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Illness and Death
There is probably no one in the
world who doesn’t experience
illness at some time in their life.
Some will live apparently healthy
lives but still have the occasional
ailments such as coughs and colds.
Others have to live for many years
with crippling disabilities or poor
health. Across the world vast sums
of money are spent providing
medical facilities and massive
amounts of drugs and medicines to
combat disease.
Although modern healthcare is
helping many people in the
western world to live longer or
more comfortable lives, there is the
one certainty that we all face; we all
know that one day we will die.
What ever the standard of healthcare in a country it cannot ultimately prevent death.
But where do these things fit into the teaching of the Bible?
- Chart showing the astonishing increase in human lifespan (nearly a doubling) over the last two centuries in the western world.
- This is largely due to advances in modern medicine and health care.
- It has brought with it huge problems in supporting ageing populations.
- Chart from www.nih.gov
Naaman the Syrian
No one is exempt from Illness and
death. It does not matter whether
we are old or young, rich or poor,
or what our status in life is. We
read in the Bible the account of
Naaman who was a commander of
the army of the king of Syria. He is
described as "a great honourable man in the eyes of his master" and "a mighty man of valour".
He was a leader of the army who had achieved, with God’s
help, a victory for Syria. (See 2 Kings 5.1).
Then we read the simple comment that "he was a leper"’. This
great man faced an ongoing and disfiguring illness that must have
caused him much distress. Despite
his high rank, he was unable to find
any way of relieving his illness until
a servant girl from Israel encouraged
him to visit one of God's
prophets. She was sure that the
Prophet Elisha would be able to
cure him. The rest of the chapter
contains the account of his journey
and his miraculous cure.
King Hezekiah
Later on we read the account of
King Hezekiah, another very
important man, who
In those days ... was sick and near death.
It seems likely that he
was suffering from some sort of
ulcerated sore that may have
become infected. God instructed
the prophet Isaiah to tell Hezekiah
that he would not die but would
live for another fifteen years. Isaiah
told Hezekiah’s carers to
"Take a lump of figs”. So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
God’s hand was clearly at work in these events but we
know that such rudimentary means
of dealing with ailments were
available at that time.
Even God’s prophets could experience poor health.
We read in the book of Daniel:
... I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days; afterwards I arose and went about the king’s business ...
Jesus the healer
In the time of Jesus, illness was a
significant problem but he was able
to help many by healing them. We
read in the gospel record:
Now Jesus went about all Galilee…preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people ... and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them
What a wonderful thing this must
have been for those people who
were cured! Just imagine meeting
someone today who could
genuinely cure any illness or
disease. We would say it was
miraculous and that is just what
Jesus did - he performed miracles
through the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Perhaps this raises a question in
our minds – why does God allow
illness and suffering to exist and
why has He done nothing to
eliminate it? The answer to this
question is found in the book of
Genesis. It concerns events that
happened after the creation of the
world. Many people find it easy to
dismiss the early chapters of
Genesis as mere fables. Closer
study shows that they form the
foundation of God’s plan with the
earth and of the better future that
we can look forward to if we have
faith. However, if we dismiss the
Genesis record, where can we find
a valid explanation of the origin of
illness and death?
The beginning of God's plan
Genesis is a Greek word that
means "origin" or "beginning".
Genesis chapter one tells us that in
the beginning God provided the
ideal conditions for life on this
planet. When His work was
completed we read that
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good
There was nothing in His
creation that would mar His work,
but sadly this was to change.
We are then told how the first man
was created:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being
This is a simple yet significant
account. God took some of the
dust and fashioned it into the first
man. To begin with the man (called
Adam) was alone. God said that he
should have a helper that was
suited to him. God brought all
living creatures to Adam to be
named but none of them was
found suitable as a companion.
Instead, God took a rib from Adam
and from it created a woman (See Genesis 2.18-25).
- Picture of apples Vladimir Meinik/Dreamstime.com
Events in Eden
God put Adam and the woman (Eve) into the garden He had planted, called the Garden of Eden.
In the
middle of the garden were two
particular trees; one called the tree
of life and the other the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. God
gave just one instruction in relation
to these trees. He said:
From every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat the fruit of it you shall surely die
One would have thought this was a
simple enough instruction to
follow and that the warning of
death as a punishment for
disobeying would be an adequate
discouragement. One of the
creatures that God had made was a
serpent, described as being
... more cunning than any beast of the field that God had made.
The cunning serpent thought differently. It had been given the
power of speech and said to Eve:
You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil
Eve was deceived and looking at
the tree, she saw that the fruit was
very enticing. Ignoring God’s
commandment she picked the fruit
and ate it. She also gave some to
Adam and he ate. Having eaten the
fruit something immediately
happened. The record simply says
... the eyes of both of them were opened.
They now had the knowledge of good and evil as the
serpent had said. They also realised
that they were naked and that they
should cover themselves (see Genesis 3.6,7).
God knew exactly what had
happened and said:
Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?
Then follows what might be called the first instance of "passing the buck" in the history of the human race.
Adam blamed Eve for giving
him the fruit. Eve blamed the
serpent for deceiving her. Neither
of them accepted that they were at
fault but in God's eyes they had
sinned against a very specific
command and consequently they
were punished.
Adam's punishment
That punishment from God brought illness and death into the
world. He told Adam:
Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat from it": Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat from it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.
- Picture of thorns from Pacotoscano/Dreamstime.com
Those words "to dust you shall return" meant that Adam would die
and return to the dust of the
ground from which he was created.
That is what happens when
someone dies – the body decays
until eventually nothing but dust is
left. Meanwhile, Adam was to
suffer the "thorns and thistles" – in
other words, the earth would no
longer be as fertile as it had been
when God created it. All man's
efforts would be a struggle for
survival and eventually result in his
death.
Eve’s punishment
Eve was also punished, for God
said to her:
I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you
Eve would have children yet her joy in doing so would be tempered by
the pain that she would suffer
through child-bearing.
- Picture of a very young baby by Kati Molin/Dreamstime.com
- Huge advances in modern pre-natal care have done much to ensure the safety of mother and child, but childbirth remains a painful and even traumatic experience.
It is because of the sin of Adam and Eve in disobeying God’s simple command
that all their descendants became sinners, suffering pain and illness
in life followed by death. Paul explained to the Christians at Rome
that
Just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned
Will illness and death continue for ever?
How dreadful it would be if that
was the end of the story. But
despite the failure of our first
parents to obey Him, God also
provided a way of escape – a way
for us to be reconciled to Him.
You may be surprised to learn that
the way of escape was contained in
some words addressed to the
serpent who was cursed by God
(Genesis 3.14,15). This curse also
contained a promise that one day
sin and death would be defeated
by the saving work of a descendant
of Eve.
The Prophet Isaiah foretold the way
in which God would bring about
this reconciliation through the
work of Jesus:
... he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed
This chapter is a detailed prophecy
of the work of Jesus Christ as the
Saviour. Through his death and
resurrection, there is hope for the
future – of finding true peace and
healing. This healing process
begins with recognition of our
natural state as sinners and belief
in the saving work of Jesus. We can
then become related to God’s
promise of eternal life.
The Prophet Daniel wrote these
words:
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Daniel is saying there will be a resurrection
of the dead and those who are
raised will be judged. Some will
then be given everlasting life while
others will suffer shame and
contempt.
The New Testament has a similar message. The Apostle Paul
confirms that there will be a
resurrection. He could do so
because he was confident that
Jesus Christ rose from the dead
after his crucifixion. Read his
convincing arguments in his first
letter to the Corinthians chapter 15.
Here are some of the apostle’s
words:
But now Christ has risen from the dead, and has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
Paul knew that Jesus had died as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
Those sins had come into the world because of Adam's disobedience. All men and women
are sinners and die because of sin.
By contrast Jesus lived a sinless life
and so was able to offer himself as
an acceptable sacrifice for our sins.
The end of illness and death
As we have seen, the first book of
the Bible (Genesis) tells us how sin,
disease and death came into the
world. The last book of the Bible
tells us about a time when the
earth will be renewed; a time when
the evil and suffering of this world
will cease:
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away
- These children in Rayong, Thailand are victims of the worst epidemic of the modern world, the HIV/AIDS virus.
- They have everything to look forward to when Jesus returns.
- Picture from hiv-aid-kids.org
Although we all suffer the
problems of illness and death, we
can have hope. The Bible shows
that God provided Jesus (his name
means Saviour), so that we can
obtain forgiveness of our sins and
be related to the hope of life. If we
put our faith and trust in Jesus we
can share the same hope that
Daniel had – a hope of resurrection
from the dead and everlasting life
in the kingdom of God on earth.
We each have a choice, as Paul
reminded the Christians at Rome:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What will your choice be?
Author John Hitches
Country Norfolk, UK
Source Light on a New World reprint from Volume XX.YY
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