THE SIN OF UNBELIEF
BY W. L. G.
For what if some did not believe?
Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let
God be true but every man a liar. – Rom. iii: 3,4.
It has long been a study
in the minds of many sincere and earnest Christians, to find a satisfactory
solution to the great problem of reconciling the vast amount of sickness and
suffering in this world with the goodness and mercy of God. As I turn to His
Word for guidance and light, and hear Him say, “All things are possible to him
that believeth,” a new beam of hope seems to shine forth in these words.
When God’s people were
passing through the wilderness and so grievously sinned against Him, and were
bitten by the fiery serpents, He mercifully provided a remedy. The brazen
serpent was raised up, and all who looked to it were healed. The looking
implied faith, and without faith enough to look, the surely would not have been
healed. Thus we may see how early God began teaching His people to trust Him
for bodily healing. As the brazen serpent was the type of Christ, let us follow
on and look at its two-fold fulfillment. From the first of Christ’s ministry He
united the healing of the body with that of the soul. His great heart of love
at once flowed out in relieving the miseries of mankind. Not simply relieving
those who came within his personal reach, but He sent out His twelve apostles
on this great errant of love and mercy. Let us see the two-fold commission
which He gave them. In St. Luke ix:2, we read: “And He sent them to preach the
kingdom of God and to heal the sick; “Also in St. Matt. x:7,8, He tells them to
heal the sick and to “preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The great commission was
not confined to the twelve apostles, for Jesus called seventy more to proclaim
to mankind the provision which He had made for the physical, as well as the
spiritual, needs of the human race. What a great need must have been unsupplied
had He not made this wonderful provision. What thanksgiving and praise should
we render to Him for His loving kindness, and His mercy that “endureth
forever.” Let us look at the commission given to the seventy as He sent them
out: “And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things
as are set before you: and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them,
the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”-(St. Luke x:8,9.) Again, let us look
at His farewell commission to His disciples, as He was about to leave the. He
includes in it this great need f the world, healing of the body, as well as of
the soul, and lest it might be said that His mercies of healing were only to
establish His Divinity, and that there would be no further need of them, He
affirms that “these signs shall follow them
that believe.”-(St. Mark xvi:17.) Here we find the key to unlock the great
mystery of sickness and misery,-the unbelief
of the world. The Word says, “Have faith in God;” Unbelief says, “Have faith in
yourselves.”
Let us look at the exact
words of this last commission: “And He said unto them, go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in
My name shall they cast our devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they
shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the sick,
and they shall recover.”
As the spiritual and
physical healing are strongly joined together in God’s Word, let no one attempt
to put them asunder. We have no right to select a part of God’s commands as a
rule of our live, and leave out other parts. They are God’s words which say,
“These signs shall follow them that believe;” not those that do not believe.
Alas, these signs have not been seen in ages past because of the great sin of
unbelief. We read that Jesus, while “in His own country, and among and among
His own kin, and His own house,” “marveled
because of their unbelief,” and we read further that “He could do there no
mighty works, and save that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk and healed
them.-(St. Mark vi: 5,6.) We see here that Jesus speaks of physical healing as
being a “mighty work,” and in the same chapter, second verse, the people say,
“And what wisdom is this which is given unto Him, that even such might works
are wrought by His hands.”
Had Christ performed His
miracles of healing only to establish His Divinity, why should lack of faith be
a hindrance to His work? Jesus evidently intended to establish as a basis of
healing, a personal faith in Him for a personal healing, and this was to extend
down through time. “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth.” Are not the “all things” as possible to-day as when Christ made
this promise? Where did he revoke those words that they should not be in force
to-day?
In St. Luke ix: 11, it
is recorded: “And (Jesus) spoke unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed
them that had need of healing.” Here,
again, our Saviour recognizes the fact that physical healing is one of the
world’s needs, and He connected it with His speaking “unto them of the kingdom
of God.” And all through the Bible the connection is kept up between the
healing of the body and the healing of the soul.
In the early history of
the world, God gave a conditional promise to His people in these words: “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 statues, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have
brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”-(Ex. xv:26.)
In Psalm ciii:2,3, David says “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His
benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities: who healeth all diseases.” Again,
St. Paul tells us that God is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, “and it is not possible that the physical need is forgotten.
O, how my heart rejoices
at the thought that not far in the dim distance a new beam of light and hope
will arise; one that will open to mankind the greatest mystery of human
suffering, and reconcile it with the goodness of God. When we are led to
realize that the promises of God are abundant and full, and it is only our
unbelief which fails to appropriate them to our physical needs, thus making it
a necessity with God to withhold his blessings until we are willing to trust
Him, then we shall see that it is not of His will that we suffer. Yes, let me
repeat it, our unbelief makes it a necessity with God to withhold His blessings
form us, for it would dishonor Him to reward the unbelieving. It would be as reasonable
to expect Him to save a sinner who would not believe, as to heal the sick in
unbelief, and as long as we fail to trust Him we must expect to fail of the
benefits which He has promised, as “without faith it is impossible to please
Him.”
We sing that “earth ahs no sorrow that Heaven
cannot heal.” Let us believe it, and step out boldly on the promises of God,
and we shall find them a sure foundation that will not fail in time of need.
