Reading 11. Kingdom Power over Disease. Is Sickness A Work of Satan?

by on January 3, 2017
➡ Average Reading Time: 7 minutes

Read Me First | Read Me Second | Read Me Third

Kingdom Introduction
Observing the Text!

An Assault on the Kingdom of Satan: The Scourging of the Enemy
The mindset of those living in the first century was that sickness was a work of Satan, a heavy weapon of his demonic force. Sickness and disease were ways in which Satan ruled the world. When Jesus healed those who were sick, he was in the act of pushing back the kingdom of Satan. In healing, Jesus not only attacked the demons, but he also attacked their work. He undid their damage.

Interpreting the Text!

Demons
The words disease and suffering in the following passages do not communicate the force of the original language.

    • For he had healed many so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him (Mark 3:10).
    • Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering (Mark 5:29).
    • He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34).

The original word in these texts is martix, which is defined as a whip or a lash. It is the same word that Luke used in Acts 22.24, which is translated as scourging and flogging in  Hebrews 11.36. It appears that whip is closer to the meaning in these passages. The idea is that sickness can be viewed as being whipped by the enemy.

…whips, scourges, and lashes inflicted by the evil one were ordinary diseases,…

The whips, scourges, and lashes inflicted by the evil one were ordinary diseases, which the Western mindset often accepts as ordinary experiences such as fevers, cancers, and heart problems, Jesus considered the result of satanic oppression. Satan uses a spiritual whip to inflict pain on humans.

Sickness is not a part of the plan of God for his creation. Satan rules his captured realm by causing suffering and agony in the world. Jesus came to take the whip off the backs of those enslaved by Satan (Luke 7.21). Here are some illustrative stories from scripture.

The Crippled Woman: Luke 13.10-17
The mindset of the medical world is that sickness is always caused by physical factors. Jesus, however, ascribed sickness directly or indirectly to the perversity of Satan. He pointed to a little old lady, tied like a horseshoe for eighteen years, and claimed that her physical infirmity was caused by the power of Satan (Luke 13.16). One might want to note that Dr. Luke’s worldview was different from today’s medical worldview. (This is not an argument saying that the ancient world’s medicine was superior, only that one doctor saw sickness from a different perspective and recorded it as such.)The mindset of the medical world is that sickness is always caused by physical factors. Click To Tweet

The doctor confirmed the idea that illness can be inflicted by a supernatural force.

We who are living with a Western mindset often see crippling diseases as the will of God in a person’s life; or that we will understand it better when we get to heaven. Western theology does not make room for satanic intervention in illness. This was not so with Jesus. On many occasions, he looked at a sick person and called his or her infirmity the work of the devil, not the will of God (Luke 13.11-16). This passage is loaded with profound theological significance. One might note that the woman had a spirit of infirmity. The doctor confirmed the idea that illness can be inflicted by a supernatural force. Luke equated this spirit of infirmity with Satan, the one who stood behind the twisting and binding.

Jesus attacked the demonic host when he healed this sick woman (Luke 13.13). Edward Langton believes that special demons came to be associated with particular forms of disease or sickness. Certain diseases were held to be caused by particular demons (Essentials of Demonology. 33).

Peter’s Mother-in-law: Luke 4.28-39
Jesus rebuked the fever when he healed Peter’s mother-in-law. He used the same language that he used on the demon,e which is recorded in Luke 13. Since words are clues to our thoughts, it is my considered conclusion that Jesus used the same word in addressing the fever that he did when addressing the demon because he saw a lethal unity between sickness and Satan. He spoke to the fever directly and told it to stop.

The Demonized Boy: Matthew 17.14
Matthew tied sickness and demons together in his story of the demonized boy. Mark only shared that the boy was demonized. Matthew added the information that the boy’s condition was epilepsy. Jesus rebuked the demon by attacking his works and the boy was cured.

Are You the One?
When John the Baptist received a report that Jesus was healing people, he sent his disciples to question Jesus. When his disciples found Jesus they asked, “Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?” Jesus responded to John’s disciples by “curing many who had diseases, sickness, and evil spirits” (Luke 7.18-21). In this verse, the word sickness means lash or whip (see above). One should note that in this context the word is used with disease and evil spirits.

Later, when John was in prison, he sent word to Jesus asking for assurance that Jesus was indeed the one to bring the kingdom. Jesus replied to John by first performing a healing and then sending his disciples back with this word, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard” (John 7.22). Jesus summarized his ministry by talking about what had been seen, his works, and what had been heard, his words.

He told John that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them. What good news? Satan’s power was being broken by the ministry of Jesus. How do the poor know this message? The blind were being healed. The lame began to walk. The lepers were made clean. The deaf could hear. The dead were alive. The kingdom/rule of God was invading the kingdom of Satan. On should note here that the “good news” is not accepting Jesus into one’s heart by saying a prayer, but in realizing that Jesus was saying and doing the words and works of the kingdom.

The View from Today!

Today’s Westerners still have difficulty in believing that sickness can be a work of Satan.

Today’s Westerners still have difficulty in believing that sickness can be a work of Satan. They rather see this belief as medieval, superstitious, and totally incredible in an enlightened age. The ancient world is seen as immature and adolescent in their belief that sickness could be caused by the demonic. For the Westerner to accept sickness as demonic is to have a primitive, animistic mindset. The Western medical community is persuaded that sickness is caused by viruses and germs, not demonic sickness. While it is certainly true that viruses and germs cause sickness, it is my contention that they are not the only cause. In the Western worldview, the belief that sickness can be the direct work of Satan is ridiculed, scorned, and rejected.

Take Two Aspirin and Call Me Tomorrow
What is the first thing we do when we get a headache or a fever? Do we pray or go to the medicine closet for two aspirin? If it is the latter, does it say that we do see sickness or disease as physical in origin and not theological?Today's Westerners still have difficulty in believing that sickness can be a work of Satan. Click To Tweet

It is not the point of this discussion to disdain medical technology or the medical practice of doctors. Every time we have a throbbing toothache we should not automatically cry that Satan is stabbing us in our molars. We can acknowledge the value of modern medicine and still have a biblical belief and practice that understands that Satan can be the cause of physical suffering.

Have we become so profound because we can isolate a death-dealing virus and give it a Greek or Latin name? A virus that destroys children, wipes away our hopes, and ravages our loved ones? There is an element of mysterious and malignant evil in sickness. When Jesus encountered it, he did not philosophize about it; he did not do a psychological study on it; he did not theologize about it; and he did not explain it in medical terms, anchent or modern. He simply healed the disease. Oh, to be like Jesus!

Living into the Text!

It is always important to live into what you have learned. Pause at this point and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to meditate on and put into practice some or all of the following.

  • How long since you took a spiritual whipping from the enemy? Did you see it as an assault on you? Why or why not?
  • How do you believe a disease is caused?
  • What do you think about the idea that your worldview may have caused you to view disease in a non-biblical way?
  • How does your worldview cause you to see or not see disease as a weapon of the enemy to defeat you?
  • In what way have you found yourself in the shoes of John the Baptist in his need to know if Jesus is really the one sent from God? When can you see the good news, or can you only speak the good news, or accept the good news?
  • In what way would you defend a belief that Satan may be at the root of some diseases?
  • Which do you do? Pray first, then seek medical attention or seek medical attention and then pray? What might this say about your theology?
BibleInfoResources!

The articles below come from various Bible Dictionaries and other sources. The posting of these brief articles are to introduce some readers to the vast amount of information that is provided to enhance your reading of the text of the Bible with a hope that it will lead to a better understanding of the text and will lead the reader to an improved praxis in his or her community of faith and personal life. You might read the articles offline in a number of different Bible Dictionaries. If you do not own a Bible Dictionary, I would recommend New Bible Dictionary 3rd Edition. If you like lots of color pictures, try Revell Bible Dictionary. Revell Bible Dictionary is no longer in print but is available from Amazon. One of these should suit your personal needs.

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Read Me First

 

Throughout these sessions, I have used the word ecclesia (singular) for the usual word church and ecclesiae (plural) to indicate a church in a particular geographic place, i.e., the ecclesiae at Corinth, meaning the whole of the many smaller ecclesia that met in homes in Corinth. This is to distinguish between the Institutional Church model (IC) and ecclesia that meet in cities and towns around the world. The ecclesiae written about by the authors of the Second Testament were not the same as what the “church” has become over the years of its existence. Usually, but not always, folks think of a church as a place where they go to a building and set in rows of pews and listen to music and sometimes sing and listen to sermons by a pastor or senior pastor. The ecclesiae of the Second Testament time did not invoke this model.

 

I have discovered over the years that if you want to try and change minds about something special, you have to venture out and reword it in order to grasp a foothold for a new refreshed understanding of the idea presented by the word. Such is the case between "church" and "ecclesia."

 

Happy Reading!

Read Me Second

 

Referenced verses in the text of this study are not used to prove some point of view. They are merely markers where the subject matter is referenced by other books and authors. To gain a larger view of each quote, a serious student of the Holy Writ would take the time to view the reference and see what the background is. The background provides tracks on which the meaning of a text rides. So knowing the context of a referenced passage would help the reader to gain a more thorough understanding of an author than just the words quoted and marked by a verse number that was not a part of the original author's text, which as you might remember was performed on the text in a random fashion many years later.

 

Happy Reading!

Read Me Third

 

The verses that are referenced in these sessions are not meant to prove a point. They are simply pointers to where the idea being written about may have a correlation. In order to see if they accomplish the thesis presented by the original author, a student should read, at a minimum, the chapter in which the verse is found as well as trying to ascertain what the original author may have meant to say to the original audience.

 

Of course, this is a lot of work but it is beneficial work. If one does not understand what the author meant when it was written and the audience could not have understood by what was written, then the words on the page can mean anything that a present reader may assign as a meaning, thus distorting what God was inspiring for the original writer to write to the original audience to hear.

A great and recent book by N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird entitled The New Testament in Its World would be a wonderful addition to your reading helps.

 

Happy Reading!

 

 

Guide Yourself into a Kingdom of God Mindset in 13 Readings, which covers a matrix through which you can view the writings of the New Testament about the subject matter of the kingdom of God. You can enjoy this material completely in just 13 readings. Of course, you can take all the time you want, say 13 Days or 13 Weeks. It's up to you. To get the most from your reading, it is important that you read the biblical text along with it. The New International Version (NIV: Electronic Version 2011) is the text on which the studies are built.

The first section of each reading is called Observing the Text, which is an introduction to the section that is being read. Next, you will encounter Interpreting the Text, which suggests an interpretation of the section your are reading. Then, there is Living into the Text, which suggests questions, which may help you live into the text. This final section BibleInfoResources!, provides you with some articles that may interest you. After all, the text of Scripture was originally written for a community of Yahweh or Jesus followers to help them in their pursuit of God. The text was never meant to be for the accumulation of personal knowledge. Of course, the Holy Spirit is the final word for living your life and for the life of a community of Jesus followers. Listen to what he may be saying to your community of faith and personally about what you are reading. But, on a personal level, don’t get a personal application for you mixed up with the meaning of the text in Scripture. Remember this easy rule of thumb: one meaning, many applications. NOTE: Throughout the text, you will see words that have a thin dashed underline. When you place your cursor over the word(s) a small tooltip box will appear with more information about the word(s).

Each reading may include some of the following icons and sections:

Observing the Text! What does the text say? Provides you with a quick overview of the passage.
Interpreting the Text! What does the text mean? Helps you gain an understanding of the meaning of the text as those who first heard or read it may have understood it.
Living into the Text! What does the text mean to my community of faith and to me? Some reflections to help assist your community of faith and you to live into the Story of God.
WordTreasures: Defining the Text! Definitions of key words and phrases.
Behind the Scenes: Historical Background of the Text! A look at the historical background of the text
BibleInfoResources! Helpful resources for further readings. The Resource Information appears at the end of each of the studies. Reading this material in the noted reference popup will enrich your comprehension of the material under consideration.

 

 

 

Satan

Satan, also called the adversary and accuser. When used as a proper name, the Hebrew word so rendered has the article “the adversary” (Job 1:6–12; 2:1–7). In the New Testament it is used as interchangeable with diabolos, or the devil, and is so used more than thirty times. He is also called “the dragon,” “the old serpent” (Rev. 12:9; 20:2); “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30); “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2); “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4); “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). The distinct personality of Satan and his activity among men are thus obviously recognized. He tempted our Lord in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–11). He is “Beelzebub, the prince of the devils” (12:24). He is “the constant enemy of God, of Christ, of the divine kingdom, of the followers of Christ, and of all truth; full of falsehood and all malice, and exciting and seducing to evil in every possible way.” His power is very great in the world. He is a “roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Men are said to be “taken captive by him” (2 Tim. 2:26). Christians are warned against his “devices” (2 Cor. 2:11), and called on to “resist” him (James 4:7). Christ redeems his people from “him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). Satan has the “power of death,” not as lord, but simply as executioner.

Devil (Gr. diabolos), a slanderer, the arch-enemy of man’s spiritual interest (Job 1:6; Rev. 2:10; Zech. 3:1). He is called also “the accuser of the brethen” (Rev. 12:10). In Lev. 17:7 the word “devil” is the translation of the Hebrew sair, meaning a “goat” or “satyr” (Isa. 13:21; 34:14), alluding to the wood-daemons, the objects of idolatrous worship among the heathen. In Deut. 32:17 and Ps. 106:37 it is the translation of Hebrew shed, meaning lord, and idol, regarded by the Jews as a “demon,” as the word is rendered in the Revised Version. In the narratives of the Gospels regarding the “casting out of devils” a different Greek word (daimon) is used. In the time of our Lord there were frequent cases of demoniacal possession (Matt. 12:25–30; Mark 5:1–20; Luke 4:35; 10:18, etc.).

Easton Bible Dictionary: Satan

 

Jesus Followers

 

There are many synonyms to use for the word believer, which is the most common word for a person who has "converted" to follow Jesus. I have chosen "Jesus follower(s) or follower(s) of Jesus instead of the word believer in these presentations to allow the reader an opportunity to move away from the idea of believer which conjures up the possible thought of "ascent" to a set of doctrines that have been assembled by different groups over the centuries and show up in this day and age as a set of statements posted on web sites and other written material. These sets of beliefs are suggested by many as the ones that one should ascent to so that upon death the one who assents can go to heaven, i.e., just believe and you are good to go. Jesus followers/followers of Jesus suggest an action that one should take. Remember, Jesus told his disciples to follow him. Yes, belief is important, but one must move beyond belief to action.

 

(See "Discipleship" Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. 182-188.)