Ecclesiastes 10:10 (NKJV)
10 If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but WISDOM BRINGS SUCCESS.
The KJV says “wisdom is profitable to direct.” This translation is closer to the Hebrew text.
The Bible instructs God’s people to be wise.
Proverbs 4:7 (NKJV)
7 WISDOM is the PRINCIPAL THING; therefore GET WISDOM. And in all your getting, GET UNDERSTANDING.
The word “wisdom” translates the Hebrew word “chokmah” (חָכְמָה). It means shrewdness (cleverness), prudence, circumspect.
Ephesians 5:15 says, “See then that you walk CIRCUMSPECTLY, not as fools but as WISE.” The word “wise” here translates the Greek word “sophos” (σοφός). It means clever, intelligent.
Many Christians struggle today, not only in spiritual things, but also in their physical lives because they flout this simple instruction (“be wise“). Christians generally assume that faith means folly. For example, it is not uncommon to see some attempt to fast for 40 days simply because Jesus did. Others have dared to enter lions’ compartments in a zoo or walk on water, all in the name of “faith.”
Follow this logic: The SAME Bible which records SEVERAL miraculous events also tells you to be WISE. This wouldn’t be if all that was required for the Christian walk was faith. The admonition to be wise is therefore very instructive.
One area of our lives where wisdom is required is in the area of our health. Sound health isn’t taught in the Bible as an act of God ALONE. Man’s corporation is also required. There is ALWAYS the natural amd spiritual aspect to physical health and healing.
Many Christians fall sick today and many even die because they have not learnt how to combine both the natural and spiritual for health and healing. Naturally, Christians know the spiritual aspects, but few understand the physical. Many have learnt how to RECEIVE healing but not how to KEEP it. These are the ones who later complain that God did not actually heal them, when the symptoms come back. But the issue wasn’t with God, it was with THEM.
Hence, the believer must walk in wisdom in this area. He must know how to KEEP what God gives because there are many forces trying to steal God’s gifts in our lives.
To understand how to live healthy and keep sound health, we must first understand the human body from God’s Word (Biblical anthropology).
The Genesis account of creation makes it clear that man was made out of dust, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust OF THE GROUND, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).
This means that man’s very essence, by default, is perishable. Dust is feeble and ephemeral, easily swept away. Observe how the next chapter puts it, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you RETURN TO THE GROUND, for OUT OF IT YOU WERE TAKEN; for DUST YOU ARE, and TO DUST YOU SHALL RETURN” (Genesis 3:19).
Nowhere does the Bible teach that man is immortal, in and of himself. Man was not made to live forever, except through God. ALL MEN (both saved and unsaved) are mortal and dying.
Genesis 6:3 (NKJV)
3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit (i.e. the breath of life) shall not strive with (the Hebrew says “shall not abide in”) man forever, for he is INDEED FLESH; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
So man will not always be alive. The breath of life will not always abide in him—his days are numbered. That is what God is saying here.
Job asks God a series of rhetorical questions in Job 10:5, which bears this fact out, “Are Your days like the days of a MORTAL MAN? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man.” The obvious answer is no.
The phrase “mortal man” translates the Hebrew word “enosh” (אֱנוֹשׁ) which is derived from the word “anash” (אָנַשׁ), meaning weak or sick, frail and feeble. This is how man is described; as one weak and sickly, mortal, subject to death.
Psalm 103:15-16 says, “As for man, HIS DAYS ARE LIKE GRASS; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and IT IS GONE, and its place remembers it no more.” Man will not exist forever. The Bible is clear—only in God can immortality be found.
In 1 Timothy 6:16, Paul describes God thus, “WHO ALONE HAS IMMORTALITY, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.”
If a man is found with Immortality, it is because God gave it to him, not because he had it as an inherent possession. Paul says this in vs. 13 of the same chapter (1 Tim 6), “I urge you in the sight of God WHO GIVES LIFE TO ALL THINGS, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate.” So life is ONLY had because God gave it.
Now, God gives ETERNAL life to man on the merits of faith in Christ. In John 3:16, Jesus says to a Pharisee called Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever BELIEVES IN HIM should NOT PERISH but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.”
Paul says similiarly, in 2 Timothy 1:9-10, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has ABOLISHED DEATH and BROUGHT LIFE AND IMMORTALITY TO LIGHT THROUGH THE GOSPEL.”
When a man believes in the Gospel of Christ, he is given immortality as a gift from God. But even with that, a question we would need to ask ourselves is this: “WHEN exactly is this gift ACTUALLY received?” If immortality is a gift of the Gospel, then why do believers still die? The answer is simple: The gift OF IMMORTALITY is received, not now, but at the resurrection.
The Apostle Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15:20-26 (NKJV)
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man (Adam) came death, by Man (Jesus) also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all (who believe) SHALL (future tense) be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, AFTERWARD those who are Christ’s AT HIS COMING. 24 Then comes THE END, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The LAST ENEMY that WILL BE DESTROYED (future tense) is DEATH.
The fact that death WILL BE destroyed shows it is not yet destroyed. Believers CAN still fall sick and even die because they are still in a mortal body. We are not promised immortality until the resurrection (at the end of the age).
1 Corinthians 15:50-55 (NKJV)
50 Now this I say, brethren, that FLESH AND BLOOD cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does CORRUPTION inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we SHALL (future tense) ALL BE CHANGED (this has not happened yet) — 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, AT THE LAST TRUMPET. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead WILL (future tense) be raised INCORRUPTIBLE (i.e. no longer subject to decay), and we SHALL (future tense) be changed. 53 For this CORRUPTIBLE must put on INCORRUPTION, and this MORTAL must put on IMMORTALITY. 54 So WHEN this CORRUPTIBLE has put on INCORRUPTION, and this MORTAL has put on IMMORTALITY, THEN shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”
From vv. 54-55, we realize that there is a “WHEN” and a “THEN” to receiving immorality—WHEN we have put on immortality, THEN death would be swallowed up in victory, actually.
Paul speaks of this also in Romans 8. In vv. 18-19, he says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which SHALL BE REVEALED IN US (future tense). For the earnest expectation of the creation EAGERLY WAITS for the REVEALING of the sons of God.”
Logically, you cannot wait for what you already have! We wait because we are yet to receive (in an actual sense).
Vs. 20 says, “For the creation was subjected to FUTILITY, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope.” Vs. 21 explains this futility, “Because THE CREATION ITSELF also will be delivered from the BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION (decay) into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
So creation currently is in bondage to decay i.e. death. A time of liberty is coming, however. Paul calls this future hope “the redemption of our bodies” in vv. 22-23, “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, EVEN WE ourselves groan within ourselves, EAGERLY WAITING for THE ADOPTION, the REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY.”
The word redemption (vs. 23) translates the Greek “apolutrósis” (ἀπολύτρωσις). It refers to the deliverance or freedom of our bodies from death, decay, frailty and mortality. That is, this physical, mortal body we now possess will be RELEASED from its PROPENSITY to fall ill, be injured and die.
God gave us the Holy Spirit as proof that this will one day happen.
Ephesians 1:13-14 (NKJV)
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, YOU WERE SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE, 14 who is THE GUARANTEE OF OUR INHERITANCE UNTIL THE REDEMPTION OF THE PURCHASED POSSESSION, to the praise of His glory.
The Holy Spirit lives in our bodies as proof that we are owned by God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NKJV)
19 Or do you not know that your body is the TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS IN YOU, whom you have FROM GOD, and you are not your own? 20 For YOU WERE BOUGHT AT A PRICE; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, WHICH ARE GOD’S.
This ownership would one day consummate in immortality for our bodies. Romans 8:11 says, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead WILL ALSO GIVE LIFE TO YOUR MORTAL BODIES THROUGH HIS SPIRIT WHO DWELLS IN YOU.” This will happen at the Resurrection. EVERY CHRISTIAN who has died will be given life THROUGH the Spirit.
But what about now?
Right now, this hasn’t happened yet, so the body is not yet immortal. It is saved with the CERTAINTY of immortality at the last day. Hence, it can still fall sick, even the body of the believer. The Bible records Christians falling sick.
2 Timothy 4:20 (NKJV)
20 Erastus stayed in Corinth, but TROPHIMUS I HAVE LEFT in Miletus SICK.
Philippians 2:25-27 (NKJV)
25 Yet I considered it necessary to send to you EPAPHRODITUS, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; 26 since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that HE WAS SICK. 27 For indeed HE WAS SICK almost UNTO DEATH; but God HAD MERCY on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
In 1 Timothy 5:23, Paul says to Timothy (his son in the faith), “No longer drink only water, but USE A LITTLE WINE FOR YOUR STOMACH’S SAKE and your FREQUENT INFIRMITIES.” The word “frequent” implies a continuity; this illness happened often.
So believers CAN fall sick. Redemption did not take away that human part of them. Rather, it made their human bodies God’s temple. But even that Temple of God CAN fall sick and die!
What does this mean?
This means that unlike salvation, once healed is not always healed. A believer who was healed of a certain illness in the past can come down with the SAME illness again if he doesn’t put the right measures in place to prevent it. The body can STILL fall sick even AFTER being healed. The devil is always on the lookout, trying to steal God’s healing in our lives. And most times, we unknowingly assist him in doing so, because of a lack of wisdom.
© Josh Banks Ministries. 2022.
