Tag: Healing

The main point of this article is to make a point that is so simple, it almost sounds silly.  The point is this:  if Jesus tells you to do something, then you should assume that it is His will for you to do it.  For example, if He tells you to love your neighbor as yourself, then you should never have to wonder if it is God’s will for you to love your neighbor.

Now that you already know where we are going in this article, please join me as we examine some facts that will show us God’s will concerning healing the sick.

In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we get to see Jesus walking the earth and ministering to people.  And although we see Him doing a variety of things, most of His ministry can be grouped into three main activities.

1 – Preaching and/or teaching about the Gospel of the Kingdom

2 – Healing people

3 – Casting demons out of people

There are several verses that provide a nice summary for us.  Here are a few examples:

Matthew 4:23 – And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

Matthew 8:16 – When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon–possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,

Matthew 9:35 – Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Mark 1:39 – And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.

Acts 10:38 – God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.

Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God, healed sick people, and cast out demons.  Those activities were a regular part of His ministry.  If you lived around 30 A.D., and you wanted to see Jesus, this is what you would see….preaching, healing, and casting out demons.  This is what it looked like when He was ministering.  This is how He spent His time.

Then, at a certain point in His ministry, He began sending out groups of people to act as His representatives.  The Bible shows us three times where He did this:

1 – Sending out “the twelve”

2 – Sending out “the seventy”

3 – Sending out all believers (aka the Great Commission)

We will now look at these three events, read about what Jesus said and did, and we will find that His will concerning healing will become very clear, plain, and obvious to us.

Sending out “the twelve”

Luke 9:1-2 – Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Jesus is selected a group of 12 men to acts as His representatives.  He gave them specific instructions on how He wanted to be represented.  He wanted His representatives to do exactly what He had been doing.  And He gave them power and authority to complete their mission successfully, and then He sent them out.

Their mission included three main activities:

1 – Preach about the Gospel of the Kingdom

2 – Heal people

3 – Cast demons out of people

Notice that Jesus sent them to “heal the sick.”  If you were going to represent Jesus, then healing was going to be a big part of what you were doing.

So, take a moment right now and put yourself in the position of one of these disciples.  Jesus gives you power and authority, and He tells you go to the neighboring towns and tell them about the Kingdom of God, and He tells you to heal any sick people you come across.  Your job is to believe what He said, and trust that the Holy Spirit is going bring His power and enable you to do what He told you to do.

Now suppose that you come across a sick person the next day on your journey.  Do you think you would have to wonder if it was God’s will to heal the person?  Of course not.  If Jesus told you to “heal the sick,” then you shouldn’t have to wonder about whether or not He wanted you do to it.

The instructions were very simple and plain.  “Heal the sick.”  If they are sick, then heal them.   There would be no need to wonder about God’s will or God’s timing.  Jesus said to heal the sick.  Is the person sick?  Yes?  Then heal them.  If you minister healing, then you are demonstrating His will.  If not, then you aren’t.  Simple.

Sending out “the seventy”

Not long after He sent out the first group of 12, we see Him sending out another group of people in the next chapter of Luke:

Luke 10:1 – After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go….

Luke 10:9 – “…and heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”

This is Jesus sending out a much larger group of people to represent Him.  Notice that the instructions are the same as they were for the 12.  “Heal the sick” is included in the instructions.

So again, imagine that you are in this larger group, and Jesus tells you to go out and represent Him.   You hear Him tell you to “heal the sick” as part of the instructions.  You leave and go into a town and you find a person that is sick with some kind of disease.  Do you think you would have to wonder about His will regarding the disease?  No, of course not.  If Jesus told you to heal the sick, then you should not even have to think about it.  It should be obvious.

Sending out all of the rest of us…aka the Great Commission

Let us now skip ahead to the next time Jesus sends out some people to represent Him.  This event is known as “the Great Commission.”  It is given to all of us who call Jesus Lord.  It applies to every Christian from all periods of time.  You can find portions of it at the end of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and also in the first chapter of Acts.  I am going to focus on just two of the passages, because that will be enough for us to see what we are looking for.

Matthew 28:18-20 – And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Mark 16:15-18 – And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

To help us understand what is being said here, imagine that you were present when Jesus said these things.  You have been following Him around, and you have seen Him preaching the Kingdom of God, healing the sick, and casting out demons on a daily basis.  He has trained you to represent Him by doing the same things He was doing…preaching, healing, and casting out demons.

Now He says for you to make disciples yourself.  He says that you are to teach them to do the same things that He taught you to do:  heal the sick, cast out demons, and preach the Kingdom.  Your commission is to train people to do what Jesus trained you to do.   And He says you should expect to see results in your life, and in the lives of the disciples you are training.

Can you see the pattern here?  Jesus healed all the people that came to Him.  Then He sent out 12 representatives and told them to heal people.  Then He sent out a larger group of representatives and told them to heal people.  Then He gives specific instructions to continue this practice indefinitely.  If you are going to act as His representative, then divine healing should be a regular part of what happens when you minister.

Jesus never sent out someone to represent Him without providing instructions, authority, and power to heal sick people.

If Jesus tells everyone He sends out as representatives the same thing (heal the sick), then it should be pretty easy for us to know what His will is when it comes to healing.  He told us to do it, so we know it is something He wants to happen.  Healing is God’s will.  God’s will is to heal the sick.

And now back to what I said at the beginning.  The main point of this article is to make a point that sounds so simple, it is almost silly.  The point is this:  if Jesus tells you to do something, then you should assume that it is His will for you to do it.

You have been told by Jesus to heal the sick, so you no longer have to wonder if it is His will or not.  We don’t have to be in the dark about His will.  He made it plain and easy to see.  Now we only need to choose to believe it and start acting on it.

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The word “atonement” means “satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury.”  It means that someone is paying a penalty because of wrongdoing.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, around the year 33 A.D., Jesus the Messiah was beaten and crucified.  We are told in many places in the bible that this was an act of “atonement.”

When Jesus suffered and died, He was “making atonement.”  He was “paying a penalty for wrongdoing.”  But He was not paying a penalty for His own wrongdoing.  He did not have any “wrongdoing” of His own that needed to be paid for.  He was paying the penalty for our wrongdoing.  As an act of love, He took the consequences of the sin of mankind on Himself and paid the penalty so that we don’t have to.

The consequences of sin, according to Genesis 2:17 and Deuteronomy 28, include physical and spiritual death, sickness, and a lot of other bad things.  Those are the things that man brought upon himself when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, and allowed the influence of Satan and sin to come into our lives.  The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).  And sickness is just incremental death.

So now that we have some context, let us look at one of the places in the Bible where the “atonement” and its effects are described.

Isaiah 53:4-5 (NRSV)
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.

In this passage, the Holy Spirit has spoken a message to us through Isaiah the prophet that is very important to understand.  The message includes these facts:

• Jesus bore our sins so that we don’t have to
• Jesus bore our health problems so that we don’t have to

When Jesus was beaten and crucified, He purchased our forgiveness and our healing.  He took the punishment and curse that we had coming to us, and in return gave us the blessings that were coming to Him.

He did this voluntarily.  He wasn’t forced to do it, and He did not do it in response to our prayers.  He decided to do it before we even knew it was available.  He did it because He wanted to.  It was his idea.  He chose to do it.  In the Bible it is worded this way in Hebrews 12:2

Hebrews 12:2 – looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus endured the cross because of “joy that was set before Him.”  When He died on the cross, He took the penalty that we deserved.  This gave Him joy.  Think about this.  It gave Jesus joy to know that we would be set free from the hold of sin and sickness.  He was not doing it reluctantly.  It was because of joy.

When we look at it in this light, it should give us great confidence that God’s will is to save, forgive, and heal.  Number one, Jesus already paid for all of it.  Number two, it gave Him great joy to do so.

If someone desires to receive forgiveness and salvation, then we know that God wants to forgive and save them because Jesus already paid for it.  We never wonder whether or not it is God’s will to save someone that is coming to Him for salvation and forgiveness.

And since salvation and physical healing were paid for at the same time in same way by the same “person” then we should look at healing the same way we do salvation.  We should never wonder about God’s will in healing because Jesus paid for it at the same time that He paid for our forgiveness.

If God is willing to save people that need to be saved, then He is also just as willing to heal people that need to be healed.  God’s will is not one of the variables involved in determining if a person is saved or healed or both.  His will is constant, not variable.  He wants people saved, and He wants people healed.

There are many variables involved in a person getting saved, and there are many variables involved in a person getting healed.  But we should never look at God’s will as if it is variable in these areas.  It is constant.  Salvation and healing are the will of God.

But doesn’t the healing in Isaiah refer to “spiritual healing?”

There are some people that argue that this passage is referring to either a spiritual healing, or to an “ultimate healing” that occurs when our physical life ends, and we receive a new body that we have for eternity.

I have three points to make in response to this line of thinking.

Number 1 – Salvation is not “spiritual healing.”  Your spirit is not healed when you get saved.  When you get saved, your spirit is reborn, made new, as a new creation.  Your spirit was not sick and then made well.  Your spirit was dead and it was made alive.

Number 2- If you study the Hebrew words that are used in the passage (Isaiah 53:4), and you look at how they are translated in other parts of the Bible, there can be no question as to whether or not it is referring to physical healing.  It is very plain and obvious, and there is no reason to see it any other way unless you are just simply unwilling to believe.

Number 3 – If we allow the Bible to comment on itself…Matthew, one of the disciples of Jesus, quotes Isaiah’s message in the following passage.

Matthew 8:16-17
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“He Himself took our infirmities
And bore our sicknesses.”

Matthew tells us that Jesus is healing many people, and setting people many from from demons.  It is in this scene the author takes the occasion to quote the passage from Isaiah.  Jesus is healing people, and Matthew says that the healing ministry was part of a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

Because of the context, there should be no question that the quoted passage from Isaiah is referring to physical, bodily healing.  Likewise, there should be no question as to whether or not healing is God’s will.  Jesus paid the price for our healing, earning it for us in advance…two thousand years before we were born.  If He didn’t want us to receive physical healing, then He would not have “made atonement” and purchased it for us.

But He did purchase it for us, and it is His will that we receive it.  Our forgiveness and our healing were paid for at the same time. They should not be separated when we talk about the sacrifice of Jesus.  Jesus suffered and died to bring us forgiveness of sins, and to bring physical healing to our bodies.  It is God’s will that we receive forgiveness for our sins, and it is God’s will that receive healing for our diseases.

If forgiveness of sins is God’s will and desire, then so is physical healing.  It is not Biblical to separate the two.  Healing is God’s will.

Next in Series:  God’s Will in Healing Part 4 – The Commission

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The Bible presents a timeline of the human experience.  It begins before we were created, and it goes beyond our time on earth into the infinite future.

When we look at the timeline, we can see some places where God’s will towards mankind is on full display.  These are the times where there are no opposing forces or corrupting influences in the picture.  As we examine the details about these points in time, we learn interesting things about God’s will.  In this post, we are going to use these to look at God’s will in healing.

The first point on the timeline we will look at is the Garden of Eden.

The Garden of Eden

Beginning on the day where Adam was created. and extending to the point where he and Eve sinned by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, we have a very good view of what God’s will for mankind looks like.  This is the time where man lived on earth prior to what we call “the fall of man.”

During this time before “the fall” we are told that Adam and Eve lived in an environment where everything was “good.”  From the context, we see that their bodies were free from disease and decay, and they would apparently live forever if they were to continue in the state they were in.  There was no sickness, depression, anxiety, fear, greed, crime, or poverty.   They had been given dominion over the earth and over all of the other living things on the earth.

This is a time in the Bible where God’s will was in full effect, on full display and this is what God’s will for mankind looks like:  healthy bodies, healthy minds,  healthy emotions, abundant supply for every need, and a perfect unhindered relationship with God.

That was the state of our environment before Adam and Eve chose to allow the influence of Satan and sin to enter.

When Adam and Eve believed the lie from Satan and rebelled against God, they chose to lay aside God’s will for themselves.  They chose to obey the temptation of Satan, allowing his will to come into the picture.  They introduced a corrupting influence into their environment by their own choice.

Beginning at this point in our history, we start to see a change.  There begins to be increasing amounts of things like murder, rape, robbery, sickness and disease, mental and emotional problems, and so on.  None of these things were God’s will for mankind.  They came as a direct result of rejecting the will of God and accepting the influence of sin and Satan.  Sickness and disease did not come into the human experience because of God’s will.  God told them not to do it.   He didn’t want them to experience sickness and sin and death.  Man wasn’t designed to deal with the knowledge of good and evil.  Man was designed for relationship with God,

(Please note that I am not implying that every sickness is a result of the sin of the individual, nor am I saying that every sickness is caused by the devil.    What I am saying is that without sin and the devil, we would not see any sickness in our world).

To summarize:

• When God’s will was in full effect, there was no sickness
• When man rejected God’s will and invited the influence of Satan and sin, then sickness entered the human experience.
• Health was God’s will.  Sickness was not.

And now, we will fast forward to a time in the future.

The New Heaven and New Earth

At some point in the future, our present world will be replaced with a new one (Revelation 21:1).  This new creation is called the “new heaven and new earth.”  It comes into existence after the final judgment, where Satan and all of the fallen angels (along with all people that rejected the offer of eternal life from Jesus) are removed from our environment.  Notice some of the characteristics of this new environment from Revelation 21:4

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

As you read the various descriptions of the new creation, you will find that it is very similar to the Garden of Eden in many ways.  For example, there is no death and no pain.  There is no sin or crime.  There is no depression, worry, or anxiety.  Instead there is health, eternal life, joy, abundant provision, and many other wonderful things.

To summarize once again…

• When we see God’s will for mankind in full effect, without the influence of sin and Satan in the equation, there is no sickness or disease in the picture.
• The only time sickness comes into play is when Satan and sin are influencing the environment.
• Sickness is not God’s will for man.  Health and well-being is God’s will.

Let us now proceed to the third example that I want to share…the life of our Lord.

The Life of Jesus

Jesus came to do the will of God the Father.  Jesus always said what the Father wanted to be said, and He always did what the Father wanted to be done.  This fact is talked about repeatedly throughout the New Testament.  John 5:19 provides a nice summary for us:

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

Jesus showed us what God’s will looks like when someone chooses to obey it perfectly.  He put the will of God on display for all of us to see.  We can look at Him to learn about the will of God.

If we examine the attitude of Jesus towards sickness and disease, we can see what God’s will is on the matter.  Based on the information we have in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have a clear and consistent picture.  What we see over and over again is Jesus healing people that are sick.

Jesus healed all that came to Him.  There is not a single example in the life of Jesus where a sick person comes to Him for healing and does not get healed.   Conversely, there is not a single example of Jesus afflicting someone with a disease or sickness.

Where sickness is concerned, the attitude is very consistent.  Jesus always healed people.   And since Jesus only did the will of God the Father, then it was always God’s will in action when Jesus was healing the sick people.

This is spelled out very clearly for us by Peter in Acts 10:38:

…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Notice that Jesus brings healing, while the devil brings oppression in the form of sickness.  Jesus doesn’t make people sick.  Jesus heals sick people.  Sickness is oppression from the devil.  It is so clear and plain that you almost need help to misunderstand this.

To summarize:

• Jesus demonstrated God’s will perfectly.
• Jesus always healed every sick person that came to Him
• Jesus never put sickness on people.
• Sickness is a result of the influence of Satan and sin

Putting it All Together

In the Bible, whenever we see God’s will in full effect, free from the influence of sin and Satan, the resulting environment  includes healing and health.

The period of time where sickness is present is when sin and Satan have influence.

Healing is God’s will for mankind, and it is His will for you.

Next in Series:  God’s Will in Healing Part 3 – The Atonement

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During his time on earth in a human body, Jesus always did the will of God the Father.  Part of His mission was to demonstrate the true character and nature of God, and He completed His mission successfully on all points.

Because of this, we can look at His life to get a picture of what God’s will looks like when someone is obeying it perfectly.

Consider the following scriptures that bring out this idea:

 Colossians 1:15

(NLT) – Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.  He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation.

Hebrews 3:1

(NLT) – The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command.  When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

(NIV) – The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.  After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

(NASV) – And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.  When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high

John 14:9

(NKJV) – Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

From the verses above, and many others, we see the following principles:

• If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus
• If you want to know how God feels about something, look at how Jesus feels about it
• If you want to know what it looks like when God’s will is obeyed and performed, look at Jesus.

Jesus is the only “person” that ever demonstrated God’s will perfectly.  He is the only one that was without sin…he never missed the mark.  He was perfectly obedient to the will and the instructions of God the Father.  Through His words and actions, God’s will was put on display for all to see.

With that in mind, read the following verse:

 Acts 10:38

(NKJV) – God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

In the life of Jesus, specifically when it comes to dealing with people that are suffering from sickness or disease, there is a very definite pattern that is easy to see.  If a sick person came to Him for healing, then healing is what happened.  Jesus healed people. According to the record we have in the Bible, Jesus healed everyone that came to Him.  There is not a single exception.

And since Jesus demonstrates the will of God perfectly, then the only conclusion we can come to is that healing is God’s will.

Jesus is a Better Example

Jesus shows us perfectly how God wants things to be done.  He is the best example we have of a “human” that is doing the will of God.  Every other man or woman of God that we could look to will only have a measure of God’s will on display.  People make mistakes, and people don’t always obey and demonstrate God’s will perfectly.

But Jesus did not make mistakes.  He demonstrated God’s will perfectly.

So when we look through the Gospels and see how Jesus treated sickness, we can see what God’s will is when it comes to sickness.

We can’t look at Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul, Timothy, Augustine, Martin Luther, Smith Wigglesworth, Billy Graham, your grandpa, your pastor, or any other person to see it perfectly.

Only Jesus demonstrated God’s will perfectly every time.  He is our example.  Only through Him can we get a completely accurate view of the will of God.   He is the better example.  He is the best example.  He trumps all others.  And He healed everyone that came to Him.  He healed “all who were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him.”  (Acts 10:38)

Conclusion

If Jesus truly and accurately represented the Father (which He did), then we have to come to the conclusion that our God wants to heal people.  Healing is God’s will.

Once you begin to understand and believe this, then you are probably going to have a lot of new questions about healing.  Depending on your different life experiences, some of the new questions may be very difficult and uncomfortable.  That would not surprise me because that has been my experience as well.  This is a part of the process of being transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).

However, regardless of the other questions that come up, we can safely eliminate God’s will as a variable in healing.  There are many factors in healing, and there are many variables that affect what we see and experience as we minister.  But God’s will in healing is not variable.  It is constant.  This is one reason we never see anyone in the New Testament minister healing by praying “God please heal the person if it be Your will.”

Neither Jesus nor His disciples seemed to have any question about whether or not healing was God’s will.  If you read what they said, and how they said it, then you will see that they were all operating on the belief that God wanted to heal people.

If we are trying to represent Jesus and do the will of God, then we need to operate on that same belief.  Otherwise, we are believing something that is not biblical, and we are misrepresenting our Father and our Savior.

Next in Series:  God’s Will in Healing Part 2 – Timeline

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