• Sick believers don't need to remain sick!
James 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him...
James was writing to Christian believers (2:1). He asked them if any of them were sick. It is a “given” of life in our fallen condition that our bodies on occasion tend to sickness, and eventually they die. However, as the verse directly below points out, it is also a “given” for the believer that God is Jehovah-Rapha, “the Lord who heals you.”
Exodus 15:26 [God] said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”
God identified Himself to Israel in a variety of names and ways. Here He revealed Himself to His people as “Jehovah-Rapha” — “the Lord who heals you.”
Healing is not just something that God “does.” No, more than that, healing is part of God’s very nature — “I AM the Lord who heals you.” Remember always that you serve a God who has declared that His intent towards you is “not [to] bring on you any diseases ... [but to be] the Lord who heals you.”
• God is FOR us, not against us, in the matter of healing.
God’s heart towards His people is health and healing. See, for example, the following Scripture portions:
• Exodus 23:25-26 Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
• Deuteronomy 7:11-12, 15 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today. If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers.... [15] The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.
• Acts 10:38 ...how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
• God's spiritual healing power extends to ALL our diseases and infirmities.
Psalms 103:2-3 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.
The greatest of the Lord’s “benefits” is that He forgives all our sins! But the Psalmist here charges us not to forget another of the Lord’s benefits — that is, He “heals all our diseases.”
ALL our diseases! None are too hard for Him. No illnesses are excluded from this great “benefit.” Whatever disease you or a loved one may have, it falls under God’s promise to “heal all your diseases.”
• Jesus died for both our sins and our sicknesses.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
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.
It was Jesus’ willing offering of Himself on the Cross that bore our sins. But the very same tormented body of Jesus, in His scourging and crucifixion, purchased for us the blessing of divine healing — “by His wounds you have been healed.”
And notice the differences in the verb tenses used by Isaiah and Peter. Isaiah, prophetically seeing this seven centuries before Christ, said, “By His wounds we are healed.” The apostle Peter, looking back to Christ’s historical death and resurrection, declared, “By His wounds you have been healed.” Jesus cried out from the Cross, “It is finished!” Sin has been overcome. Sickness has been overcome. The Cross of Jesus Christ has conquered both sin and sickness.
The following are some of the numerous instances of divine, spiritual healing in the Bible. Let’s see what insights we can learn from them.
• God responds to prayer for healing.
Genesis 20:17-18 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again, for the LORD had closed up every womb in Abimelech’s household because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Numbers 12:13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, please heal her!”
The principle here is simple — faithful Abraham prayed, and God healed. Moses prayed for leprous Miriam, and God healed her.
King David understood the power of prayer for healing — “O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me” (Psalm 30:2).
The ongoing principle seen here and elsewhere in the Bible, is the power of a believer’s prayer. Abraham, Moses, and David believed in God’s power and willingness to heal, and they prayed for it. Jesus taught on this same power of a believer’s faith-filled prayer:
Matthew 21:22 “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
• And it's OK with God if our prayers for healing are deeply emotional!
2 Kings 20:1-5 (King James Version) In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
Serious illnesses can be emotionally devastating. King Hezekiah was “sick unto death.” To make matters worse, the prophet Isaiah brought him the Lord’s message that this illness would be fatal. Hezekiah’s reaction is very illuminating for us.
The Bible reveals to us that, having learned that his illness was terminal, Hezekiah “wept bitterly” (NIV) as he “prayed unto the Lord.” Note that God regarded both Hezekiah’s prayer and his emotions — “I have heard thy prayer; I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee.” It’s OK with God if we are quite emotional in approaching Him with our healing needs.
Now let’s look at some examples of Jesus healing the sick, the infirm, the diseased, those in pain, etc.
• Jesus healed a broad range of illnesses — in fact, He healed "every disease and sickness."
To be contd...