Lesson 450 - Junior
Memory Verse
"He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:2).
Notes
In the Beginning
God created Adam and Eve out of the dust of the earth and placed them in the Garden of Eden. They were to be caretakers of that beautiful Garden where all was perfect. Adam and Eve had been made in the likeness of God, never to know sorrow or to feel pain and sickness or death as long as they obeyed God. God came down in the cool of the day and walked and talked with them. How happy they must have been!
Satan set out to upset the peaceful situation in Eden. He entered into a serpent, at that time a most cunning creature, and tempted Eve. She, in turn, tempted Adam, and he yielded to the temptation. It is not the temptation, but the yielding to it, that is sin. This yielding of Adam and Eve brought a terrible change upon the earth and its inhabitants. Adam and Eve lost their sweet fellowship with God; sin became their master, and they were driven from the Garden. Thorns and thistles grew with the vegetation; and man was to suffer pain, sickness, and later physical death because of disobedience.
Satan's Purpose
p>Satan was successful in his evil plan. He used lies in that first temptation, and he has used lies all through the years as one of his tactics to trip up those who serve God. We are thankful that not everyone falls for his lies.
Job was another whom Satan had purposed to cause to fall. God said that Job was a perfect and upright man. Satan told God that Job loved and served Him only because of the possessions that God had permitted him to have. Later Satan lied again and said that Job served God because of good health. God knew Job's heart, and Satan was allowed to take away Job's riches and his children. Later he also was permitted to afflict Job's body with boils from his head to the soles of his feet.
Job, too, had a purpose. It was to serve God with all his heart because He loved Him. He could say: "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD," [JOB:1:21]); and again, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" [JOB:13:15]).
Like Job, those who love God can be true "because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" ([1JN:4:4]). God also gives us these comforting words, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" [1CO:10:13]).
Afflicted by Satan
It was Satan who afflicted Job with those terrible boils. The Word also tells us of a child who was brought to the disciples for healing. "The devil threw him down, and tare him." As Jesus came and rebuked the unclean spirit the child was healed.
Jesus healed a woman, saying, "Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond?" Satan can afflict ever so severely, but Jesus can break all his power. "The Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" ([1JN:3:8]).
Hospitals are full, and many are sick in their homes, all because of Satan and his deadly workings. If you are afflicted you know who it is that has afflicted you. Ask Jesus to heal you.
Death and Judgment
After the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden, God plainly said, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" [HEB:9:27]). Only two men who have lived have gone to Heaven without having to die. Enoch walked with God and "was not," for God took him because he pleased God. Elijah was caught up into Heaven in a chariot as Elisha looked on, and received Elijah's mantle as it fell.
God's Remedy
God in His justice punished Adam and Eve for their sins. Judgment and punishment hang over the heads of all sinners. But "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" [JHN:3:16]). When one is unsaved, he needs the Blood of Jesus to wash his sins away, that he might become a child of God. Think how much God loved humanity that He would make a way for them to come back to sweet fellowship with Him!
We also see in God's Word that He has provided healing for our bodies. Jesus wants to be our Father, our Redeemer, our Great Physician, and our Guide.
God made coverings for Adam and Eve from the skins of animals that had been slain. That was the first time that blood was shed for a covering needed because of sin. It pointed to the time when Jesus was to hang on the cross and shed His Blood for the sins of the world. God knew that nothing man could do would be able to bring him back into favour with his Maker. God also knew of all the disease and suffering that would be upon men, and in His mercy was willing to provide even for man's health.
The Prophet Isaiah gives us some of our most outstanding and easily understood prophecies of Jesus. In [ISA:53:5] we read, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Some who do not wish to trust the Lord for healing try to say that Isaiah meant only a spiritual healing, but in [MAT:8:16-17] we read: "When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."
Afflictions of the Righteous
Some would like to say that Christians are not to suffer sickness. David was a man after God's own heart, and he suffered and could say: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all" [PS:34:19]). Like Job, David was a man who loved to trust God in all things. The Psalmist also said: "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" [PS:119:71]).
Hezekiah, another man of God, was severely sick unto death, but because of his tears and prayers God healed him and added fifteen years to his life.
You may say, "But why does God permit his children to be sick?" In Job's case, he was permitted to be afflicted to prove his loyalty to God. Perhaps if you are afflicted, someone has questioned your loyalty to God, and God is letting it be proved that you love Him, and can trust Him in affliction.
Among the many who have been healed through the Atonement was a young man some years ago who was badly injured at his work. Both legs were broken and his injuries were so serious that the doctors said he would not live. He was almost burning up from fever and his jaws were locked. One night as he consecrated to live for God and tell the story of Jesus, God healed him. It was a miracle, and the doctors and nurses were astonished. He has lived many years and has had perfect use of his legs.
The father of this young man was a medical doctor, but an atheist. He could not believe that God had worked such a miracle for his son until he came and read the case record at the hospital. He became a believer and later was saved because God had permitted the young man's accident and wrought such a mighty healing. Would it not be a privilege to be afflicted if, in being faithful to God, we would be healed and someone would be saved as a result?
Paul said that God sent him a thorn in the flesh "lest I should be exalted above measure." God never makes a mistake. He knows what is best for each of us, and how He can use each child of God for His own glory.
God's Dealings with the Unrighteous
Sin, sickness and suffering have greatly multiplied through the centuries. God warned the people on several occasions that He would send diseases as judgments for their wickedness. Many are suffering today because of a life of sin. Many diseases are incurable by man, God is the only hope.
One day two young boys were riding bicycles, and one was struck by an automobile. As the other knelt beside him he promised God his life if God would spare his injured brother. These boys had been brought up in a Christian home but had neglected to seek the Lord. God in His mercy permitted the accident to happen. The injured boy was healed. Both boys gave their lives to God, both are ministers, and they are thanking God for His mercy. It took the accident to make them realize what it would mean to go into eternity unsaved.
Trusting God in Sickness
If you are saved and suffer sickness, God expects you to trust Him for your healing. He has said, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD" [JER:17:5]). Does not our heart depart from the Lord if we turn away from the healing God has provided for us? There are times when God sees fit to take a child of God Home rather than heal his body. Is it not blessed to leave this world, trusting the Lord fully, to enter into the joy of the Lord? It surely would not pay to lay aside our faith in God and place it in man and then have to go into eternity with the disfavour of God upon our lives.
James included all -- the saved and unsaved alike --when he wrote: "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him" [JAM:5:13-15]).
Questions
1. Where was the first sin committed and who was the tempter?
2. Tell three punishments sent upon Adam and Eve for their sin.
3. How did God make a covering for them in the Garden?
4. How was that first covering a type of Jesus?
5. How did God provide for healing through the death of Jesus?
6. Why does God permit Christians to suffer illness?
7. How can sickness or accident become a blessing to the unsaved?
8. What did God prove by permitting Job to be seriously afflicted?
9. What does God say about those who fail to trust Him in affliction?