Jesus healed many to make come true what the prophet Isaiah had said, “He Himself took our sickness and carried away our diseases.” (Matthew 8:16-17)

“Disease,” a word of English and French derivation, has two parts: “dis” and “ease.” “Dis” means “apart,” “away from,” or “a negative or reversing force.” “Ease” means “comfort, pleasure, well-being, tranquility.” William Councilman, an American pathologist, captured the point: “Disease may…be thought of as the negation of the normal.”

Remember—“LIVE” spelled backwards is “EVIL”! Sin is a reversing force that drives us away from NORMAL. Cancer provides a vivid illustration. “Cancer is a disease of cells, the basic building blocks of our bodies. Their lives and behavior are controlled by genetic instructions that are present in every cell of the body. Those instructions tell our cells when and how to grow, reproduce and die. If those instructions get garbled, a cell might behave in an uncontrolled way. When that happens, we call it cancer” (American Institute for Cancer Research).

Satan employed deception to “garble the instructions” of the Creator. “The serpent (satan) said to the woman, ‘Is it true that God has forbidden you to eat fruits from the trees of the garden?’ The woman answered, ‘No, serpent. God said we are free to eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. We are granted access to any variety and all amounts of fruit with one exception: the fruit from the tree found in the center of the garden. God instructed us not to eat or touch the fruit of that tree or we would die.’ The serpent responded, ‘Die? No, you’ll not die. God is playing games with you. The truth is that God knows the day you eat the fruit from that tree you will awaken something powerful in you and become like Him.’  The woman approached the tree, eyed its fruit, and coveted its mouth-watering, wisdom-granting beauty. She plucked a fruit from the tree and ate. She then offered the fruit to her husband and he ate as well. Suddenly their eyes were opened to a reality previously unknown. For the first time, they sensed their vulnerability and rushed to hide their naked bodies, stitching fig leaves into crude loincloths” (Genesis 3:1-10).

Plato was right: “Sin is disease.” Adam and Eve became DIS-EASED because their disobedience reversed and negated the Creator’s instructions for normalcy! They immediately sensed the vacuum. Of this St. Augustine said: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.” Similarly, Meister Eckhart described our state as “unceasing restlessness.”

Sadly, this disease is 100% genetically transmitted! “Everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence” (Romans 3:23). Without the right medicine we are a doomed species. Fortunately, Jesus came to deliver the Medicine of Life. “Jesus healed many to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah had said, ‘He Himself took our sickness and carried away our diseases.’”