A GODLY RESPONSE TO SICKNESS AND DEATH
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
As the “whole creation groaneth and travileth in pain together” we come to a point where we ourselves become subject to this predicament, and when it gets to the point where we need constant medication, or to the point where medicine can no longer help us, and we eventually face death; we are given the salvation from these sufferings that we need while we or our loved ones face these trying times. And while the issue that we cannot avoid these sufferings and death is made plainly clear, we find ourselves trying to avoid and escape our “infirmities,” and death itself. But just as the Apostle Paul makes it plainly clear, we ourselves (the justified in Christ), and the “whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together,” we are shown by Paul what our “hope” ought to be concerning “the sufferings of this present time.” Therefore just as we patiently await our position in heavenly places, and all the glory that that comes with it when we are with the Lord, we are taught to have “patience” while we are presently in our bodies waiting for our “adoption.” Likewise while we “wait for” our new and glorified bodies that we will possess in the heavenly places, we are given the doctrine that we need to overcome, and ‘conquer’ all the sufferings and “infirmities” that we experience in our lives, and we are to trust that it will work “for us” just as we are given hope in the salvation and justification given to us by our Father.
Php 1:28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
Prayer is also an essential aspect of learning how to let the doctrine work effectually within us, the natural man does not know how to pray as he ought, but with a ‘renewed’ way of thinking because of what he is taught, the son learns how to pray “according to the will of God,” not according to our wants needs or desires (regardles how important the issue may seem to us). Furthermore once we learn “what is the mind of the Spirit,” we will know how the Father designed for prayer to work effectually within the son, knowing that prayer is about the son coming to the Father and making known how His word is working effectually within him, and because God “searcheth the hearts,” He knows how the son has/has not progressed in their edification, and if he has learned how to intelligently pray according to the will of God or not.
Pro 23:15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
Pro 23:16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
When we as sons intelligently pray as we ought (which is coming to our Father the way God designed for the son to pray; that is having the understanding of His will and purpose in our sufferings, knowing that we have no physical deliverance from these circumstances, but we do have an inner man deliverance from “these things” through God’s word of truth to us and “for us”). Moreover when our hearts “be wise” when the Father “searcheth” it, He can “rejoice” when we intelligently come to our Father with the understanding that we are given through the scriptures. But when the son comes to the Father and he asks for physical deliverance from “these things,” the Father’s heart cannot rejoice, because He knows that the son has yet to learn the vital information that he needs to grow in his sufferings, and he will actually suffer more because failure to understand the important doctrine given unto him by his Father.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our godly response would be just as Paul’s was to the sufferings he faced throughout his ministry; we are to have confidence that the Spirit (the bible; which is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit) will help our infirmities when we experience the “sufferings of this present time.” Moreover it is the saint taking to words on the pages of the bible and letting it go to work for him, and being “persuaded” that he has confidence in the Father’s design for him, just as he is “persuaded” that he is justified from the debt and penalty of his sins. And with this ‘new way of thinking’ of being “persuaded,” we WILL be “more than conquerors” (notice we are ‘more’ than a conqueror over these things) in our sufferings; and that is accomplished “through Him,” and His doctrine. Today the thinking of the natural man is that he should avoid all sufferings, and that he should be delivered from all “these things,” but the doctrine that ‘persuades’ us is understanding and appreciating what the “all things” freely given to us by our Father are. Furthermore we should understand as a son that our Father has already given us “all things” just as Romans 8:28-35, and even though we experience the sufferings and death of this present time, we should not “look at the things which are seen,” but realize that we are being “conformed to the image of His son,” and we should also understand and appreciate why Philippians 1:29 says that sufferings are a gift given to us, and the only deliverance that we have from them are the “comfort” that we find in our scriptures.
2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
2Co 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2Co 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
2Co 1:7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
And as we or our loved ones experience the “sufferings of this present time,” we are given the ‘comforting doctrine’ throughout our epistles especially in Romans 8, and also throughout the whole epistle of 2nd Corinthians. Therefore as the son grows he learns his Father’s doctrine and how it applies to his sufferings, so that he can use the doctrine to help his infirmities and give him the “salvation” and the “comfort” in whatever he is facing, whereas he will also be able to help others, “by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” Moreover verse 4 shows the son that God WILL comfort the son in “any trouble;” that means every problem, pain, situation, or suffering that we or our loved ones face. The operation of how God comforts us is a misunderstood doctrine by many in the church world today, many are still operating upon the “ask and ye shall receive” doctrine of Israel’s program; which WILL NOT WORK in this dispensation of Gentile grace. Therefore the son is given to understand by the Father how he is given “salvation” and “comfort” from his sufferings, this “comfort” is performed by the doctrine of the Father “for us,” and is designed to work in us, just as it worked in the Apostle Paul, and Jesus Christ Himself; that’s why Romans 8:29 tells us of the Father’s desire to “conform us to the image of His son” right in the middle of the doctrine of sufferings, because part of who we are “in Christ” is fully understanding the doctrine of “the sufferings of this present time,” and the ‘sufferings of Christ,’ and being “conformed to the image of His son.” And because we are members of His body, if the Head suffered, it is also fitting that the “members” of that body also suffer as well.
2Co 4:11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
2Co 4:12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
2Co 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
2Co 4:14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
We as “members of His body,” are to have “the mind of Christ” in whatever we or our loved ones experience, and this is done by a ‘renewing of the inward man’ by the son reading the doctrine designed to produce a ‘new attitude’ about the sufferings that he or his loved ones face daily. And this ‘new way’ of thinking will give him to understand that depression, stress, pain, sickness, and death can easily be cured by understanding our motivating and effectual doctrine like 2Corinthians 4:16-18. Here we find Paul showing how that our “light affliction” is “temporal,” and we have something “far better” to look forward to that is “not seen.” And what we have to realize is that the things that we or our loved ones experience “worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” and that whatever we go through God is “for us” because of all that He has ALREADY given us in Romans 8:30-31, and the “comfort” that he currently gives us through His word of truth. He has equipped us with everything that we or our loved ones need to be “more than conquerors” in all our tribulation; the key is understanding that we suffer for “Jesus’ sake,” not our sake. It is this self-less attitude that Jesus Christ also possessed, in that He suffered for our sakes and gave up of Himself “for us.” And prayer will work “for us” when we pray according to the “mind of the Spirit” and “the will of God,” not according to our wanting to avoid what we experience, it’s about the son coming to the Father and letting Him know how the doctrine is working within him as he lets the doctrine “work effectually” within him in the “sufferings of this present time.”
Rod Jones