Objection: If You Could Always Get Healed, You Would Live Forever
I have probably heard as many objections along the line of “If you were redeemed from sickness, you would never die” as I have about Paul’s thorn, Job’s trials, Timothy’s stomach and Trophimus being left sick! This has become a very popular objection. The objector may go on to assert, “You don’t die of old age; you die because of some sickness!”
God did not promise you eternal life in a mortal body. He did promise you long, sickness-free life in your mortal body. Read Exodus 23:25-26. Here in the same promise, God said that He would take sickness away from you and that He would fulfill “the number of your days.” He did not promise that you would live forever, but He did promise that as long as you are here fulfilling your days, He would take sickness away from you.
You must realize the difference between the curse on the earth in Genesis 3:16-19 and the curse for breaking the Law in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. You are redeemed from the curse of the Law (so says Galatians 3:13), but not from the curse on the earth. You still have to work for a living, women still have labor pains – and you still die (“return to dust”). You are not redeemed from that. The curse of the Law, from which you ARE redeemed, covers all sicknesses, including every one you can think of that isn’t mentioned explicitly (Deuteronomy 28:61). Therefore, you must DIE, but you are redeemed from ALL SICKNESSES and ALL DISEASES until then.
Your current body will not last forever. You will die at some point unless Jesus returns soon. However, you do not need to be evicted from your body by sickness! God’s promise of healing lasts for your entire life, and your entire life should be satisfying. What good is long life if it isn’t satisfying? See Psalm 91. Time spent laid up in a sickbed with a wasting disease is surely not satisfying.
It is not true that only sickness or martyrdom will end your life. Moses simply went up on a mountain, following God’s command. God told him to die there, and he did! “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” (Exodus 34:7). Moses was obviously not sick before he died; sick people don’t climb high mountains at the age of 120!
Others simply “gave up the ghost” after living a long life:
Genesis 25:8:
Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.
Genesis 25:17:
And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.
Genesis 35:28-29:
And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years [180].
And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Genesis 49:33:
And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
Jesus Himself “yielded up the ghost” (Matthew 27:50), or “gave up the ghost” (Mark 15:37, Mark 15:39, Luke 23:46, John 19:30).
Stephen, when he was being martyred, asked the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit (Acts 7:59).
The biblically preferred way to die is to “give up the ghost” after a long, satisfying life.
If an Old Covenant man could experience this, why not a New Covenant man? Even the much-cited Job lived 140 years after his trial and no mention is made of any illness in his life after his trial, which apparently lasted less than a year. (See Job 7:3, Job 42:16-17.)
Paul said that he had the choice of whether or not he wanted to die! He said in Philippians 1:22-24, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot [know] not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” This is how the Christian should die! You choose to depart and be with Christ. This beats being forced to depart and be with Christ by an illness. God can simply “take your breath” that keeps you alive and let you die. Consider these Scriptures:
“And [God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” –Genesis 2:7.
“[God] in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” – Job 12:10.
“If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall return again unto dust.” – Job 34:14-15.
“He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:” – Isaiah 42:5.
“And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.” – Daniel 5:23.
“Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;” – Acts 17:25.
Although this verse applies to animals in context, you can see that God can take away your breath and have you die:
“Thou hidest thy face, they [animals] are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.” – Psalm 104:29
Think for a minute about the idea that you have to get sick to die. If that is true, it means that there comes a certain time when the Lord Jesus Christ says to you, “I won’t heal your illness. You need to die from it.” If you are going to claim that He would say such a thing, you need to find somewhere in the Bible where He said it. Find one place where the Lord Jesus Christ told a sick person, “Sorry, you’re too old. You’re supposed to die now. I won’t heal you.” Surely there were some aged people in the multitudes who brought “all” the sick people to Christ to be healed. If He did not leave the elderly sick to die then, He does not want to do so now, either, because He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Instead, Scripture is plain that Jesus healed all types of sickness. This would include any old-age-related sicknesses, including so-called incurable and terminal ones and ones that are based on organ failures.
Someone once said that sickness is God’s way of making us want to die and go on to the afterlife. No, that’s the devil’s way of making you want to die and go on to the afterlife. The devil wants you out of here and into the afterlife, and sickness is one of his tools. You are no threat to him in the afterlife. No Christian needs to let any work of the devil decide when he leaves the earth. You are redeemed from Satan’s authority. You are now under the authority of God’s Son. You and God can decide when you want to leave. Don’t allow the devil to make that choice for you by evicting you from your body with sickness.
See the discussion Don’t Get Sick When You Get Old for related ideas. Also see Objection: God Won’t Heal Your FINAL ILLNESS That He Uses to Take You Home.