Healing

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IS GOD REALLY WILLING TO HEAL ME?

John 14:9

Jesus said that if you have seen him, you have seen the Father. What do you see Jesus doing? Healing the sick (Acts 10:38)! When you see Jesus healing the sick, you have seen the Father in action. Therefore, it must also be God's will to heal the sick.

Jesus attributed the healings in his ministry to his Father! "But the Father that dwells in me, he does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake" (John 14:10-11). Since God does not change (Malachi 3:6), he must still be willing to heal the sick today.
"If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him." -- John 14:7.

"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do: for what things so-ever he does, these also does the Son likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that himself does: and he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel." -- John 5:19-20.

"The same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me." -- John 5:36. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." -- John 6:38.

"If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also." -- John 8:19. "And he that sent me is with me: the Father has not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him." -- John 8:29.

"The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me." -- John 10:25. "I and my Father are one." -- John 10:30.

"If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." -- John 10:38.

"And he that sees me sees him that sent me." -- John 12:45.

"If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." -- John 15:24.

"I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gave me to do." -- John 17:4.

Given the long list of New Testament passages where Jesus healed the sick), you must conclude this: Healing is God's will for you. When you have seen Jesus, you have seen God the Father and Jesus healed the sick. Jesus did his works in his Father's name, proving that it is your Father's will to heal you. Healing is part of the work God gave Jesus to do, so it is still the work of God today. Knowing that Jesus always did the will of God and pleased him, you know that healing is the will of God, and it pleases him.

If you want to see God's will concerning healing, just look at Jesus. Then you'll see it; simple isn't it?

HEALING AND THE ATONEMENT:


One of the most noteworthy themes in the Bible is the connection between healing and atonement. When a sacrifice was made (often a blood sacrifice), healing or protection from sickness was the result. Symbols of the atonement of Christ produced healing in the Old Testament, as you will see below.
How foolish to think that the Israelites could be healed by the symbols of Jesus Christ, but that Christians cannot be healed by the very Jesus Christ who was symbolized!
Healing, atonement and forgiveness are found together throughout the Bible. Where there is atonement and forgiveness there is healing. Since Christ atoned for your sins and forgave you, you should expect to be healed physically, too.

Exodus 12:12-13 says that the plague that killed Egypt's first-born would pass over any house that had the blood of the Passover lamb on the front door. This symbol of Jesus Christ kept sickness away. The "destroyer" (Ex 12:23) would not visit any house with this blood on the door. The Passover lamb is explicitly declared to represent Christ, 1 Corinthians. 5:7.
Not only did the killer plague stay away, but also not a single Israelite was even feeble after this (Psalm 105:37). Israel walked in health for 40 years in a wilderness (even while in rebellion) after partaking of this symbol of Christ's atonement. Neither did their shoes nor their clothes wear out; can it be that shoe leather and cotton have more faith than the children of God today?


It is noteworthy that the Passover consisted of both the blood and the body, and commands were given for both. The blood sprinkled on the door redeemed the people from the plague, but the body was also significant because the people were to eat it. The people would not have had time to bake anything because of the haste with which they had to flee Egypt. The body of the Passover lamb was for their physical strength. We should expect the blood of our Lord (symbolized by the Passover) to redeem us from plagues, and we should expect the body of our Lord (also symbolized by the Passover) to give us physical strength.

Exodus 30:11-16 contains a command to the Israelites to give "ransom money" to the Lord to make atonement for their souls, so that there would be no plague among them. Atonement kept sickness away from them.


The "law of the leper," as found in Leviticus 14:1-32 and Leviticus 15:13-15, required atonement to be made for a leper to be admitted back into the camp. The healed leper could not be readmitted without this atonement.

Numbers 8:19 says that the Levites were given to make atonement for Israel, so that there would be no plague when they came near the sanctuary. God is holy. The people under the Old Covenant could not approach him in their sins. If they did, judgment would break out, as it did against the Philistines who stole the ark of God (1 Samuel 5:1-6:5). Atonement allowed men to approach God with no fear of getting a plague.


Numbers 16:44-50 tells how a plague that killed 14,700 people was stopped when Aaron made atonement.

Numbers 21:5-9 contains the story of the complaining Israelites, many of whom died from a plague of serpents. The plague was stopped when Moses lifted up a brass serpent on a pole. Anyone who looked at this symbol of Christ was healed and forgiven. Jesus compared himself to Moses' serpent in John 3:14. It follows that anyone who looks to the One (Christ) symbolized by the serpent should also be healed and forgiven.

Numbers 25:3-13 tells of another plague that killed 24,000 people before it was stopped by an act of atonement.

2 Samuel 24:10-25 and 1 Chronicles 21:7-27 tell of another plague that ended when a sacrifice was made.


2 Chronicles 30:18-20 says that the Lord healed Hezekiah's people after they kept the Passover, which again merely symbolized Christ's atonement.
How sad it would be if you could be healed by the symbol of Christ's atonement and not by the very thing it symbolized! This would make the symbol more powerful than the real thing when it comes to healing. This shows that physical healing continued to be connected with the Passover even in a memorial of the actual event.

Job 33:19-25 shows an understanding even in Job's day of the principle of healing following a ransom (atonement).

Psalm 103:1-5 says that God forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases (among other things). Forgiveness and healing go together. When your sins are forgiven, you can get healed.

Isaiah 33:24, pointing to the millennial reign of Christ, says that the forgiven people will not be sick.

Isaiah 53 prophesies about the Messiah who will be bruised for our transgressions. He will bear our sicknesses and pains, and with his stripes, we are healed. 1 Peter 2:24 echoes this. (Look again at Isaiah's prophecy of redemption for definite proof that healing was part of Christ's atonement)

Matthew 9:2-8, Mark 2:2-12, and Luke 5:17-26 all give an account where Jesus heals a paralytic as proof that he has power on earth to forgive sins. When the sins were forgiven, the person could be healed. Now that your sins are forgiven, you should be healed as well.

Ask yourself the following question; why do you take the bread of the Lords communion table?
If the wine or Cup is to remind us that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all our sins what is the broken bread for?
Simple really, it typifies ‘his broken body which was broken for us’ why? Because ‘by the stripes he bore we ‘were’ healed’ 1 Peter 2:24, because ‘Christ himself took our infirmities and carried our sicknesses’ Matthew 8:17

It should be clear from the above that atonement stops plagues, and forgiveness results in healing. Now that Jesus has bought forgiveness for us through his atonement, we must conclude that healing is now ours as well. Otherwise, the Old Testament symbols of Christ brought God's people more than Christ himself did.



SAVED FROM WHAT?


When God says that his Word is his power unto salvation, what does he mean? We think of this in terms of being saved from hell, but the words used in the Bible for saved and salvation actually encompass more than that. Let's go on a little tour and see what else salvation encompasses.
One of the primary Greek words used for salvation is sozo (Strong's #4982). This is used in Matthew 1:21, where it says that Jesus shall save his people from their sins. In 1 Timothy 1:15, Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Jesus said that whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved (Mark 16:16). So being saved obviously includes its traditional meaning of being saved from your sins.

The disciples in the boat used the same word when they asked the Lord to save (rescue) them in Matthew 8:25. Peter cried, "Lord, save me" when he began to sink while walking on water. So we see that save can also mean ‘rescue’
Preservation in a general sense is indicated by 2 Tim 4:18: "And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom." This again is the word sozo.


The same word sozo is used in James 5:15, where the prayer of faith shall save the sick. In this sense, the sick person will be healed. The person is already saved from his sins; otherwise, he would not qualify for this verse!
Jesus told a blind man, "Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee." Again, the word sozo means healed. In 1 Tim 2:15, where a godly woman is promised that she will be saved through childbearing, the meaning is that she will be physically preserved through the process.

There are plenty of other cases where sozo means healed. Here are some of them as found in the scriptures. The italicized words in each passage were translated from the same Greek word sozo:

"For she said within herself, ‘if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole’ But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, ‘Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole’ And the woman was made whole from that hour." -- Matthew 9:21-22.

Mark records the scene this way "For she said, ‘If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole’ -- Mark 5:28.
"And he said unto her, ‘Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague’ -- Mark 5:34.

"And besought him greatly, saying, ‘My little daughter lies at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live’ -- Mark 5:23.

"And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole." -- Mark 6:56.

"And Jesus said to him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way." -- Mark 10:52.

"They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed." -- Luke 8:36.

"And he said to her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." -- Luke 8:48.
"But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, ‘Fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole’ -- Luke 8:50.

"And he said unto him, ‘Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole’ -- Luke 17:19.

‘If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole’ -- Acts 4:9.

"The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed..." -- Acts 14:9.

We can see that God's idea of what saved is encompasses more than just avoiding hell when you die. You are not only saved from eternal damnation, but in God's eyes, you are saved from various temporal troubles as well, including sickness, disease, pain and poverty.
The next time you think about the fact that you are saved, think about all that this word means in the Bible!

It seldom ceases to amaze me when people who should know better declare that healing is only spiritual never physical, listen; almost every time you see the words saved, saved, salvation, heal, healing, health, wholeness and preserve in scriptures it embraces physical or mental healing. Indeed there is only one scripture that speaks specifically about spiritual healing and its found in Psalm 41:4 were David said ‘Lord be merciful unto me and ‘heal’ my soul for I have sinned against you’
Its time for each of us to study the scriptures without the aid other books and read THE BOOK, to turn instead to the author and finisher of our faith… the unchanging Christ.

The very name of Y-eshuwa or Jesus means; (Strong's, 3444) deliverance, aid, victory, prosperity, salvation, welfare and guess what? Health. (Strong's,3467) to be safe, to be free, helped, defended, rescued, safe, saved, does that sound like God wants you to be sick?

Is sickness a new form of freedom? Has salvation become lessened or God’s power been broken? No; He is ‘the Lord who changes not’ it is his church who have strayed away from the truth that sets men free and gives them long life.

Realize that Jesus your High Priest is able to save you to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25), not just save you from sin.
Realize that you are more than just reconciled to God. Jesus Christ saves you on an ongoing basis! As Romans 5:10 says, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

David Robinson ©

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