(A reply to W. J., Harlech.)
Most of the scriptures you quote are in the Old Testament, and refer to the dealings of God in that governmental dispensation. Exod. 15:2626And 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. (Exodus 15:26) was a promise to that people. They were to be blessed here in this world, if they did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Their blessing was conditional on obedience. This is more fully explained to them in Deut. 33 The Lord is clearly the healer of the body, “For I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Indeed all these blessings have reference to the body here on earth.
But to apply this to the Christian would be a great mistake. We are blest, not with earthly blessings, but “with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3-73Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:3‑7).) When Jesus left His little flock on earth, He gave no promise that they should, if obedient, be exempt from tribulation; but He said in the world they would have it. And the more obedient they have been to His word, the more has the world hated them and persecuted them. The most obedient and devoted servant of Christ could say, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble,” &c. (2 Cor. 1:3-63Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. (2 Corinthians 1:3‑6).)
May it not be said to some, “ Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth,” &c. (See Heb. 12:5-85And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. (Hebrews 12:5‑8).) Is it not a great mistake to suppose that absence of chastening is a proof that we are right? It would rather prove we were deceived. This may be what Satan is aiming at in all this.
Exod. 23:2525And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. (Exodus 23:25) is a similar promise to Israel. “And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee... and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come.” How important to bear in mind the difference of dispensation in the dealings of God! One would think no one could apply such a scripture to Christians. And it is a serious thing to say we are Jews, when we are not, but do lie. (Rev. 3:99Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. (Revelation 3:9).) For the Jew, affliction was a mark of rebuke, to the Christian it may be a token of love to one whom He loveth.
You will perceive the next scripture given is of the same character, and could not possibly be applied to us now. “And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee: thine eye shall have no pity upon them,” &c. This was God’s governmental dealings in that dispensation. Can any one suppose it is in this period of infinite grace to man?
We will now look at your next; and a most solemn scripture it is. “And Asa, in the thirty and ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” (2 Chron. 16:1212And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. (2 Chronicles 16:12).) Now here was a man of God who had committed the very common sin of making alliance with the world. He made a league with Ben-hadad, king of Syria. He gave him silver and gold, he relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on Jehovah. (See ver. 7.) He was then rebuked by the prophet Hanani, “Herein hast thou done foolishly.” Did he repent at the word of the Lord? Far from it! He, in his folly, persecuted the prophet. And now the Lord, in his love to him, afflicts him in his feet. Does he now repent, and turn to and rely on the Lord? No, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.
And as Elihu says, “ Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man. To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.” (Read Job 33; 36) Gods gracious object in such cases, and they are common, when a believer has sinned, is to bring him to repentance and confession. (See Jas. 5:13-1613Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:13‑16), and 1 John 5:1616If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. (1 John 5:16).) And how often may you see a Christian like Asa. He fails grievously, and refuses to bow to his Father’s afflicting hand. He gets chafed and angry. If it is in his circumstances, he will borrow money wherever he can get it, and thus struggle against the hand of God. And if it is affliction of the body, he may struggle against God in the same disobedient spirit. He refuses for a time to rely on God his Father, and to return to Him, in confession and humiliation.
It is not going to the physician that is so wrong, but the state of his soul in doing so, as to his sin, and the Lord’s claims. Nay, where there is brokenness of spirit, as in the case of Hezekiah, as he explains this matter when he had been sick, the Lord may use the physician—indeed he used Isaiah as a physician. No doubt there was faith, but there was also a plaster made of a lump of figs laid upon the boil. (Isa. 38:2121For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover. (Isaiah 38:21).) And are there not many physicians who never go to see a patient, but who first look to the Lord for guidance as to what remedy they shall prescribe?
Afflictions are not always because of some failure. This was not the case in Hezekiah. (Isa. 38) His history up to this point is beautiful and refreshing to read. But the Lord saw a great temptation coming upon him, in the letters, and flatteries, and presents of the king of Babylon. His affliction and restoration should have prepared him against the seductions of the enemy. If we are not conscious of some sin, for which the Lord is afflicting us in His love, let us take it as a warning, and look to the Lord for increased watchfulness lest we are entangled in the flatteries of Babylon. In every one of these Old Testament histories we see a picture of our own experience.
The writer looks back over more than half a century of the experience of his own failures and God’s goodness, and he can say, “It was good for me that I was afflicted.” Deep humiliation, surely, becomes him that he needed those afflictions, but he could not have done without them, and would not have been without them. The Lord doeth all things well. But we hope shortly to turn to the New Testament scriptures you refer to; in the meantime let us remember that, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:1919Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19).)