For years I have struggled with understanding how the Law and the Promises/New Covenant of God work together.  It is something I have prayed about, studied out and yet only this year, after spending some significant time in Galatians am I really starting to understand how they fit together.     The Law, we are told is like a guardian/ a tutor to keep the people while they are subject to sin and flesh.    The New Covenant for those, who like Abraham, have believed and are walking by faith and not by sight.    The reality is, that many of us are somewhere on the road in between these two covenants.     As long as part of us is walking after the flesh and still in bondage to “the beggarly elements” of this world, the Law can bring us great wisdom and guidance.   Understanding the difference between these two covenants is essential in understanding what Jesus has done, how this has impacted our identity, how to see His Kingdom come here on Earth as it is in Heaven and being set truly free from all the dominion of darkness.  I am going to hone-in on how these impact health and healing, more specifically exploring how medicine and healing via the Word and faith fit together as I think this is a question on the hearts of many.

I will likely be editting this post several times as I find it a bit of a struggle to put all of these things into words so thank you so much for your forbearance and grace.

Due to the delay (can feel like an eternity) from the time God plants a truth/promise in our hearts, to the time the reality of what His promises is fulfilled, very often, we attempt to “help” Him out to bring things about more quickly.     Time and again the Bible stories warn us not to turn to our own methods first, but to rely on God first for every need, to seek Him and His will first. Yet, over and over in the Bible we see people trying to fulfill God’s promises under their own power.

Let’s explore the parallels between these two covenants/two sons/between divine provision, the chid of the promise, Isaac and the child of human effort, Ishmael, and by extension divine healing and medicine.    Do keep in mind as you read through that God blessed both Isaac and Ishmael and that I believe that both are an expression of God’s goodness and faithfulness.

I have done a side by side chart to help compare the two agreements/two sons.

 

Galatians 4″ ²¹ Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?  ²² For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. ²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. ²⁴ Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.  ²⁵ For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.  ²⁶ But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.   ²⁷ For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.   ²⁸ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.  ²⁹ But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.  ³⁰ Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.  ³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.”

 

NLT vs 29 “²⁹ But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.”

 

Genesis 17:19-21 King James Version (KJV)  “19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.   20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.   21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.”

 

Exodus 15:26 King James Version (KJV) “26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”

 

Isaiah 53 King James Version (KJV)  “53 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?   2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.   3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.   4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.   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.   6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Son of the Promise:                                                                  Son of the Flesh:

Isaac (type and shadow of Jesus)                    Ishmael (type and shadow of human effort                                                                                            attempting to fulfill divine promise)

Healing Via the Word and Faith                  Healing via Modern Medicine/human effort              burden of healing on God                        burden of healing on man’s intellect/ability

Inheritance comes through heir                                       Cannot inherit

Heir to the Promises made to Abraham             Blessed but in a covenant with lesser                                                                                                                            promises

 

Conceived and birthed according                         Birthed and conceived via the impatience              God’s timing and promises                                   and tendency of man to force the                                                                                                                   fulfillment by human                                                                                                                              effort  (see v29 NLT)

End result: True Salavation and Freedom            Initial and/or limited success but unable                                                                                                       to fully break the bondage

“Who the Son Sets Free is free indeed”                       Strings/ongoing bondage/subject                                John 8:36                                                    to the elemental forces of this world           Not subject to the elemental forces

Able to overcome the impossible                         Confined to natural laws                            (eg resurrect the dead after 4 days,                                                                                                     create new body parts miraculously etc.)

Healthy and Restored to Whole                          Some success, often requires ongoing                                                                                                   treatments, often incurs potential side                                                                                        effects, cannot resolve underlying                                                                                                               aknesses in DNA, environment etc

Cost:  Free /Believing                                  Varying degrees of human cost involved                                                                                       Money, time for treatments, uncomfortable painful                                                                          Test, potential hospitalization and exposure                                                                             To radiation, chemo, and other known to be harmful                                                                               Treatments and or tests required to obtain info

 

Longterm results:  Blessing goes to 1000             Longterm: Unresolved genetic mutation  Radiant health, Generations, healed DNA        passed on for many generations, reduced     etc. Increased faith and assurance in all of     efficacy of treatments over time in drugs   God’s promises like sins being forgiven          and increased risks of undesirable side     Assurance of the reality of salvation (Matt 9)    effects, limited options…  removing                                                                                                  damaged organs surgically leaves people,                                                                                          limited antibiotic options, leads to                                                                                                                 creating superbugs

Promises to deliver health, vigor and vitality      Assumes old age will mean a measure of  throughout old age until death                              degeneration, weakness and other age                                                                                                                 related conditions

No drug or treatment counterindications                      A large variety counterindications          so this can be combined with any                       possible therefore correct dosing and  other treatment and by anyone of any                       assessment  of  individual situations              age  and/or health status  success                                          essential

The challenge:  Requires either equipped mature       There are already many qualified elders/believer and/or great personal                                 doctors and nurses available to   revelation and understanding of the Word                  via medicine now so this option is     which are not presently widely available                 therefore essential when the divine                                                                                           healing is  not available and/or happening                                                                                            rarely.   But also becomes unnecessary                                                                                                     once divine healing has occurred                                                                                                        and divine health  established

Biblical Reason:  The true fulfillment can only      Biblical Reason:  Human effort cannot                  come through the freeborn son                         fulfill a divine covenantal promise

 

Summary:   Ishmael represents us taking a covenantal promise from God and trying to bring the results to pass by our own human effort.    Initially, we may seem to be getting the results we hoped for.  I am sure that is how Sarah and Abraham felt when Hagar conceived.  But they did not see Islam in that baby.   And they quickly realized they missed it when God told them the son he meant would come by His means.   It is very easy for us to try to help God along but very often our efforts birth an Ishmael.   God sees the big picture and knows the long term ramifications of our choices.

We recently talked about John the Baptist and how he understood that as Jesus increased and became more pre-eminent, he himself would have to decrease.  John 3:30.    As we walk more and more with Jesus and the reality of Him and His Kingdom dawn in our hearts, we rely more and more on God and his provision in all areas of our lives and less and less on our human effort and understanding.  This is the normal Christian life, a progression from relying on the flesh predominantly to relying on the Spirit.   For the Kingdom to fully come, the flesh must give way to the Spirit.

 

I will add a note here to say that I do not advocate going often treatments or meds until you have confirmation of healing.  Even Jesus sent the leper to the established authorities to confirm their healing before going public.  See Luke 17:14.    Once you are healed, and the doctors have confirmed this, of course the other treatments are simply redundant and should be stopped accordingly (weaning off is sometimes necessary for example).    There are no paint by numbers in the Kingdom, formulas always fall short, the keys are to be wise and attentive to the Lord and His instructions  and to seek out godly counsel if confusion jumps in to the picture.

 

God promised to bless all that Abraham set his hands to so Ishmael was blessed by God.    I believe truly there is a divine blessing on “Modern Medicines”, nurses, doctors etc.     However, I do think there are biblically established boundaries that man simply cannot overcome by effort and smarts.

 

God sent Jesus to heal “make whole and restore to perfect health”.     He is the only one appointed by God for this true redemption, by this I mean total restoration of our spirit, our mind and our bodies.     Therefore, we need to look to Jesus as the source of true freedom and wholeness.     YES Modern Medicine has a significant place, especially to those who do not know the Lord and have no access to Him.     The blessings of God is very evident as there is most decidedly a measure of success and in eliminating some conditions,  mediating the  symptoms/discomforts of others, and helping people to  survive through places of crisis and is well known for buying time for people towards the end of their lives.  However, it often comes with long term costs or ongoing strings such as heavy financial burdens, long term or life long dependence on medicines, inconvenient or even painful treatments, fear, stress, loss of body parts too damaged for medicine to help at this time,  antibiotic resistant superbugs,  etc..    Thank God for those called to practice and serve others via medicine.   We can call these precious ones gifts from God.    When we put these things in scriptural perspective, we can be more thankful for the help we receive through the son of Hagar, we can be more understanding that there is a reason why medicine is not commonly the miracle cure we were hoping for.    We can be more thankful for those who dedicate their lives to serving in this way without being tempted to accuse them when they cannot deliver what we are hoping for.   Most importantly, we can put the full burden of our need for our bodies to be completely made whole and redeemed on the One who has been covenantely appointed to do this work in our flesh.  Without keeping these things in order we can easily lose sight of the One who wants to and can make us whole and just as easily begin to grumble, complain against, feel frustration with and even accuse those who are working so hard to help us through human means.

 

The spirit behind Ishmael, behind the son of the bondwoman understands this reality very well.   This is why the persecution naturally flows from the one who has no inheritance against the one who has the inheritance.  The verses above say that this spiritual force behind it will cause ongoing persecution to flow against the Son of the Promise.    It is a sibling rivalry of sorts, a theme we see all through scripture.    In some case, ending in death as with Cain and Able…   The unfavored son literally tries to kill the favored one.    Or ideally, each one accepting their place as what happened with Esau and Jacob.   This is my personal hope that in keeping these two elements in godly order, the two brothers can live and work together.

 

We also have to be aware that this is why it is so easy for us to put our full hope in medicine and lose track of the Son as the central place in which we put our hope.   No, I am not discouraging anyone from getting help from medicine, but to always seek Jesus too and keep Him pre-eminently in your heart and thoughts as our only source of complete healing and restoration.

 

We all understand that no one other than God can forgive our sins, no one other than God can resurrect our dead spirit, but most of us still struggle with the biblical fact that only God is really capable of restoring people to perfect health and wholeness.  The measure of success we may sometimes get steals us from us the motivation to seek the Lord Jehovah Rapha for the full restoration of our health.    Thank God that we can benefit from both sons but, let us give to the rightful heir the pre-eminence and put our expectations in each according to what they are able to provide. “Seek God first, and His righteousness”…, “…and all these things will be added unto you.”

 

Above all, seek relationship with your Abba Father.  Yes He delights in our wellbeing  (Psalm 35:27) but of course the big prize, the central thing remains KNOWING Him.     Let us never forget His benefits (Psalm 103:1-4) but more importantly let us learn to be like Mary and delight above all things in simply sitting in His presence, attentive to all that He will share with us.