In the background I come from, back in the 80’s and 90’s the subject of healing was taught, systematically, and on a regular basis. I have noticed more recently in several churches I have been a part of and ministries I follow, that believe in healing and practice praying for the sick – don’t teach about it. They will mention it in their messages, and affirm that God is still the Healer – but I don’t hear them teaching whole messages or series on healing.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God – that’s Romans 10:17. So if you want to build faith for healing in your people, you should preach and teach on it. Being a teacher, I am going to do my part to help remedy that and do a series on healing.
Healing is an act of
- Love and Compassion
- Grace
- A benefit
- A covenant right
Love and Compassion
Jesus could have performed all kinds of miracles in His earthly ministry. But the great majority of the ones He did were to help people. Over and over He saw the need, and He was moved with compassion.
Let’s contrast Sympathy/Pity with compassion: you can feel sorry for someone and have pity on them, but in the back of your mind is the thought “I’m glad I’m not in their situation”. Compassion is sympathy with the motivation to do something about it. Compassion moves you to get down in the trenches with the hurting person and try to do something to alleviate suffering.
Sometimes people do not move from sympathy to compassion because they feel powerless to do anything about the others’ situation. You probably won’t be able to solve all the problems of another person – but maybe you can solve an immediate need. You might not be able to give a homeless person a place to live, or get them a job – but you can probably buy them lunch. And sometimes all it takes is knowing someone cares about them.
Healing, more than any other type of miracle that God could do, illustrates His love for mankind. It shows that He cares. That’s why Jesus did it so much. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…” And what did that Son do while He was on the earth?
Acts 10:38 how 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.
Over and over again we see Jesus moved with compassion and heling the sick:
Matthew 14:14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
Matthew 20:29-34 29 Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.
30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
31 Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
32 So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
33 They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”
34 So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.
Willing to Heal
No one who seriously believes in God has any doubts that God can heal; but many struggle with the question, “but will He?” They can even believe that God does heal and He has healed others – but will He heal me?
Mark 1:40-42 40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.
Why was Jesus willing to heal the leper? Because he was moved with compassion.
Side note: a quote I heard from Bill Johnson, contrasting the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, contact with sin left you contaminated. In the New Testament, you bring the power to set the sinner free. In the Old Testament, if you touched a leper, you were declared unclean. In the New Testament, if you touch a leper, the leper is cleansed.
Mark 5:18-19 18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him.
19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.”
Grace
We hear the definition of grace as “unmerited favor”. People concentrate on the “unmerited” part so much, they forget about the “favor” part.
Grace is when you get something you didn’t deserve, that you didn’t earn. I.e., it is a gift. It’s often coupled with mercy, which is when you don’t get what you do deserve.
Grace is God’s willingness to use His power in your behalf.
Isaiah speaks of what the suffering servant will do:
Isaiah 53:4-5 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
And the New Testament gives us further interpretation:
Matthew 8:16-17 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,
17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”
1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.
A Benefit
Psalms 103:2-5 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Every year at the company I work for I have to sign up for benefits.
Benefit: an advantage or profit gained from something.
The psalmist David speaks of both spiritual and natural benefits, and admonishes us not to forget any of them.
The spiritual benefits:
- Forgives your iniquities
- Redeems your life from destruction
- Loves you (crowns you with lovingkindness)
- Shows mercies
The natural benefits:
- Heals your diseases (Jesus has medical benefits also!)
- Tender mercies
- Satisfies your mouth with good things
- Renews your youth (longevity)
Notice I put mercies both under spiritual and natural benefits. That’s because it can be both.
Mercy is spiritual when it is coupled with the forgiveness of sins, and we don’t get the punishment we deserve.
But healing is also a manifestation of mercy.
Mark 10:46-52 46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.
47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.”
50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.
51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”
52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
A Covenant Right
Luke 13:10-16 10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.
12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.”
13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?
16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound–think of it–for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
There are many reasons or causes of sickness and disease. You could be exposed to something harmful – chemicals, radiation, or germs. Genetic defects. Improper diet. Lack of proper rest. Stress is a major contributor.
There are spiritual reasons also. We cannot discount many examples of sickness in the Bible coming upon people who are being judged for sin. Because of that, the Jews often assumed that if a person had a chronic condition, it was because of sin. Like in John 9:1-2, where the disciples asked Jesus who sinned, that the man was born blind? Jesus had to correct their thinking and tell them “neither”. He also had to correct their thinking when people assumed that catastrophes (like the tower of Siloam falling) were because those affected were worse sinners than everybody else. This is the same attitude that Job’s friends took, when they urged him to repent because he must have done something wrong to deserve the calamity he was experiencing.
And in this example above, it says that the sickness was caused by a spirit – i.e., it was a physical manifestation of a demonic attack in her body. Remember Acts 10:38:
Acts 10:38 how 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.
This does not mean that every sickness is a direct result of demonic activity; but it can all be traced to the curse that came upon mankind when we changed our allegiance from God to Satan.
Why should the woman have been loosed? Because she was a daughter of Abraham. That phrase, son or daughter of Abraham, brings to mind the covenant that God had with Abraham, which was also with his descendants. You might say, “But I don’t have any Jewish blood in me”.
Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
Galatians 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Because we are in Christ, we become Abraham’s seed, and can therefore get in on the benefits of that covenant.
I’ve mentioned sickness being part of a curse that came on mankind. But that also has been dealt with in Christ.
Galatians 3:13-14 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Being redeemed from the curse of the Law is a whole study by itself (see my blogs on Redeemed from the Curse Parts One, Two, and Three); but it can be summarized. Redeem literally means to buy back. Think of a pawn shop where someone might put up a piece of jewelry as collateral for a loan (as opposed to selling it outright) – when the loan is paid off, you get the ring back. You’ve redeemed it. A price was paid for it.
Christ redeemed us by taking on the curse as our substitute.
What curse? “The curse of the Law”. Many Christians know they are redeemed, but they don’t know what they are redeemed from. “We’re redeemed from sin”. It certainly includes redemption from the judgment due us because of our sins. Christ took that judgment upon Himself and suffered in our place so that we wouldn’t have to.
But that is not all we are redeemed from. And if you want to find out what we are redeemed from, you need to look up what the curse of the law is. It is found in Deuteronomy 28.
The book of Deuteronomy, which means “second law”, takes place at the time after the 40 years of wandering when Israel was ready to enter the promised land. Moses gave the surviving generation a lesson on the Law again. To burn it into their consciousness, he divided the people into two groups, and separated them onto two mountains (think big hills rather than huge mountains). One was the mountain of blessing, where the people repeated the blessings that would come upon them if they kept the Law. It is found in Deuteronomy 28:1-14.
The second mountain was the mountain of cursing, where the people repeated the curses that would come upon them if they did not keep the Law. It is much longer, Deuteronomy 28:15-68. Moses concludes his whole discourse with these words:
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.
So back to the curse of the Law. Read it, so you can know what you are redeemed from. It is summarized in three things: poverty, sickness, and spiritual death.
Let’s focus on the middle one (since we’re talking about healing).
- Vs. 21 Plague
- Vs. 22 Consumption, fever, inflammation, severe burning fever
- Vs. 27 boils, tumors, scab, itch
- Vs. 28 madness, blindness, confusion
- Vs. 35 severe boils all over
- Vs. 59 extraordinary plagues – great and prolonged plagues, serious and prolonged sickness
- Vs. 60 the diseases of Egypt
And to top it off:
Deuteronomy 28:61 Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed.
Rights vs. Entitlement
Why is it important to know that healing is part of our covenant with God? Because that answers the question of whether it is God’s will to heal us or not. Jesus purchased healing for us by the whip marks on His back. If He went to that pain and trouble to get it for us, if He went around most of His earthly ministry healing and demonstrating that it was His will to heal, why should we think He would want to withhold healing from us?
Because it is in our covenant, it is our right. Now I have heard some Christians say “a Christian has no rights”, but they are wrong. On the other hand, I understand why they would say that – it’s because of images of protestors ever since the 60’s shouting and holding up signs and “demanding our rights!” and in general acting very angry and dissatisfied.
In America our constitution outlines the rights that a citizen in right standing with this country has. The constitution does not grant us those rights; it has specific language in it that says that the rights are unalienable and are granted from God. That is an important point: if the government did not grant us those rights, then it has no right to take them away.
Many people do not believe in the constitution any more. They want to change it. There are many people who do not believe in or care about free speech any more. You only really believe in free speech until you are willing to defend someone’s right to say something that you don’t agree with.
What has happened today is that people have taken rights and turned it into a sense of entitlement. “I have a right to this. I deserve it. It is owed to me”. And they add more and more things that they are entitled to, usually to be supplied by the government.
So, does a Christian have rights? Yes. Do we deserve them? No! They are a gift of grace. Remember grace is unmerited favor – you didn’t deserve it or earn it – but it is favor! Therefore do not forget your benefits!
It really comes down to the attitude you have. We must always maintain the attitude of gratitude.
Should a Christian ever demand their covenant rights? Yes, but you don’t demand it from God. He’s not the one withholding from you! You can remind God of His promises; but the purpose there is not to remind God because He forgot.
The ones you have to demand of is the devil and your own flesh. You can demand the devil take his hands of your body, and you can command your body to be made whole.
Why should God heal you?
You need to be able to answer this question. If you have hesitancy about it, if you are unsure, that can hinder your healing.
The attitude is important also, and we have been seeing. We’ve given four reasons for healing, and they should be taken in that order:
- He will heal me because He is a Good God and He loves me
- Healing is a gift of grace. I don’t deserve it – which means I can’t earn it! I just have to receive it
- Healing is a benefit of my salvation package. I should take advantage of everything in my package!
- Healing is my covenant right
If you flip the reasons around, and start demanding healing as a right without being cognizant that is a gift and you don’t deserve it, that can hinder things.
Remember the story when the Israelites wanted meat to eat and not just manna? It was not an unreasonable request for them to want some variety in their diet. And did you notice, God granted their request and sent quail. But, he also sent a plague with it. Not because the request was bad, but because of the way they presented it – their attitudes were terrible! They complained about how their soul loathed this miserable stuff (the manna). If they had brought the request for meat to Moses humbly and being grateful for what they had, they would have gotten the quail without the curse.
