688 The Spiritual Man
We have mentioned earlier how death is the result of sin, with
sickness included therein. Both sickness and death flow from sin.
Here in Psalm 103 we find that sickness is coupled with sin. Because
of sin in the soul there is disease in the body. Along with the
forgiveness of our iniquity comes the healing of our disease. The
trouble in the body is sin within and disease without. But the Lord
takes both away.
There is a basic dissimiliarity, however, between God’s treatment
of our iniquity and His treatment of our disease. Why this difference?
Our Lord Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross. Does any sin
remain unforgiven? Absolutely none, for the work of God is so
complete that sin is entirely destroyed. But in taking our infirmities
and bearing our diseases while He lived on earth, the Lord Jesus did
not eradicate all diseases and all infirmities. For note that Paul never
says “when I sin, then am I sanctified,” but he does declare that
“when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12.10). Hence sin is
thoroughly and unlimitedly dealt with whereas sickness is only
limitedly treated.
In God’s redemption the handling of sickness is unlike that of sin.
With the latter, its destruction is totally uncircumscribed; with the
former, this is just not so. Timothy, for instance, continued to have a
weak stomach. The Lord permitted this weakness to remain with His
servant. So in God’s salvation sickness has not been eradicated as
totally as has sin. Some maintain that the Lord Jesus deals solely
with sin and not with illness too: others conceive the scope of His
treatment of disease to be as broad and inclusive as His treatment of
sin. Yet the Scriptures manifestly indicate to us that the Lord Jesus
deals with both sin and sickness; only His dealing with sin is
limitless while that with sickness is limited. We must behold the
Lamb of God taking away all the sin of the world—He has borne the
sin of each and every person. Sin’s problem is therefore already
solved. But meanwhile sickness still pervades God’s children.