Objection: Throughout Scripture God Heals Those Whom He CHOOSES to Heal

This objection makes me wonder what new version of the Bible the objector is using, as the ones I have clearly show the opposite!  I know that some paraphrases can get really “out there,” but they rarely contradict the original Scriptures.

Consider the case of the brass serpent that symbolized the crucified Jesus in Numbers 21:5-9.  Anyone who looked intently at the serpent lived instead of dying of a fatal snakebite.  Who decided who got healed?  Not God, because ANYONE could look at the serpent and live.  Conversely, anyone could choose not to gaze at the snake and die.  God didn’t decide which fate befell each individual.  Man did.

When the multitudes came to Jesus and ALL were healed, Jesus did not make any case-by-case decisions about who would get healed.  The PEOPLE decided.  If they came to Jesus, or allowed someone to carry them to Jesus, they got healed.  If they didn’t, they stayed sick.  Jesus didn’t choose who got healed – man did.  Jesus was willing to heal them all.

On the streets of Jerusalem, they brought the sick to see if they could at least get Peter’s shadow to fall on them – and everyone who came got healed (Acts 5:12-16).  God didn’t choose between individuals.  If you went there, you got healed, and if you didn’t, you missed out.  It was man’s choice, not God’s, as God was perfectly willing to heal everyone.

There is no record of God “choosing” the woman with the issue of blood.  Jesus certainly did not make a specific determination in her case because He didn’t even know who had touched Him!  The woman obviously believed that He was the Messiah (the Christ, the Anointed One) and she acted accordingly.  Meanwhile, others who were around Jesus and brushed up against Him did not receive healing.  This was not by Jesus’ choice.

All the sick people on the island of Melita who were brought to Paul were healed (Acts 28:8-9).  God did not make any case-by-case choices – anyone who came got healed.  It was up to man to show up or not show up – God made His healing power available.  (In this case, they all showed up.)

The book of James shows the right of “any” person who is seriously ill to call for the elders (James 5:14-15).  The prayer of faith WILL heal such a person and an unbeliever will even be forgiven for any sins that might have been an issue.  (A believer’s sins are already forgiven.)  GOD does not decide who calls on the elders – man does.  You can follow Scripture if you get seriously ill and be healed, or you can ignore Scripture and miss out.  The choice is yours, not God’s.

Even in the unusual case of the Pool of Bethesda, God did not run a lottery and heal one person arbitrarily.  Whoever got to the pool first after the angel troubled the water was healed.  Man made that choice, not God.

Jesus said to believe that you receive (take) when you pray (Mark 11:24).  If God were not offering His benefits freely to every person, no one could be sure that he would be one of those who could take His benefits when they pray.

It is no more sensible to say that God heals those whom He chooses than to say that He saves those whom He chooses.  (I realize that the Calvinists out there believe that second part, too.)  You did not receive salvation until YOU chose to receive Jesus.  The work was already done but you had to receive what God already offered you.  You made a choice that only YOU could make.  God did not violate your free will and FORCE you to be saved.  God wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4), including the fact that healing belongs to them thanks to Jesus’ stripes.

In fact, the thing conspicuously ABSENT from Scripture is God making person-by-person choices regarding whom He is willing to heal.  If we don’t see Jesus picking only favored people from a crowd, we should not expect Him to operate like that today.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  If He did not choose who could be healed on a case-by-case basis back then, He surely does not do it today.

The main fact about healing is that Jesus paid for it on behalf of everyone who will ever live, is alive, or ever will live.  WHOSOEVER wants to receive it, can.