Jesus heals and forgives

Jesus heals by miracles! If you want an answer to prayer, that answer is found in the Bible. I want to start by reading to you a passage from Mark 2. These four men were so desperate, they knew only Jesus was going to heal their friend; no hospital could cure him, no medicine could relieve the symptoms. This man needed a miracle! The crowd was full of expectation: they knew Jesus could heal the sick, the paralysed man's friends knew He could heal the sick. What was Jesus going to do? To prove that He has power on earth to forgive sins, Jesus turned to the paralysed man and said, "Stand up, take up your mat, and go home." Immediately the paralysed man arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God!

Healing is an integral part of the atonement. It has been bought for us, together with our salvation, though Christ's suffering and death. We need to apply the same level of faith to our deliverance from sickness as we do to our deliverance from sin.

Some question that Isaiah 53 is merely an Old Testament prophecy, referring only to a full salvation from sin, let me remind you that in the New Testament it is used as a reference to healing, rather than salvation. Matthew 8:16-17 says Jesus 'healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.' So the healing ministry of Christ was clearly seen as a fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy, and it still is for today - just as much as salvation from sin - because both were fulfilled literally through Christ's suffering and death. Hence healing fulfils both Scripture and Bible prophecy.

Sin and sickness are not from God, both come from the devil. The purpose of the first coming of Jesus was to make a way of escape from the evil which Satan and ultimately man, by his disobedience, brought into the world: "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, to destroy the works of the devil!" - 1 John 3:8. However, this is only in part today, none of us is perfect in ourselves, we live in a world of sin and sickness and are surrounded by them. When Christ returns we shall be taken out of this world into the Kingdom of Heaven, then there will be no more sin, sickness or death. Until then, walking by faith, we must overcome sin - and temptation - and sickness.

Be encouraged as you listen to today's podcast: JESUS HEALS AND FORGIVES



'I behold Your glory' used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com