Sermon Archives (November  25, 2001):

Is Healing for You? – Part  5

Is healing for you?   Some will say “No”, and they will even quote the Bible, the Apostle Paul (II Corinthians 12:7) “And lest I should be exalted above measure…, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.”   Many assume that Paul’s thorn was a form of sickness.  And so the apologist argues,  “Well Brother Burt, you realize that you are not as good as Paul.   And after all, the Lord let Paul be sick all of his life.    Paul prayed for healing three times.  But rather than be healed, the Lord told him that ‘God’s grace was sufficient’.   Grace, not healing, was given to Paul. So if Paul was sick, you might as well accept your sickness and stop praying for healing.”

Sounds plausible.  The logic could be so.  I am not as good as the Apostle Paul, and I would expect that none of you listening to me today are better than the Apostle Paul either.   So by this logic, since God did not heal Paul, why then would God heal any of us?

Beloved let us bow our heads.   Father, let every believer hear this message today and the world as well.  What of Paul’s thorn?  If it was sickness, then is healing to be denied to us as well?  Teach us Father.   Touch us.  Let us know if healing is for us?  And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

Our focus today is upon Paul’s thorn.  This is the fifth in a series of teachings on healing.   I spoke of Paul’s thorn in general terms last month, but this time I wish to examine this issue in greater depth.   The apologist’s assumption and indeed the assumption of many churches and denominations today is that Paul’s thorn had to be an illness, sickness, or disease.   But what does God say on this?   What does the Bible say on this?   Inquiring minds want to know.

There are precepts by which one proves a matter by the Bible.  The Bible says, (Matthew 18:16) “In the mouth of two or three, let every word be established.”   So if a “thorn” is to be defined, thereby established Biblically, we should find evidence of that definition in at least two or three places within the Bible before concluding its meaning.

Was Paul’s thorn sickness, or disease?  Point one.  The Bible answers, (Numbers 33:50-55) “Now the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying,  ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess. …  But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.”

Note: Moses had been commanded to kill the Palestinians as the Israelites entered into the Promised Land.  God told Moses that if the Palestinians were allowed to remain, the Palestinians would remain an irritant in their eyes, and a “thorn” – note it - in their side.   And since Israel did not follow God’s directive, the Palestinians have remained a “thorn” in Israel’s side till this day.   Note, here the Bible defines the “thorn” as people persecuting other people, and not sickness inflicting people.

Point two. (Joshua 23:13)  “Know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.”    “Thorns in your eyes?”   Who or what?  Is it sickness?  No!!  The Bible again defines a “thorn” as a form of persecution, or annoyance by another, and not sickness.

For a point to be established, proved, it must be shown in at least three passages.  Point three. (2 Samuel 23:6)  “But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands.”  Once again, the Bible defines this “thorn” not as a sickness, but as “sons of rebellion”.

Who then is the Prince of all Rebellion?  Satan!  The “sons of rebellion” then are the children of Satan.   The Bible defines itself.  God cannot lie.  Paul’s thorn was then not a form of sickness, but a form of persecution by others.  Can we identify what then was Paul’s thorn, this form of persecution?   Let us return to Paul’s original words,  (II Corinthians 12:7) “And lest I should be exalted above measure…, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.”   Paul tells us that his “thorn” in his flesh was “the messenger of Satan.”

Could that messenger be sickness?   Let us turn to the original Greek.  The Greek word that was translated to “messenger” in English was in Greek “angelos”.   The word “angelos” is found 188 times in the New Testament.  Six places, the word is translated to the English word “messenger”, but in the remaining 181 places the word “angelos” is translated to the English word “angel”.   So in conclusion “the messenger of Satan” was not sickness but rather an “angel of Satan”, one of Satan’s daemons.

Today, we could say that Satan’s angel was a pain in the butt, to “buffet” and fight Paul.  Paul prayed three times that God would take away Satan’s demon, but God declined.  Why?  Christ answers, (John 15:20)  “A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”  Was Christ persecuted?  Yes, all the way to the cross.  So was Paul to suffer?  (2 Timothy 3:12)  “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer…”  But “suffer” what?  Does the verse say “sickness or disease”?  No.  The verse said that those of Christ will “suffer persecution”, as Christ suffered persecution.

Wherever Jesus went, he was persecuted.  Wherever Paul went, he was persecuted.  Wherever you go as a Child of God you too will be persecuted.  But could that form of persecution be sickness?  Consider this.  Read the life of Jesus, as it is covered in the Gospels:  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  You will notice one outstanding fact:  Jesus was never sick.  He was persecuted, but he was never sick.

Jesus is the head of the Church, and you are of the body.  If the head is not sick, then neither is the body.  If the body is sick, is not the head sick as well?   (Hebrews 13:8)  “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and for ever.”    God declares of himself (Malachi 3:6)  “I am the Lord and I change not.”    Given that Jesus didn’t allow sickness in his own body while he lives, then he does not want it in the body of the Church today.  God who cannot change therefore does not want anybody sick.

God’s answer for Paul was God’s grace.  What then is this Grace of God?  It is the authority to use the name of Jesus, and to thereby bind Satan and the illnesses Satan brings.  (Luke 10:19)  “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”  (Mark 16:17-18)  “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." (Ephesians 4:27)  “nor give place to the devil.”

God said to Paul of this thorn, “I will not remove it.”  He meant that He wasn’t going to rid the earth of the devil yet.  But there is a day coming when He will do so.  Until then, He has given you grace.  He has given you authority.  He has given you power to stand against the devil.  (James 4:7)  “Resist the devil and he will flee you.”   Paul’s thorn was not sickness.  The thorn was a messenger of Satan.

Beloved, will you bow your heads, close your eyes, and repeat after me, “Blessed is our Father, who gives us grace, who gives us authority, who gives us power.   Blessed is our God who has no part in disease.  We bind you Satan for you have no power here.   Today we accept and claim God’s healing.  Forgive me my sins. Come into my life. I believe you are the Son of God, and that You died on the cross for me.  I repent of all the works of the Devil.  Cover me with your blood.  Create by God’s Holy Spirit a clean heart, and the strength to reject Satan’s world.   Heal me and renew my spirit so that I can hear Your voice, and be used by you as your child to bring many to salvation.   I accept you as my Savior!   Your are my Lord!  Amen!”