Healer

“By His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5). These vivid words are a prophetic word of knowledge that through Jesus’ crucifixion we will be healed, redeemed, made new and whole. God is speaking of being healed spiritually.  God wants us to be healed spiritually first, because bodily healing is temporary.  What is that all about? Yes, God through Jesus Christ has the power to heal our bodies and He did it regularly in His ministry on earth. However, we are eternal beings, regardless of what some atheists say. We will spend eternity in heaven, in the bright light of the presence of God, or in hell in damned darkness. It is our choice to receive the gift of healing.  God wants to heal us spiritually and physically. He wants our souls made new, clean in the blood of the Lamb.  That means, God wants us to understand the Gospel. God came to earth in Jesus Christ, the Son of God to live and die for us that we might be saved or healed, made new through His death and resurrection.

Throughout Scripture God speaks of healing. Starting in Deuteronomy 32:39 God says He is the one who will wound and He will heal. He will heal body, soul and land.  In 2 Chronicles 7:14 there is the often quoted prayer, “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  This is God speaking to Solomon on the dedication of the Temple.  Healing a land speaks of healing souls to return to God in body, mind and spirit. Even Job, in his pain spoke of God saying, “He wounds, but his hands also heal.” (Job 5:18). 

The Psalms speak of physical and spiritual healing. Psalm 6:2 of David in pain says, “O Lord, heal me for my bones are in agony.”  In Psalm 41:4 David again says, “O Lord, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.” Here David is speaking of his body and soul being healed of sin. Yes, God heals our bodies, forgives our sins and cleanses us of all unrighteousness. And this healing is through His Son, by His death and resurrection of the Cross. Again in Psalm 30:2, the Psalmist David speaks, “O Lord my God, called to you for help and you healed me.” Yes, the Lord hears the cries of a contrite heart and brings healing.

There is a Hillsong Music praise song called “Healer.”  Ironically, a man supposedly dying of cancer sings it. He cries out to be healed.

I believe you're my Healer

I believe you are all I need

I believe you're my Portion

I believe You're more than enough for me

Jesus You're all I need

This man is not actually dying, but lying.  There is an incredible outpouring of sorrow and love for the man. He is convicted of his sin, yet God healed him of his sin and God and the Hillsong group forgave him.

Isaiah and Jeremiah speak often of God healing their wounds. Israel has been in bondage and exile. Yet God says, “Call on me and I will answer you and tell great and unsearchable things…I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.” (Jeremiah 33:3,6).  God brings healing to land, body, spirit and soul as we seek him. And Hosea 6 says, “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us.” This is graphic and metaphoric. The Israelites have been wounded in body and spirit, particularly because of unfaithfulness to God.

The Psalmist in 103 praises the Lord with all his heart, because he is the one, “Who forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases…” You will find a story on the “Living Word” in my book Great is God’s Faithfulness that speaks of how the Lord instantly healed me from predictably mortal tick-borne illnesses when I prayed Psalm 103 out loud. The word of the Lord is living and dynamic and will accomplish its purposes like the rains that fall on the earth.

Then God was incarnated in Jesus Christ to earth. The Old Testament conceals and the New Testament reveals his healing ministry. There is in Matthew 8 an incredible story of a Roman Centurion coming to Jesus asking for healing of a paralyzed servant. “I will go and heal…Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.”  Later, “ he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” (Matt 8:17).  In Matthew 9 He heals the paralytic, “Take heart your sins are forgiven.” Yes, He heals body and spirit; He forgives sins. He healed the blind and the mute and then He sent out the 12 to do the same in His power through faith.

This is the story and veracity of the Gospel; Jesus is the Way, the Life and the Truth, no one comes to the Father but through him. If you ask him, he will heal you. It will be in his way and timing, but it is a done deal if done in faith.