Some of God’s Promises Have Conditions
It is a mistake to “claim” healing Scriptures without regard to their context. If you are not deliberately disobeying Him, you have a clear conscience to receive all of His precious promises (1 John 3:21-22). However, some “Healing Scriptures” we quote have conditions attached to them. The Bible never teaches that you can just live wrong on purpose and expect to walk in all of God’s blessings. It is instructive to review the conditions. As covered in an objection reply, we are not establishing a gospel of works, but neither are we tempting God by ignoring His conditions while claiming His blessings.
In some cases, an Old Testament condition was fulfilled on our behalf because of what Jesus did. If a Scripture describes what will happen to the righteous, that Scripture applies to you because you are the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). So you can claim such a promise without a perfect human track record of your own.
In Exodus 15:25-26, the condition for having God keep you healthy was, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes.” As a believer, God treats you as if you HAD kept all His statutes, so you have “met” this condition to have God heal you.
Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16 and Ephesians 6:1-3 link long life with your honoring of your parents. This is still conditional, even as quoted in the New Testament.
In Exodus 23:25-26, the condition was, “And ye shall serve the Lord your God....” Then God would take sickness away from you. If you serve Him today, you should expect the same. A Christian is someone who serves God, so you qualify.
In Numbers 21:5-9, you could be healed of a fatal snakebite, but only if you steadfastly beheld the symbol of the crucified Christ. Today, you are promised immunity from snakebites as a Christian (Mark 16:18), and the only “if” is if you get bit, you will not suffer consequences from it.
In Deuteronomy 5:33, the condition was, “Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you...” to live long and prosper. Today God treats you as if you had always walked in all His ways under the Law., so you should expect to live long and prosper.
In Deuteronomy 6:2, the condition for long life was, “That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee...all the days of thy life....” It is still a choice to fear the Lord, but you have the same right standing as far as keeping commandments as you would have if you kept all of them, so you should expect long life.
In Deuteronomy 7:12-15, God promised to take sickness from you “if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them....” Today we still need to have ears to hear the Word, but God will treat you as if you kept all His judgments. So you should expect to have all sickness taken from you.
In Deuteronomy 11:8-9, prolonged days were promised under this condition: “Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day....” Once again, God treats you as if you had kept all the commandments based on your righteousness in Christ, so you should believe that you will live a long life.
In Deuteronomy 11:18-21, long life was available under this condition: “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates....” This means constantly keeping God’s Word before you! How many sick people ignore this principle and just think God should wave a wand and heal them while they watch soap operas in the hospital! The general idea still applies that you will lengthen your life if you give heed to the Word.
In 1 Kings 3:14, God promised lengthened life “if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk....” As a believer, you are treated as one who has kept his statutes, so you should expect lengthened life.
In Job 5:26, the promise of long life is linked to being one whom God corrects (Job 5:17: “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:”). In the New Testament, we need to pay heed to God’s correction because it is for our benefit (Hebrews 12:5-13). You aren’t even a real child of God if God doesn’t correct you!
In Psalm 34:11-14, the promise of many good days is for you when you “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” We are exhorted to keep our tongues from evil in the New Testament as well, letting no corrupt word proceed from our mouths (Ephesians 4:29, James 3:10, 1 Peter 3:10-11). We should expect many “good days” if we meet this condition.
In Psalm 41:1-3, the giver to the poor is promised strengthening on his sickbed. Isaiah 58:6-11 talks of speedy health to the one who helps the poor. While healing is part and parcel of the New Covenant, you cannot claim these promises unless you give to the poor.
In Psalm 84:11, God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly. You have been credited with Jesus’ righteousness as far as walking uprightly goes, so you should expect that God will not withhold anything from you as a believer. That is why this verse’s New Testament counterpart, Romans 8:32, does not include any conduct restriction.
Psalm 91 is full of protection promises. However, the following conditions are stated:
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High,” “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust,” “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation,” “Because He hath set his love upon me,” “because He hath known my name.” If you aren’t doing and saying what this Psalm says to do and say, you don’t qualify for the benefits.
Proverbs 3:1-2 is yet another passage promising long life if you “forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments.” God will treat you as if you DID keep all His commandments, but it is still a good idea to remember His Word.
Proverbs 3:7-8 says health comes when you “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” Proverbs 10:27 contains a similar thought. These promises only apply if you meet the conditions. Even if you’re a believer, sin can make you sick and avoiding sin can keep you healthy.
Proverbs 3:16 and Proverbs 9:11 say that long life comes from wisdom. These promises don’t apply to the unwise, even today.
Proverbs 4:10 says that when you hear and receive God’s sayings, you’ll live long. Proverbs 4:20-22 promises health to all your flesh when you “attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.” These are still conditional promises.
In Isaiah 40:29-31, renewed strength is promised under the condition that you “wait upon the Lord.”
That was under the Old Covenant. What about our New Covenant? Does it have conditions, too?
1 Timothy 2:15 promises that a woman will not die in childbirth – but only if she and her husband continue in faith, holiness and sobriety.
1 Peter 3:10-11 echoes the language of Psalm 34:11-14 and basically says that if you want to live a long time, watch your mouth.
3 John 2 expresses God’s desire for you to be in health, but notice that it is “as your soul prospers.”
Some Corinthians failed to walk in healing despite their knowledge and willingness to flow in manifestations of the Holy Spirit. They were judged for their irreverence toward the Lord’s Supper. If you want to walk in health, making light of communion and treating it as ordinary food and drink is not the way to go! That is an insult to Jesus.
We are not “redeemed” from the blessings promised in the Old Covenant in our new and better covenant, but you must realize that some of the blessings had conditions, so they cannot just be “claimed” independently of those conditions. If you ignore God’s Word, are a miser, are wise in your own eyes, and generally don’t fear the Lord (in the reverential sense), you have no right to claim any of the promises listed above that depend on those.
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