When There Is Pestilence in the Land, or When We Have Disease

Pestilence is said to mean “an acute infectious disease,” and disease refers to “all kinds of sickness of the body.” If such suffering comes upon this land, then what should we do? Since the world today is an age in which medical science has advanced greatly compared with the time when the passage above was written, the first thing to do is to go to a hospital and see a doctor.

God has given talents to all people (Matt. 25:15), and doctors are also people who have received talents given by God. They take interest in people’s bodies and diseases and work to treat them. Therefore, doctors, like all others, ought to give all glory in the name of Jesus to Jesus, who gave them such talents (1 Cor. 15:10). And patients who receive treatment should not only thank the doctors who treated their illnesses, but should all the more give thanks in the name of Jesus to Jesus, who gave those doctors such talents (Matt. 15:31). In the end, fundamentally, it is Jesus who heals.

Thus, it is very important for us to understand the “root,” or the foundation. Only then can we avoid giving to man the glory that ought to be given to God (Rom. 1:21-23). In fact, for a person who is sick right now, being healed of the illness may be the first goal. However, we need to think not only about that, but also about the more fundamental issue: why things like pestilence or disease come upon this land and upon us. This is because we have the Creator God who governs our life and death, our calamity and blessing.

The passage above in 2 Chronicles 6:28-31 teaches us this very truth. Therefore, if God’s people, in the midst of suffering, humble themselves, spread out their hands “toward this house,” and pray and make supplication, God, who knows the hearts of men (Jer. 17:9-10), says that He will forgive.

And the reason God forgives sins when people pray “toward this house” is not because it is the temple in Jerusalem, but because the name of God is in that house.

2 Chronicles 7:13-16 “13If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 15Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent, unto the prayer that is made in this place. 16For now have I chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.”

As this passage says, the reason God said that His eyes would be open and His ears attentive to the prayer His people, who are called by His name, made “toward this house / in this place” is that God had caused His name to dwell in that house forever. Therefore, there God forgives the sins of His people and heals their land.

We today can know that “this house,” which God speaks of through the passages above, does not mean the temple in Jerusalem or a church building today. The reason is that through the gospel, the Holy Spirit of truth has made known to all of us that “this house where God placed His name” is none other than “Jesus, who came in the name of God.”

John 2:19-21 “19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days? 21But he spake of the temple of his body.”

Amen. Truly, it is so. The name of Jesus is the name of God, and the power of God to heal diseases was with Jesus, who is the temple.

John 5:43 “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”

Luke 5:17 “And it came to pass on one of those days, that he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who were come out of every village of Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.”

Therefore, when people lowered a paralyzed man on his bed through the roof, Jesus did not first say to him, “Rise and walk,” in other words, “Your disease is healed.” Instead, He said, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” By doing this, He clearly made known to people that He had authority to forgive sins.

Luke 5:18-26 “18And behold, men bring on a bed a man that was palsied: and they sought to bring him in, and to lay him before him. 19And not finding by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his couch into the midst before Jesus. 20And seeing their faith, he said, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. 21And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this that speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? 22But Jesus perceiving their reasonings, answered and said unto them, Why reason ye in your hearts? 23Which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and walk? 24But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins—he said unto him that was palsied—I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go unto thy house. 25And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his house, glorifying God. 26And amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God; and they were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day.”

Thus, now all of us can receive forgiveness of sins “through the name of Jesus.”

Acts 10:43-44 “43To him bear all the prophets witness, that through his name every one that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins. 44While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word.”

Therefore, when there is pestilence in this land, or when we have disease, we must now humble ourselves and earnestly pray to Jesus “in the name of Jesus.” And, as in 2 Chronicles 6:31 above, we must confess:

“So long as we live on this earth, we will always fear Jesus and walk only in the ways of Jesus.”

This is because, as mentioned earlier, the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men (Dan. 4:32) and governs all our life and death, calamity and blessing. Therefore, in order to live, it is only right that we humbly believe in and follow Jesus. This truly is the fundamental way for us to be healed, and it is the only way for us to live forever in the kingdom Jesus has promised.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “19I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed; 20to love Jehovah thy God, to obey his voice, and to cleave unto him; for he is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Amen.