Sickness, a Consequence of Sin?

David W Palmer

“Fools, because of their transgression,

And because of their iniquities, were afflicted.”

—Psalm 107:17 (nkjv)

We see in Psalm 107 that God’s Word states: “Fools because of their transgressions and … iniquities were afflicted.” The affliction to which this psalm refers includes sickness, because the remedy mentioned in verse twenty was healing:

(Psalm 107:20 NKJV) He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.

Therefore, we see that sickness comes because of sin—all traceable to the original sins of Lucifer then Adam and Eve, which was both the cause and consequence of their fall from grace and has spread to all of their descendants. So, all sickness in the world today comes ultimately from these original sins—whether deserved or underserved by the current sufferer.

Let us now investigate the connection between sickness and sin further in the Word of God.

ORIGINAL SIN

Born again believers who have confessed and forsaken sin, and who have received Jesus’s righteousness by faith, do not suffer the consequences of their own past sin; it has gone into the sea of forgetfulness. (If, that is, they have repented, confessed, received forgiveness from God, and received Jesus’s righteousness by fully assured faith in God’s promises.)

(Jeremiah 31:34 nkjv) “… I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

(Micah 7:19 nlt) “Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!”

Therefore, we do not suffer sickness because of any sin for which we have received God’s forgiveness; Jesus’s blood cancelled it; it is gone and forgotten.

Yet, we do have to fight sickness. However, our battle with it is a consequence of living in a fallen world. This is a direct consequence of Lucifer and Adam’s original sins. Satan influenced Adam’s fall, usurping his role and place of dominion over the earth. This is how the curse and sickness entered.

Lucifer originated sin when he chose to rebel against God because of pride (See: Ezekiel 28:15, Isaiah 14:10–15). He then passed sin to Adam when he enticed him into sin—submission to Satan instead of God—and thus brought Adam and his descendants under his control. As a result, all off mankind was cut off from God’s full love, protection, and blessing. Simultaneously, they were now under a new god or overlord, Satan, who can impart only death, decay, corruption, destruction, sickness, etc. These facts clearly show that sin opened the way for sickness. This is because man’s sin allowed Satan to gain sway over man’s domain, and Satan does not give life, healing, or health:

(1 John 5:19 niv) “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”

Jesus said that Satan is a thieving, killing destroyer; he called him “The thief,” who came to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10 KJV). He certainly did not come to give life and healing as Jesus did.

Psalm 107 stated that people were sick because of their own sin. Therefore, all born again believers who have received forgiveness have the right to be completely free of sickness. So why do we still wrestle with it? And what of the millions of innocent children who suffer and die before they are old enough to commit sin? Understanding original sin helps us answer these questions.

Sickness entered the world because of the fall; Adam’s sin destroyed the godly and blessed covering he should have provided over his descendants. Now, although an individual may not have sinned, they are still under the effects of the original sin that gave sickness access to the human race. This is why innocent babies and infants suffer.

Babies who have not committed any sin, and older people whose sin is forgiven and forgotten by God, have no legal imperative to be sick. However, the ruler of this world will perpetrate sickness and premature death against them as long as he can get away with it; he is exceedingly evil. And that’s why we all need to know how to fight off sickness with God’s weapons, and how to minister healing in Jesus’s name.

Today, be encouraged: if you are born again, if you have turned from your old life with all of your heart, if you have confessed Jesus as Lord, and if you follow him completely, Father has taken you out of the devil’s kingdom and put you into his kingdom:

(Colossians 1:12–14 NLT) always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. {13} For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, {14} who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

If this applies to you, healing is yours; you are again under God’s blessing, favour, and have inherited in Christ all that he has—you are “joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17 KJV). In other words, healing is yours today; it’s not God’s will for you to be sick. (But don’t question why he hasn’t healed you. Read on in this series of studies, so you can learn his way to walk in what he has provided for you.)