “healed” from the eternal control of sin (See Matt 8:16-17). Jesus conquered physical, spiritual, and eternal death at His resurrection. He “...has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim 1:10 NIV).
"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 15:55-57 NIV)
