Big Healing Book - If Unforgiveness Is a Hindrance, How Did ALL the Multitudes Get Healed

If Unforgiveness Is a Hindrance, How Did ALL the Multitudes Get Healed – Surely There Were Some Who Hadn’t Forgiven Their Ex-Spouses?

Given that Jesus warned the Jews that if they didn’t forgive, God wouldn’t forgive them, how could people in the crowds who hadn’t forgiven someone receive anything? After all, you’ll never find a big crowd where there isn’t someone who has an unforgiveness issue. (In fact, you probably won’t find a small crowd where no one has an unforgiveness issue.) Indeed, someone probably had a grudge against an ex-spouse or a mean relative. Besides, didn’t Jesus tell a parable about being handed over to the torturers if you were forgiven but then you refused to forgive someone else? That would be the opposite of being able to be healed! Jesus told you to forgive when you pray to receive something (Mark 11:25). So how did people with unforgiveness get healed anyway?

Not Believing and Receiving When They Prayed

The multitudes were not following Mark 11:24 to be healed, so the command to forgive while praying in Mark 11:25 did not apply to their healings even if you consider those verses all part of the same instructions. They weren’t praying! They were receiving their healing through a moving of the anointing. Rather than praying, they were just touching Jesus’ garment or having Him touch them. You will not always find an opportunity to touch someone flowing in the anointing, but you can always “believe that you receive,” forgiving anyone you’re upset with when you do it. When it comes to an anointing being ministered, Jesus didn’t lay down a rule that forgiving others was a prerequisite to having that anointing flow into you. When He commissioned His disciples to heal the sick, He did not tell them that the people would first have to forgive anyone they had a grudge against before the disciples could heal them. In healing services today, people are healed without a prerequisite that they must forgive everyone before they can go up to get hands laid on them.

Does Mark 11:25 Really Teach That Mark 11:24 Won’t Work If You Harbor Unforgiveness?

On the surface, it seems that Jesus taught that believing you receive will never work unless you get rid of unforgiveness first. However, that reads a little too much into those two verses.

Mark 11:24-25:
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Jesus did NOT say, “And BEFORE you stand praying, forgive others, THEN pray to believe that you receive.” This is how some people take it, but you can’t force the actual text to make that point.

I’m not saying that unforgiveness can’t be a hindrance – I believe it can. I just don’t see that it’s an impenetrable barrier to healing.

Why Weren’t the Unforgiving People in the Crowds Sent to the Torturers Like the Man in the Parable?

The crowds who approached Jesus were not people who already knew the Lord’s forgiveness and then refused to extend it to others. They likely didn’t even know forgiveness for themselves until AFTER their encounter with Jesus. So that parable would not apply to the crowds in that situation. The parable was about people who knew they HAD BEEN FORGIVEN and then refused to forgive others.

Another point is that the crowds did not consist of believers. When you’re given more, more is expected of you. In the New Testament, Paul urged believers to forgive others as Christ had ALREADY forgiven them. The crowds did not know Christ’s forgiveness the way the Church does today. So again, the idea that they could be “turned over to the torturers” for failure to forgive after they’ve already been forgiven would not apply to the crowds who thronged Jesus.

Now what about Jesus’ warning to forgive, lest God not forgive you, which was part of His teaching about speaking to mountains and believing that you receive when you pray. If these people held onto unforgiveness, wouldn’t they be in a position where God wouldn’t forgive them either, and would thus fail to be healed?

And how would the crowds even know that they were supposed to forgive in the first place when the Pharisees were teaching them all their lives that they should hate their enemies?

They Came to Hear and Be Healed

I can answer that. Jesus did NOT just go around healing everyone. He TAUGHT the people, who came to hear and be healed, not just be healed. Jesus emphasized mercy and the need to display it to others repeatedly when He taught. He emphasized that mercy was more important than doing all the right sacrifices required by the Law. He DID teach forgiving those who have wronged you in any way in the same teaching where He emphasized speaking to mountains and believing that you receive when you pray. He told people to love, bless, do good to, and pray for their enemies. He taught clearing up offenses with others quickly. He warned about getting offended. I don’t think you could listen to the kingdom teachings of Jesus of Nazareth for very long without realizing that God’s standard was to forgive those who have wronged you.

Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the ex-spouse grudge holders would realize their need to forgive and show mercy while listening to Jesus teach before He ministered healing to them, and that if this were an issue with some of them, they probably got it taken care of listening to His teaching before they were healed. If the One doing the miracles gave you instructions, wouldn’t you heed Him?

But as we saw above, they would still be able to receive if they had NOT forgiven other people.

God’s Goodness and Repentance – in That Order

Another principle gets involved when sinners are present – God’s goodness leads men to repentance (Romans 2:4). This is different from repentance leading men to God’s goodness. So when it comes to sinners, God’s order is NOT (1) Repent, sinner! (2) God will now demonstrate His goodness now that you’ve made things right, but rather (1) God demonstrates His goodness to you (2) His goodness leads you to want to repent of your current godless life and follow Jesus. This is one reason you see many notable miracles among the unsaved who make the effort to come to a healing crusade. At least they’ve taken a step toward God by putting themselves in a place where God can demonstrate His goodness. Then they get their miracles and see His goodness. They may or may not get saved as a result, but they should.