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Is Anyone Sick
James 5:13 - 16
Two scriptural passages for praying by the use of laying on of hands
Mark 16:18; They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover
James 5:14; Anoint them with oil and they prayer of faith shall heal the sick.
Two important questions we need to ask!
1. Is divine healing an integral part of the gospel?
2. Is divine healing a privilege of all believers,
“Is Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel.
1. It was inclusive in Jesus message. Matthew 4:17, 23, 8:16
2. The disciples preached it. Matthew 10:1
3. The seventy were commissioned to Luke 10:1-9
4. New testament believers followed the command Mark 16:15-18
Is it Spiritual healing or Physical Healing? Both!
Psalm 103:3,
Isaiah 53:1-4
Matthew 8:17
When I say it is an integral part of the gospel, I do not mean preaching healing but preaching Jesus
through God’s word.
Psalms 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.There is
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healing because its message is one of repentance and restoration
Is it the privilege of all believers?
In James 5 we will consider five things, the probe, the proposal, the procedure, the prayer and the
provision for praying for the sick.
The probe
Is there any sick among you?
Why do we get sick?
 We break natural laws
 Demonic activity
 Results of sinfulness
 Physical deterioration
 An avenue of repentance
The proposal
Let them call for the elders of the church.
The procedure
Let them pray over them, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
The prayer
The prayer of faith
The provision
God will heal the sick
Jeremiah 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the
daughter of my people recovered?
Jeremiah asks, “Isn’t there a doctor in the house?” But Jeremiah isn’t really looking for a qualified
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medical doctor either, because the condition of his people is not a medical condition.
It’s a spiritual problem, a condition of mind and the soul and the culture. Jeremiah’s times were bleak;
ours aren’t anything to boast of either. Gilead is a region in Transjordan (in the Middle East) known for
its healing resources.
So when Jeremiah asks, “Is there no balm in Gilead” he knows, practically speaking, that there is a balm
in Gilead. He knows that there are physicians out there.
But he feel’s so powerless, so helpless against the prevailing winds of the times that he almost gives up.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole, there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.
“The first two questions are rhetorical: Yes, there is balm in Gilead; yes, there are physicians there; but,
it is implied, they are powerless to restore health to a patient with this kind of illness.”
Before a proper identification of the balm of Gilead and the physicians there can be made, it is necessary
to identify the illness that caused the incurable wound mentioned by Jeremiah.
Yahweh told Isaiah:
“Go, and say to this people: ‘Hear and hear, but do not understand; see and see, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10).
According to the word of Yahweh to Isaiah, if the people would hear the message the prophet was to
proclaim, if they would turn or repent, then they would be healed (v. 10).
Thus, it is Yahweh who compares the rebellion of the people with spiritual illness.
The rebellion of the people was worse than physical illness and only the message preached by Isaiah
could bring the people to repentance and to the healing of its wound.
Thus, the balm of Gilead is a metaphor used by Jeremiah to explain how the people could find a cure for
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their spiritual illness. The balm that Jeremiah was talking about was not repentance, even though
repentance was the first step toward the healing of their wound. Several times in the Old Testament, the
prophets speak about Judah’s rebellion as an incurable wound. Hosea said: “When Ephraim saw his
sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not
able to cure you or heal your wound” (Hosea 5:13).
Isaiah said: “Why will you still be smitten, that you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the
whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and
sores and bleeding wounds; they are not pressed out, or bound up, or softened with oil” (Isaiah 1:5-6).
In the book of Jeremiah, Yahweh spoke of Judah’s illness and its incurable wound. Of Jerusalem,
Yahweh said: “Her sickness and wounds are ever before me” (Jeremiah 6:7). “For the wound of the
daughter of my people is my heart wounded” (Jeremiah 8:21).
Why was not the wound of God’s people healed? Because the preaching of the false prophets did not
provide the healing the people needed. Yahweh himself accused the prophets of not providing healing to
the people. Yahweh spoke these words about the prophets: “For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, `Peace, peace,' when there is no peace”
(Jeremiah 6:13-14).
The same words are repeated again in Jeremiah 8:10-11. Yahweh is saying that the prophets have healed
the wound of the people only lightly because they were preaching the wrong message.
“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of
my people?” (Jeremiah 8:22).
Jeremiah is proclaiming that Judah is like a person who is sick or wounded.
He is also proclaiming that the balm of Gilead is the word of God in the mouth of the prophets and that
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the prophets are the physicians sent by God to bring the medicine that could heal the people. Thus, in
Jeremiah 8:22, the prophet is saying that there were plenty of physicians in Gilead who could heal the
spiritual sickness of the people of Judah, for the physicians were the prophets.
There was plenty of balm in Gilead, for the balm of Gilead in the mouth of Jeremiah is a metaphor for
the word of God being preached by the prophets to a rebellious people. But there was no healing
because the prophets were preaching a message that did not bring healing. Yahweh is the great healer of
Israel: “I am the LORD, your healer” (Exodus 15:26). But healing would only come when the prophet
faithfully proclaimed the word of God to the people.
The words of Jeremiah have a message for those who preach God’s words. We preach through the
power of the Holy Spirit that people’s attitude may be altered, lives may change, and transformation
may occur.