Top 7 Bible Verses About Illness

Here are seven Bible verses that speak about illness.

James 5:14-16 “Is anyone among you sick? 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. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

Contrary to popular belief, these verses are no guarantee that everyone will be healed, every time. It does however seem to show a connection between unconfessed (and unforgiven) sin and illness and I’ll explain why I say that. Why else would James include the prayers of the faith “will raise him up” and then add “and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven?” Perhaps it was the sin or sins that made them ill in the first place. James adds that we should “confess [our] sins to one another and pray for one another” in order “that you may be healed.” Indeed, a clear conscience may make “the prayer of a righteous person” have “great power”

John 11:4 “But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

When Jesus said this, interestingly, it was an illness that did lead to death; Lazarus’ death. Why would Jesus say that, knowing that Lazarus was going to die? Jesus in fact said, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him” (John 11:14b-15). Why was Jesus glad not to be there? Maybe it’s because He could have healed Lazarus. That’s the key…in God’s sovereignty, God allowed Lazarus to die but why? If Jesus had been there, they would have come and brought Him to Lazarus for Him to heal him, but Jesus had His reasons. After Lazarus had been dead for four days, Christ was about to raise him from the dead and here’s why. “Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God” (John 11:40)? That’s it…the Son of God was glorified more by raising Lazarus from the dead than from healing him of his illness.

Second Kings 13: “Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”

When people tell me that if you have enough faith you can be healed of all illnesses, would they accuse Paul of lacking faith since he was never healed from his “thorn in the flesh.” What about Timothy’s stomach issues? Did he lack faith? Or how about Elisha’s illness that is leading to his death? Why was Elisha allowed to die by an illness when he had healed others? Why let Elisha die? Didn’t he have great faith? The point is, even illness, and yes, even death (i.e. Lazarus), can bring glory to God. And we may not always know why.

Acts 28:8-9 “It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him. And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.”

When Paul was shipwrecked on an island, he went to Publius’ father and healed him, despite being ill with fever and dysentery. The fever could be a totally separate illness or it could have been the result of the dysentery. Whatever the case, Paul healed him and many, many others will illness and those “who had diseases also came and were cured” as well.

Psalm 41:3 “The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.”

When I read this Bible verse, it makes me think of Jesus Christ, Who was frequently restoring those who were in their sickbed. The number of healings as well as all of the other acts of Jesus, as John says, cannot be estimated. That’s why John wrote that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book” (John 20:30). When you think of Jesus healing the sick, think of Psalm 41:3 as a fulfillment of prophecy.

Matthew 8:17 “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

This verse is just what Isaiah the Prophet was writing about in Isaiah 53:4 where it says He “he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” and “upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). What is the deadliest of all illnesses? It’s a human condition called sin because a person can be healed of some diseases and illnesses or even if a Christian dies from an illness, they will be raised to eternal life in Christ. If Jesus bore only our illnesses, then we’re still in our sins and without hope. The greatest cure ever is that of sin for it prevents an eternal death. Jesus’ shed His own blood voluntarily to save those Who would repent and trust in Him. Do we really think that Jesus was wounded, beaten, chastised, and bore many griefs just so we’d get over a cold?

First Kings 17:17-18 “After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son.”

The woman whose son had apparently died vented her anger on Elisha and may have close to how Martha felt when she saw Jesus and told Him that if He’d be there, Lazarus wouldn’t have died. The story ends with Elisha raising the widow’s son ,but like many of us, we get like this woman or Martha and question a good God, knowing full well that God promises that all things, good or bad, will always work out for our very best (Rom 8:28). We can’t always understand why some are healed and some are allowed to die.

Conclusion

The main thing the unsaved should be concerned about is their sin-sickness and their refusal to come to the Great Physician Who alone can give them the redemption they need (Acts 4:12). Until they see their need for the Savior, they’ll never humble themselves before Him…at least yet, but bank on this; “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Rom 14;11) “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.