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Christian Evangelism, Healing, and Teaching Resources
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Healing Training Course
Part 3: It's Already Paid For!
Introduction
In Part One we saw that healing the sick and casting out demons are part of the Great Commission, which means that these things are our responsibility. In Part Two we examined a number of common questions and objections about divine healing, and we discovered that our wrong assumptions are hindering us from seeing miracles of healing. If we can set aside our assumptions and biases in order to be objective, then we'll see some amazing things in the Bible. We need to believe what the Bible says, no matter how unusual it might sound at first! If you find yourself reading this series with a critical eye, looking for flaws, that's okay. We should find and correct any flaws. But also put your own assumptions and biases under that same critical microscope! Our assumptions and biases are comfortable to us, so we don't like to look too closely at them, but sometimes they're just plain wrong. If our long-held assumptions and biases are wrong, then we're not honoring the Lord by hanging onto them. With that in mind, let's examine some assumptions. It Is Finished!
First, what moves God to heal a person? Does God heal people based on their desire? If so, then every person who desires to be healed would automatically be healed by God. Does God heal people based on their need? If so, then every person who needs to be healed would automatically be healed by God. Is God waiting impassively until we have filled up some kind of heavenly container with enough prayers? Notice that multitudes of Christians have prayed for healing for weeks and months and years, yet they're not receiving healing. Is God sitting up in heaven with a scowl on His face, waiting until we have cried and pleaded enough before He will heal us? Notice that thousands or millions of people are crying and pleading for healing, yet they're not receiving healing. Does God expect us to build prayer chains of intercessors to pray for our healing? Notice that many Christians have asked many other Christians to intercede for their healing, yet they're not receiving healing. Remember, we saw in Part One that healing never died out because Jesus turned His evangelism and healing ministry over to us. Therefore, people can receive healing in modern times. But what moves God to heal someone? Nothing! We tend to assume that God will approve or deny our requests for healing, so we say things like:
Why not? Because He has already done what needs to be done! It's already paid for! To understand this, think about it in terms of salvation. Will God do something to save unbelievers today? Notice that God has already done what needs to be done for unbelievers to be saved because Jesus has already gone to the cross. There's no other way for our sins to receive atonement. It's already paid for! It's finished! So imagine that an unsaved person says things like:
But if we substitute the word "heal" in place of the word "save" in the above statements, then those are things which most Christians tend to say. Again, God is not going to do something to heal us, as we'll see in a moment. He has already done what needs to be done. Notice that if an unsaved person makes any of the above statements then his wrong assumptions are hindering his salvation. In other words, if you look closely at the above statements then you can see that he needs to change his thinking in order to have proper faith for salvation. Similarly, if we make any of the above statements (substituting "heal" in place of "save") then our wrong assumptions are hindering our healing. In other words, we need to change some of our thinking in order to have proper faith for healing. It's possible to receive healing even if we have some wrong assumptions (as we'll see in Part Four), but it's far less likely to happen. We Receive Spiritual Blessings from God through Our Spirit
Paul said that God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Christ was raised up and seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly realms right now because we are in Him (Ephesians 1:20). We can't visualize or comprehend this very easily because we think of our present physical reality as being the "true" reality. But this physical reality is only temporary, and the unseen spiritual reality is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). The unseen spiritual reality is the true reality. At this very moment, our born-again spirit is a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20), and in the unseen spiritual reality we have already been raised up with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6). Our spirit is in Christ and with Christ at all times, as part of His body, but our mind and emotions are more focused on the cares and responsibilities and pleasures of our temporary physical reality down here in "this dark world" (Ephesians 6:12). Obviously we will have cares and responsibilities in this world, and not all pleasures are wrong, but if we can allow the spiritual reality to flow through our spirit into the physical world like streams of living water (John 7:38-39), then we're more likely to see miracles and healings and so on. Unfortunately, Christians are mostly tuned into this physical world and rarely tune into the unseen spiritual reality, so they rarely experience much of the supernatural here on earth. Paul also pointed out that we are made up of a spirit, a soul, and a body (e.g. 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Also see Hebrews 4:12). Our spirit is in constant contact with God, and our body is in constant contact with the physical world, and everything else (our mind, will, emotions, personality, etc.) is our soul, according to Bible teachers. God is a spirit (John 4:24), and we're in constant contact with Him through our born-again spirit which is in Christ. We receive spiritual blessings from God through our spirit, and it's our responsibility to manifest these spiritual blessings outwardly. For example, when we receive our born-again spirit at salvation, we also receive the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These are spiritual blessings (in our spirit), and we must use our mind and will so that these spiritual blessings are manifested outwardly into the physical world. In other words, we don't automatically love our neighbor, for example, but instead we had to be commanded to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:39, Romans 13:9-10). So even though the fruit of the Spirit is in our spirit, it's our responsibility to do something so that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are outwardly visible. Those things don't do anyone any good if they remain inside of us! We also receive gifts of the Spirit through our spirit, and it's our responsibility to do something so that our spiritual gifts are outwardly visible. If you have the spiritual gift of evangelism (e.g. Ephesians 4:11), for example, then it's in your spirit and available at all times, but you must speak to people in order for that gift to become outwardly visible. The point here is that we must do something in order for the fruit and gifts and blessings in our spirit to be manifested outwardly into the physical world. We must walk in love, and act with patience, and exercise self-control, and speak in evangelism, and so on, which causes these inward things to come outward into the physical world. All of these gifts and blessings from God were made available to us in the Atonement. In other words, the Atonement made it possible for us to receive salvation and all of the spiritual blessings which come with salvation. But what about divine healing? Is it a blessing from God? Absolutely. Does this mean that we receive healing from God through our spirit, just as we receive all of the other fruit and gifts and blessings from God through our spirit? It would certainly be consistent. Does this mean that we must do something so that the blessing of healing is outwardly manifested into the physical world, just like with all of the other fruit and gifts and blessings from God? Yes, and later in this series we'll find out what to do. This might be difficult to grasp at first, and the reason is because we're bumping up against another assumption. For example, if people receive a miracle of healing in their body, then we assume that it was a physical blessing from God. But remember, it's our born-again spirit which is in constant contact with God, and God provides spiritual blessings from heaven to us through our spirit, intending for them to flow through to the outside world in our words and actions and attitudes and behaviors and so on. If we compare divine healing with the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, notice that they all come from God, and they are all meant to be manifested outwardly into the physical world. In other words, if healing flows from God through our spirit to the outside world (our physical body), then this is consistent with all of the other spiritual blessings from God which we have looked at. This implies that we must do something so that our healing is manifested outwardly, just like with all of the fruit and gifts from God. Later in this series we'll find out what to do. Now, this brings up an implication which will be uncomfortable for many people because it bumps up against another assumption. Recall that the fruit of the Spirit and gifts of the Spirit and so on are spiritual blessings which are available to us because of the Atonement. Notice that if healing is a spiritual blessing just like those other spiritual blessings, then this means that healing might have been made available to us in the Atonement as well. But many of us were taught (or assumed) that healing is not in the Atonement. Remember, we're trying to find out what the Bible says and believe what the Bible says, no matter how unusual it might sound at first. So is healing in the Atonement, or isn't it? We need to weigh the Scriptural evidence with an open mind, and believe whichever view has the strongest evidence. So if you believe that healing is not in the Atonement, then take a moment and write down the passages of Scripture which you personally use to support your view. Don't skip this step, because it will be very informative! Take a moment and come up with any Scriptural evidence you can think of, then weigh it against the Scriptural evidence in the next section in order to determine which view has the strongest support. Healing Is in the Atonement
Now let's take a look at the connection between healing and atonement throughout the Bible. First of all, recall that receiving salvation means that we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:14-15, Colossians 3:9-10, Ephesians 4:22-24). Receiving salvation does not cause our old self to be "patched" or "healed" because our old self is crucified (Romans 6:6-8) and our spirit is born from God (John 1:12-13, 3:3, 6, 8, 1 Peter 1:3, 23, 1 John 5:1). This new spiritual life is available to us because of the shed blood of Jesus (e.g. Romans 4:25, 5:6-10, Colossians 1:20). Notice that Isaiah told us what the Messiah was going to do for us: Isaiah 53:4: "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted."According to the above prophecy, Jesus took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, and was pierced for our transgressions, and was crushed for our iniquities, and His punishment brought us peace, and by His wounds we are healed. Jesus did more for us than we can comprehend! Notice that Isaiah specifically said that Jesus will be stricken and smitten. The Hebrew words for "stricken" and "smitten" mean "violently, to strike" and "give [wounds]...(give) stripes" respectively, according to Strong's Hebrew Dictionary. The vicious whipping that Jesus received on His back (His "stripes") certainly fulfills this part of the prophecy. Isaiah also said that Jesus will bring peace (i.e. peace with God) and healing to us. Consider that if the salvation parts of Isaiah's prophecy apply to us (and certainly they do) then the healing parts of Isaiah's prophecy apply to us also. Here's that passage in a more literal translation of the Bible (Young's Literal Translation): Isaiah 53:4 (YLT): "Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains--he hath carried them, And we--we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted."Isaiah said that "our sicknesses he hath borne [taken away] ... And he the sin of many hath borne [taken away]." Notice that Jesus took away all of our sicknesses, just as He took away all of our sins. We receive healing as a free gift by faith, just as we receive salvation as a free gift by faith. The New Testament also says that Jesus enabled us to receive salvation and healing: 1 Peter 2:24: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."In the above verse, Peter was paraphrasing Isaiah 53:4-5 (above). Notice that both Peter and Isaiah mentioned that Jesus purchased our salvation as well as our healing in the Atonement. In the above verse, people sometimes assume that Peter meant, "by His death you have been spiritually healed [i.e. saved]." But is that really what he meant? When Peter used the word "wounds" in 1 Peter 2:24 (above), he used the Greek word molops. Strong's Greek Dictionary says that molops means "blow-mark:--stripe." When Isaiah used the word "wounds" (above), the Hebrew word is chabbuwrah. Strong's Hebrew Dictionary says that chabbuwrah means "blueness, bruise, hurt, stripe, wound." In the Greek and in the Hebrew, these words specifically mean "wound" or "stripe mark." Peter and Isaiah were not talking about Jesus' death, but instead they were specifically talking about His wounds (His "stripes"). Here's how a prominent Greek dictionary describes the Greek word molops: "A welt, a mark of fighting, a blow or wound made in war, also a scar, wheal, or the mark left on the body by the stripe of the whip. Used figuratively in 1 Pet. 2:24 referring to stripes, quoted from Is. 53:5." (The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, p.1000, emphasis added)So the Greek word molops specifically refers to a mark on the body which results from a wound, especially the type of stripe mark created by the vicious whipping that Jesus received on His back. When Peter and Isaiah referred to Jesus' "stripes" they meant His stripes, not His death. Peter said that Jesus' stripes brought healing to us, and he used the Greek word iaomai ("healing") in that verse. In the vast majority of places where iaomai is used in the New Testament, it always refers to physical healing (here are the references: Matthew 8:8, 13, 15:28, Mark 5:29, Luke 5:17, 6:17, 19, 7:7, 8:2, 47, 9:2, 11, 42, 17:15, 22:51, John 4:47, 5:13, Acts 3:11, 9:34, 10:38, 28:8, Hebrews 12:13). In several places, it's possible that iaomai does not refer to physical healing (Matthew 13:15, Luke 4:18, John 12:40, James 5:16). So how do we know which meaning Peter was using? In a moment we'll see that the apostle Matthew quoted from Isaiah's prophecy, just as Peter did, and Matthew specifically said that it involves physical healing. Therefore, Jesus' death purchased our salvation, and His "stripes" somehow purchased physical healing for us. Notice that Peter did not say that Jesus' death healed us, but instead Peter said that Jesus' wounds healed us. 1 Peter 2:24 (above) does not refer to salvation because it's not talking about Jesus' death. In other words, the stripes from the whip are different from a death on a cross. In addition, 1 Peter 2:24 (above) does not refer to "spiritual healing" because our old self must be crucified (Romans 6:6, Galatians 2:20, 5:24). When we receive salvation, it doesn't cause our spirit to become "patched" or "healed." Instead, we're given a new spirit. So Jesus' stripes on His back purchased physical healing, and Jesus' death on the cross purchased salvation. The apostle Matthew explained that Jesus fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy (above) by physically healing the sick: Matthew 8:16: "When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick."Isaiah had prophesied that the Messiah will take up our infirmities and carry our diseases, and Matthew 8:16-17 (above) explains that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy by physically healing the sick. Matthew was quoting from the same prophecy that Peter quoted from when Peter said "by his wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24, above). Matthew has given us definite proof that Isaiah and Peter were talking about physical healing! Sometimes people say that when a prophecy is fulfilled then it has been accomplished "once and for all," never to be fulfilled again. According to that argument, Isaiah's prophecy of physical healing was fulfilled before the cross (Matthew 8:16-17, above), and therefore Isaiah's prophecy can't be interpreted to mean that physical healing is in the Atonement. However, notice that Jesus' healings in Matthew 8:16-17 were not a "once and for all" fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy because Jesus continued to heal people (e.g. Matthew 9:35, 12:15, 14:14, 14:35-36, 15:30, 19:2, 21:14). In addition, Matthew 8:16-17 (above) was not the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy because in Matthew 8:16-17 (above) Jesus had not yet been "wounded" as Isaiah had prophesied. Therefore, when Jesus healed people before the cross, this does not prevent healing from being in the Atonement. In fact, Jesus forgave some people's sins before the cross (e.g. Matthew 9:2, 6-7, Luke 7:48-50), which obviously doesn't prevent the forgiveness of sins from being in the Atonement. So Isaiah prophesied that "by his wounds [stripes] we are healed" (Isaiah 53:4-5), and Matthew tells us that Jesus fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy by physically healing the sick (Matthew 8:16-17), and Peter tells us that "by his wounds [stripes] you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24). Physical healing is in the Atonement because the Atonement is when Jesus received His wounds (stripes). Therefore, by His wounds (in the Atonement) we have been physically healed (past tense). It is done! Notice what a Greek dictionary says about Jesus taking our sicknesses upon Himself when He took His "stripes" to the cross: "The Lord on the cross took upon himself not only the consequences of sickness (astheneias), but sicknesses (nosous) themselves, both being basically the result of man's disobedience to God (Gen. 2:17)." (The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, p.271, emphasis added)So Jesus paid the price for our healing as well as our salvation in the Atonement. And as we saw, Matthew 8:16-17 gives us definite proof that Isaiah 53:4-5 and 1 Peter 2:24 are talking about physical healing. In addition, the concepts of salvation and healing in the Bible are so closely linked together that the very same Greek word (sozo) is used in the New Testament to mean both "save" and "heal": Matthew 1:21: "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save [sozo] his people from their sins."We can see that the Greek word sozo is used in the New Testament to mean both "saving" and "healing." These are what Jesus purchased for us in the Atonement. Now, John the Baptist had preached that someone will come and take away the sins of the world, but while he was in prison he apparently began to have doubts about Jesus. Therefore, he sent two men to Jesus to verify that He really was the One who was to come: Luke 7:20: "When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?'"Did you notice how Jesus proved that He was the One who came to take away the sins of the world? He proved it by healing people! Salvation and healing are closely linked together in the Bible, just as they are closely linked together in the Atonement. Now look at what Jesus said when the teachers of the law accused Him of blasphemy because He claimed to be able to forgive people's sins: Matthew 9:5: "Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?"Again, Jesus healed a man in order to prove that He has the authority to forgive sins! Salvation and healing are closely linked together in the Bible, just as they are closely linked together in the Atonement. It might seem like a strange concept to us that healing and atonement are closely linked together. However, it wasn't such a strange concept to the first-century Jews because healing and atonement often went hand in hand throughout the Old Testament. Consider that a number of the "types" or "foreshadowings" of Christ in the Old Testament concerned both healing and atonement, as in the description of Passover in Exodus 12:3-13. The Israelites were commanded to slaughter the Passover lamb and put its blood on their doorposts, and the blood of the lamb saved them from death. They were also commanded to eat the body of the lamb, and this gave them strength and health for their flight from Egypt (Psalms 105:37, especially in the King James Version, the Amplified Version, and the Living Bible, says that not one Israelite was feeble when they left Egypt). 1 Corinthians 5:7 tells us that Jesus is the Passover Lamb, and we have seen that Jesus' blood purchased our salvation and the stripes on His body purchased our healing. Exodus 30:12 says that each Israelite male (20 years or older) must pay a ransom for his life so that no plague will come upon them. Jesus said in Matthew 20:28 that He is our ransom, and The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Walvoord and Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary) describes Exodus 30:12 in this way: "This tax was considered a ransom (Ex. 30:12) because its payment guaranteed protection from plagues. This helped motivate each male to pay. It was also considered an atonement, a covering for sins." (p.154, emphasis added)So once again we see health and atonement closely linked together in this "foreshadowing" of Christ's ransom for us. In Leviticus 14:1-32 we see that someone with an infectious skin disease who was healed had to make an atonement. In Leviticus 13:13-15 we see that when a man was cleansed from some bodily discharge then he had to make a sin offering as an atonement. In Numbers 8:19 we see that Aaron and his sons were told to make an atonement so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they went near the sanctuary. In Numbers 16:46 we see that Aaron made an atonement for the Israelites and stopped a plague that was killing them all. In Numbers 21:5-9 we see that Moses was commanded to make a bronze snake and lift it up on a pole so that any Israelite who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed, and the plague was stopped. Jesus specifically referred to this bronze snake on a pole as a foreshadowing of His crucifixion in John 3:14. In Numbers 25:3-13 we see that another plague was stopped when an atonement was made. In 2 Samuel 24:10-25 we see that yet another plague was stopped when a sacrifice was made. In 2 Chronicles 30:18-20 we again see healing in connection with a pardon from sin. In Job 33:19-30 we see healing being associated with a ransom and redemption from sins. In Psalms 103:2-5 we see that the Lord forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases, and the same linking of forgiveness and healing is found in Isaiah 33:24. We can see that there are a number of examples throughout the Bible which demonstrate that healing and atonement are closely linked. Some of the Old Testament "types" and "foreshadowings" of Jesus demonstrate the linking together of healing and atonement, and all of the other passages that we looked at fit together to show that salvation and healing are closely linked together and were purchased for us in the Atonement. Our healing needs are already paid for! After reading all of this, if you feel that you have stronger Scriptural support for the idea that healing is not in the Atonement, then that's what you should believe. But if there is stronger Scriptural support (above) for the idea that healing is in the Atonement, then that's what we should believe, no matter how unusual it might sound at first. Notice that Jesus paid for our sins in the Atonement, yet people are not automatically forgiven. They must receive forgiveness by faith. Healing works in a similar way, because Jesus paid for our healing in the Atonement, yet people are not automatically healed. They must receive healing by faith. Conclusion
Here are some of the main concepts that we have seen so far:
All for Your glory, Lord Jesus! |