And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. Exodus 15:26
I heard a silly story of a town where everybody was so healthy that the only death reported there was the local undertaker, who died of starvation. Don’t go looking for that town; it doesn’t exist. But it could, if everybody believed and followed the rules in the Bible. Like the one in our text.
It was a wonderful promise that God made to the Israelites: He would keep them disease free if they would obey Him. And this promise is repeated in Deuteronomy 7:15. For everyone in that nation, the only causes of death would be old age and accident. No colds or cancer or anything in between. As wonderful as it was, that promise was conditional on their obedience to God. God never kept that promise because the people never kept their side of the deal. What a tragedy! And it is still a tragedy today.
We know now why the people would have been disease free. Avoiding contact with the other nations would keep them from the germs that caused so many illnesses. That would still work today. Obeying the dietary laws God gave them would avoid everything from trichinosis to obesity. That would still work today. That is the physical side of health, but it is the same for the spiritual.
Godly separation from this world, and faithful obedience to the Word of God will give us a happy and victorious Christian life. Will we claim that promise? -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/mUTuV9obrUM