“For I am the Lord that heals you.” – Exodus 15:26
Earlier today, I saw a video from a church in New York City, where the Governor of that state stood behind the pulpit, and said the following:
“I prayed a lot to God, and He answered our prayers. He made the smartest doctors and scientists and researchers come up with a vaccine. That is from God to us. Thank you God.”
God uses people to do great things. He used people all throughout the Bible to accomplish His plans and carry out His work. He still uses people today. But in everything that is done for God, the glory must go to Him. Men and women of faith understand that God equips and anoints them, and they operate in the power of the spirit. They can do nothing on their own strength, and they don’t take any of the credit.
“Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:31
The Governor went on to plead with vaccinated church members to “be her apostles”, and compel everyone to get vaccinated because that’s “what God wants”. I know many Christians who agree with her, that God gave people the wisdom to create a vaccine to save us from the pandemic. He used men and women to provide a solution for an infectious disease.
Biblically speaking, are there instances where God used particular means to bring about healing? Let’s explore.
Hezekiah (2 Kings 20)
King Hezekiah was diagnosed with a terminal illness. He sought the Lord for healing. The prophet Isaiah instructed him to apply a mixture of figs to the boil.
The blind man (John 9)
Jesus encountered a man born blind. He spit on the ground, put mud in the mans eyes, and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam.
Naaman (2 Kings 5)
Naaman was struck with leprosy, and Elisha sent word to him that he must wash himself seven times in the Jordan river in order to be cured.
The widow’s son (2 Kings 4)
The widow who helped Elisha had a son that fell ill and died. So Elisha instructed Gehazi to take his staff and lay it on the boys face to raise him from the dead.
We also read in the book of Acts that people used handkerchief’s from Paul to lay on the sick. There was the pool of Bethesda in John 5, where sick people could dip in to be made well.
So therefore, could we make the assertion that God would use modern medicine to provide healing? Let me answer with a question:
In all these miracles I listed, was a doctor ever involved? Was medicine ever involved? Was extensive research necessary?
Doctors existed in Bible times. There were many cures and medicines made from the hands of man. In the story of the woman with the issue of blood, we’re told that she spent her life savings on doctors, but none could help her (Luke 8).
Never once did God illicit assistance from health experts, or doctors. He used His prophets, disciples and apostles to perform God’s miracles. Jesus had a doctor travel with him, and yet he never sent anyone to Luke for their healing.
I’m not against doctors, there are great ones on this earth that sincerely want to help people. In fact, if it weren’t for doctors, half the church would be dead. Is getting vaccinated a sin? No its not. Nor is going to the doctor a sin.
But if we can pray for God to guide the hand of the surgeon, if we believe He has so much power as to guide a person’s hand, why don’t we believe for God to do it Himself? Yes, there were instances where God used unusual means to bring about a miracle, but we must understand this:
Those means were not the source of the healing.
God is the source of the healing.
All of those instructions were meant as steps of faith. They were visible demonstrations of the healing power of God. No doctor could spit in mud and heal a blind man. No river has magical powers to cleanse leprosy. The figs didn’t heal Hezekiah. God’s power did that.
When we claim a vaccine is our light at the end of the tunnel, we aren’t giving glory to God. We’re giving glory to a vaccine.
When a minister lays hands on a person and they’re healed, his hands didn’t give the healing. He simply followed an instruction from the Word (James 5:14-15), and God’s mighty healing power did the work.
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues, they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” – Mark 16:17-18
The Governor may claim that God’s wisdom provoked the vaccine, but it is nothing more than a manipulative statement to guilt Christians into getting vaccinated. Have you ever heard anyone at Pfizer or Moderna, or Johnson and Johnson giving the glory to God for the vaccine, or any kind of medication?
“By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.” – Acts 3:16
Peter wanted to make sure that everyone understood it was not the work of his human hands but rather, faith in the name of Jesus that brought about healing.
“Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” – Acts 4:30
“The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” – John 14:10
Even Jesus recognized that everything he did was the power of God working through him. When Jesus went to the cross, he took whips on his back for our sickness (Matthew 8). There is healing power in the blood of Jesus.
You will find Christians who assert that we need both God and science to bring about a cure.
But that is in complete contradiction to the Word of God.
Jesus told his disciples in John 14 that whoever believes in him will do even greater works “so that the Father may be glorified.” Is God glorified in vaccination, or are scientists glorified?
To claim that modern medicine is from God is to claim that the blood of Jesus is no longer efficient. It is to claim that God’s power is insufficient. If He never needed medicine before, why does He suddenly need it now?
There are Christians that say they believe in God, but in fact they don’t. Because rather than seek God for protection (Psalm 91), and for healing in the event they do get sick (Psalm 30:2), they wait for the doctors to give them a solution. Rather than trust Him, trust in His word and trust in His promises, they rejoice once a vaccine becomes available, and then have the audacity to claim it was from God, in an attempt to reconcile their own unbelief.
“The Lord will keep you free from every disease.” – Deuteronomy 7:15
If you feel you should be vaccinated, if you feel you need the doctors advice, you have the right to do that. Listen carefully to what I’m saying: The danger and error is to elevate doctors and medicine over God’s power, or to attribute man-made treatment to the miraculous.
It takes supernatural power and authority to live this Christian life effectively. Everyone in the upper room was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2).
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. – Acts 1:8
If we carry that power and authority on the inside of us, why are we looking to a scientist to fix everything? Christians back in the day didn’t have a cabinet in their bathroom filled with prescription medication. They had anointing oil. We have supposedly evolved so much as a society, yet we’ve replaced divine healing with research labs and pharmacies.
Does science and technology help us? Sure it does. In fact, the modern advances of travel, and the reach of the internet has allowed the gospel to get out faster and easier than ever before.
But this isn’t a question of technology. This is a matter of health and healing, and that was already covered when Jesus went to the cross and won dominion over all the power of the devil.
Let me ask you this.
Has there been side effects from the covid vaccine? Yes, and that’s true of any vaccine. That’s why they, and all medications, come with warning labels. That’s why some people are medically unable to take vaccines because it would do more harm than good. Have people died as a result of the covid vaccine? Yes they have.
So if God supposedly enabled the vaccine to be created, how is it possible that it could hurt people?
Is the covid vaccine 100% effective at preventing illness? Or can people still get sick and die after being fully vaccinated? (Yes and yes). If God commissioned the covid vaccine as our way out of the pandemic, why doesn’t it completely stop infection? Why is a third booster now required because effectiveness is already waning? Did God not give enough wisdom to those scientists and researchers?
And lastly, this vaccine is being forced on people, it’s costing them their jobs, their livelihoods, its creating a divide in society, division in families and churches. Is that of God? Does God ever work through manipulation? Does He ever force anything on anyone? Does He force people to do something that goes against their conscience?
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live.” – Deuteronomy 30:19
Big Pharma is not our savior. Vaccines are not our savior. Doctors are not our savior. The wonder-working power of the blood of Jesus, that life-giving, chain-breaking power, that same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that is what saves us, sets us free, cures us, and redeems us. No outside sources required (Psalm 144).
