2 Corinthians 5:1 New Living Translation (NLT)

New Bodies

5 For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.

2 Corinthians 5:1 English Standard Version (ESV)

Our Heavenly Dwelling

5 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Scripture tells us we will get a new body, an incorruptible body, one that is not at all subject to sickness and disease.  The one we presently live in returns to dust.

1 Corinthians 11:28-30 King James Version (KJV)

²⁸ But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

²⁹ For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

³⁰ For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

Let’s see what scripture says about what Jesus paid for and the value He placed on it.  Everything Jesus went through in the “passion” time has significance for us.  He was beaten, spit upon, ripped open.  Psalm 22 is likely the most graphic description of the crucifixion in the Bible.   His bones were laid bare by the scourging, and he no longer looked human by the time he got to the cross.    The price he paid was way bigger than “just” being crucified.

We see in the Lord’s supper passage that many are weak and sickly and have died why?

“not discerning the Lord’s body”.  For whatever reason we can easily receive the blood as atonement/propitiation for our sins.   But somehow, blindness to the Lord’s body is common enough that our attention is drawn to this in 1st Corinthians.

1 Peter 2:24 King James Version (KJV)

²⁴ Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

1 Corinthians 15:52 King James Version (KJV)

⁵² In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Healing is redundant to an incorruptible body.   Jesus did not say by my stripes, you will be given a new incorruptible body.  He said through His Word 2 times:

Matthew 27:26 King James Version (KJV)

²⁶ Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Isaiah 53:5 King James Version (KJV)

⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Let’s read about the outlook, the expectation, the perspective that scripture tells us results in people being healed.

James 1:5-8

⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

⁶ But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

⁷ For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

⁸ A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

James 5:17:18

¹⁷ Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

¹⁸ And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Matthew 8:9-18 (KJV) 

For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

¹¹ And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

¹² But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹³ And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

¹⁴ And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.

¹⁵ And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

¹⁶ When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

¹⁷ That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

Imagine the boldness, the presumption even, the gaul that the multitudes had, that Jairus had, that the woman with the issue of blood, the centurion etc had to come to Jesus expecting to be healed.  One man alone is recorded as having approached him with this mental state of “if it be your will, you can make me well”  and we disregard the testimony of the thousands of others who came expecting to be healed without this little addendum.     If we understood this lepers position in society and under the law, we would know why.   He understood from Deuteronomy 28 that he was under a curse for some sin he had committed.   His whole time of affliction, he would have been treated as an absolute outcast and one who warranted the condition from which he suffered.  All that this verse tells us is that he personally did not know God’s will on the matter.   This is not modelling a forever doctrine that all should now practice according to.  It demonstrates Jesus’ compassion and mercy and willingness to heal in spite of doubt and unbelief of the sick.

Paul’s Thorn is such a common one I have a whole post on that one.   But it is enough to say that scripture plainly says that his thorn was a “messenger sent from Satan to buffet him” due to the vastness of the revelation given to him.    Paul expounds on it in the same letter and scripture as a whole witnesses to Paul’s thorn.   Persecution followed him everywhere he went.  It was prophesied over him at the very beginning of his calling to Christ.

.Even the Syrian Phonecian woman came expectant that her daughter would be set free (see Matthew 15:21-29).     In many of these cases, Jesus commended them for their faith.   He never rebuked even one for having this expectation that He would heal if they sought Him out .

James 1:13-15

¹³ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

¹⁴ But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

¹⁵ Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

¹⁶ Do not err, my beloved brethren.

¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

That “do not err” stands out to me.   It is sandwiched between “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God”   and “Every good gift and every perfet gift is from above”.

John 10:10 spells it out clearly.   Sickness steals our time, steals our resources, steals our energy and can even steal our God given fruitfulness and purpose.

John 10:10 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁰ The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

“Not discerning the Lord’s body” IS a biblical reason why many are weak and sick and even dead.