What the book of Genesis has to say about Divine healing

By John Chopores

 

Genesis 1:26-31

            ²⁶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. ²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

            ²⁹ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

            ³¹ And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (KJV)

Genesis 2:17 ¹⁷ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (KJV)

 

Vs 26.  You will notice, that God made man in His own image, and God is not sick! So, it was not until the “fall” that sin, sickness, and death came into the world!!

For in Gen. 2:17, God told them that, “in the day” that they eat of the tree, they would die! Not before that day.
            I believe that part of the “knowledge” that them got after eating of the tree, was the “knowledge” of sickness and death!!! And they lost the “knowledge”of life! cf. Hosea 4:6

⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (KJV)

            One of the ways that Satan uses to get people into  slavery to him is sickness and death. Cf. Job 2:6-7 ⁶ And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

⁷ So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. (KJV)

Luke 13:16  And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? (KJV)

Acts 10:38  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (KJV)

Hebrews 2:14-15

¹⁴ Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; ¹⁵ And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (KJV)

            For God does not want people to be in boundest to sickness and death!!! Cf. 1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (KJV)

Luke 13:12  And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. (KJV)

 

The sin of Adultery can bring sickness and death!

Cf. Genesis 20:1-3

¹ And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. ² And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. (KJV)

¹⁸ For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

            You will notice, that the healing came by prayer and making the wrong right! Cf. Genesis 20:7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. (KJV)

  Genesis 20:17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. (KJV)

Also, notice that not only the man himself, but also his whole house would have died!

 

Reasons why prayer was answered-

1.       Because stayed in the Faith.

I.                    Because Abimelech and his household were ready to receive the blessing. It is the rebellious heart of man, which keeps him from receiving blessing from God. A person must look to God, to be blessed.

Because God loves to put honour onto His servants. God and Abraham, had a covenant.“In two respects the wonderful favour of God towards Abraham was apparent; first, that, with outstretched hand, He avenged the injury done to him, and secondly, that, through Abraham’s prayer, He became pacified towards the house of Abimelech.” [CALVIN.].

They bare tells us that they were once again able to parent children, and did so in the natural course of things. “The verb is in the masculine form, because both males and females were involved in this judicial malady. The name Jehovah is employed at the end of the chapter, because the relation of the Creator and Preserver to Sarah is there prominent.” [James G. Murphy.].

We also notice, that God took  care of  the physical  health of Sarah. For if Abimelech had had, marital relations with Sarah, she could have gotten a disease from him.

 

Ge 20:17  So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. Ge 20:18  For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

 

Verse 17. So Abraham prayed as a prophet, and friend of God! It is part of the job, of a prophet to pray for people. Cf. James 2:23  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

 

“Verse 18. For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs— Probably by means of some disease with which he had smitten them, hence it is said they were healed at Abraham’s intercession; and this seems necessarily to imply that they had been afflicted by some disease that rendered it impossible for them to have children till it was removed. And possibly this disease, as Dr. Dodd conjectures, had afflicted Abimelech, and by this he was withheld, Genesis 20:6, from defiling Abraham’s bed.” [A. Clarke.].