2. The Old Testament

The beginning (Genesis) and the end of Scripture (Revelation) reveal God’s perfect will. Sickness, disease, and death do not exist in the absence of sin, Satan, and the curse.

Even after the Fall, God’s love for mankind has always been evident. And it has always been His will that His people walk in His love and blessings, including health.

Exodus 15:26

… For I am the Lord who heals you.”

Exodus 23:25-26

“So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfil the number of your days.

As New Covenant believers, we live under the grace of God and not under the law (Galatians 3:13; Romans 6:14; Hebrews 8:13). Although the Mosaic Law may at times appear severe or even harsh, it served a vital role in God’s redemptive plan by exposing sin and revealing humanity’s need for a Saviour.

Yet even within the apparent severity of the Law, God’s true heart and nature were consistently being revealed. From the beginning, He desired His people to live in His provision, protection, and blessing, and not in death or destruction. This is clearly seen in His words to Israel, where He urged them to “choose life”.

Deuteronomy 30:19

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Deuteronomy 28:15-68 lists curses for disobedience to the Law. All sickness is included.

Deuteronomy 28: 21-22, 27-29, 34-35, 59-61

The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.

…

The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumours, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; …

…

So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

…

then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed.

Deuteronomy 7:12-15 and Deuteronomy 28:1-14 list blessings for obedience to the Law. Health is included.

Deuteronomy 7:13-15

And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb … You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you … And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, …

Deuteronomy 28:3-4, 6, 8-9, 11

“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

“Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, …

…

“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

…

… and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, … And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, …

Important Point: Notice how sickness is listed as a curse, and health as a blessing. God clearly regards sickness as bad and health as good.

Under the Old Covenant, there were times when God struck people with sickness, but it was never done as a blessing. Sickness was always a curse or judgement.

Galatians 3:13-14 reveals that under the New Covenant, Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the Law and born-again believers live in the blessing of Abraham.

Our Father in Heaven delights in us receiving and living in good things, which includes healing, health, and wholeness.

Matthew 7:7-11

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

After the Cross, we who are children of God have been justified and made righteous through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:7). We now live under grace and not under judgement (John 1:16-17; Romans 5:1-2). As a result, any sickness or infirmity that comes against a believer does not come from God, but is rather a result of the fallen nature of this world or a direct attack from the enemy (John 10:10; Acts 10:38; 1 Peter 5:8).