Is it God’s will to heal everyone who is sick?
The Bible makes it abundantly clear that it is God’s will to heal everyone. The main support of this is that Jesus is the perfect representation of the Father and He healed everyone who came to Him. Throughout all four Gospels, we never once see Jesus deny healing to someone.
Instead, we always see passages of scripture where whole towns brought their sick to Him and He healed them all.
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
“Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them” (Matthew 4:23-24).
“At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.” (Mark 1:32-34)
We see scenarios like this again and again throughout the four Gospels. We never see a sick person coming to Jesus for healing and Him denying them. If Christ had done this just one time we could have a reason to say that it is not His will to heal the sick, but we never see this.
Some say that because Jesus only healed one man at the pool of Bethsaida, and not all the other sick people, that this means He doesn’t desire to heal all who are sick.
Although this is true that Jesus didn’t heal everyone there, we can’t neglect to look at the reason that this is so. The Bible says that He withdrew from that area for one reason: because of the crowds.
“But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.” (John 5:13)
This verse doesn’t say that Jesus withdrew because he only wanted to heal this one person. Jesus didn’t withdraw cause He wanted to. He withdrew because He had to. Crowds of people were thronging Him and it was probably getting dangerous to be in the middle of it so He withdrew.
It is foolish to see a passage of scripture of someone getting healed and then somehow use it to explain that God doesn’t heal everyone.
If Jesus healed every sick person He encountered what does that tell us about the will of God?
The Bible makes it overwhelmingly clear that Jesus is the express image of the Father, and that if we have seen Him then we have seen the Father.
For example, Hebrews says that God “…has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:2-3)
Another example that reveals this is when Jesus replied to Philip after he asked to be shown the Father.
“Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9)
In other words, whatever Jesus did on this earth was the exact same thing God the Father would have done on this earth. So, if Jesus healed every sick person that He encountered then that means that God the Father was there healing as well.
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” (John 14:10)
The Father and the Son were working on this earth and healing the sick as one. This alone proves undoubtedly that God desires to heal all people who are physically afflicted.
This is why Jesus didn’t only heal the sick, but He also commissioned all who follow Him to go out and heal the sick along with preaching the Gospel.
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name…they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)
Notice how it is a 100% success rate. When believers lay their hands on the sick, in the name of Jesus, the sick will recover. That is a promise from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible says that “all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)
I have another article that covers a similar subject called 7 Biblical Reasons God Still Heals Today, you can check it out by clicking that link.
Why does God heal some and not others?
Although God desires to physically heal everyone who is in need, this is sadly not always the case. Sometimes people may not get healed simply because of unbelief.
I fully understand that this is an extremely sensitive topic because people have prayed for others that they care about and have not seen them get healed. Some have even seen others die.
I personally have experienced this. My dad passed away, unexpectedly, a little over a year ago. I flew over 10 hours to see him in the hospital and pray for him. I prayed my best prayer of faith and it did not work.
The strange thing is that a few days before I prayed for a woman who was in a wheelchair. She was in the city I was in because she needed to have surgery. She couldn’t walk, she had been in multiple car accidents, she had severe nerve damage, and she had screws in her wrists and ankles. This poor lady was in bad shape.
When I prayed for her, she said she felt electricity go up and down her spine from the top of her neck to the bottom of her heel. She got up after about 10 minutes of prayer, completely healed.
She even needed to go buy shoes because she didn’t bring any with her cause she hadn’t walked in so long. Afterward, I prayed for her kids and they received the Holy Spirit. It was an amazing time!
My point in saying this is I understand what it feels like to see God do a miracle and then not see anything happen when you need it most.
Some would come to the conclusion that because I saw this woman healed and my dad not healed, that God heals some and not others. This conclusion is wrong. Jesus is the perfect representation of the Father and He healed everyone He encountered!
Jesus never declared that God heals some and not all. The only thing that declares that is our lack of experience of the power of God.
Christ’s declaration is the only voice that His followers should listen to. If our experience doesn’t measure up to the life of Christ then we should trash our experience and keep seeking Him.
If people aren’t healed it is for one reason: our unbelief.
You see, we as humans try to find so many reasons why God’s power didn’t manifest like we wanted it to, but Jesus revealed the one reason in Matthew chapter 17.
In this chapter, a man brought his demon-possessed son to the disciples and asked for them to cure him, they could not do it. When Jesus approached the scene He found out what was going on, rebuked the disciples, and then cured the boy.
Afterward, the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “why could we not cast it out?”
They asked this because it bothered them that they couldn’t see the boy healed. Remember, the disciples were already seeing miracles happen and demons leaving people (Luke 9:6). This was not a new thing for them. However, they were still unable to cure this boy.
Jesus responded to them with four simple words: “Because of your unbelief” (Matthew 17:20).
Notice, Jesus didn’t put the blame on the boy or the father, rather He put it where it belonged, the disciples. The miraculous signs of God follow the believer, not the one who is in need (Mark 16:15-18).
Now, what does it mean that they have unbelief? They have personally witnessed Jesus heal crowds of people with extreme cases of sicknesses and physical issues. They also have personally healed extreme cases of sicknesses and cast out demons. So how could they have had unbelief?
The reason is that unbelief is an opposite force of faith, not the absence of faith. It is possible to have faith and still have unbelief (Mark 9:24).
If you want to know more about riding your life of unbelief I would recommend an article I wrote titled How Fasting Helps Your Relationship with God (A Brief Guide).
Right after Jesus tells the disciples the reason the boy wasn’t cured He gives them a promise.
“Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)
A mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds that there is, but when it is planted and properly cared for, it can become one of the biggest plants in the garden.
Jesus wants us to have faith that may appear small in the beginning, but then as we nurture it and ensure that no tares of unbelief choke it, it grows to become so dominant that we can speak to any mountain and see it move. (Related article: How to Grow in Faith).
So, back to the question, why do we not see God heal everyone? Because to cooperate with God in a way that allows Him to heal people through us every time, we need faith like a mustard seed. To do this we believers need to be willing to live a life that breeds mustard seed type faith in every situation. (Related article: How to Walk in the Gift of Healing-A Complete Guide).
Does God heal unbelievers?
God most certainly heals unbelievers. There is nowhere in the Bible that suggests healing is only for believers in Jesus. In fact, healing is meant to be a sign that follows the believer in Christ while they preach the Gospel to unbelievers.
A perfect example of this is when the apostles Peter and John saw a lame beggar at the temple.
“Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.” (Acts 3:6-8)
There is no mention of this lame man being a disciple of Jesus. No doubt he probably heard about Jesus and he might have even heard about the disciples, but there is no reason to believe that he was a follower of Christ.
And yet we see this man getting healed, which immediately caused a crowd of at least 5,000 people to respond to the Gospel.
“However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” (Acts 4:4)
Another example is when the apostle Paul gets shipwrecked on an island. He ends up healing a prominent man’s father on the island which leads to many on the island bringing their sick to him.
“And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.” (Acts 28:8)
We know these people he healed on the island weren’t believers because just a few verses before they had a superstitious belief about Paul.
“So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.
“However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.” (Acts 28:4-6)
Another thing to keep in mind, that I have mentioned many times throughout this article, is that the sign of healing and casting out demons follows the believer, so there is no need for the other person to express any faith.
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons…they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)
If these signs are meant to follow the believer why would God require the unbeliever to release faith to be healed when, by definition, they don’t believe?
The answer is He wouldn’t. The signs are called “signs” for a reason. They point to the reality and truth of the Gospel and the born-again experience so that unbelievers can become believers who follow Jesus.
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