The Basis for Divine Healing

Psalms 103 says God forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases.

Psalm 103:1-5 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The ancient Jewish and early Christian worldview had a very different view of sickness and disease than we do today. From the book of Job, we can see the majority of people attributed sickness and disease to some known or unknown sin. The life of Job makes it clear it's not always sin that leads to sickness and disease, but it can also be caused by satan, the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4).

When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, God used many different plagues and diseases to convince Pharaoh to let His people go. After the Israelites crossed the red sea, God revealed another name to His people. He told them, "I am the Lord who heals you."

Exodus 15:26 “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

Then he gave them the law through Moses. At the end of the law was written the blessings for obeying all of the law and the curses for disobeying any of the law. Obedience and disobedience resulted in physical and spiritual blessing or cursing. The answer for living free from sickness and disease was found in The Lord who heals you by obeying His commandments.

Enter into the worldview of ancient Israel. Clearly, the main reason given for sickness and disease was disobedience, as seen by the Israelites in the first century who asked Jesus a question. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind (John 9:2)?”

Jesus had to correct their one-minded view that all sickness and disease came from sin by declaring, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:3-5)

There is another reason for sickness and disease repeated throughout the New Testament. Demonic oppression, as symbolized by the darkness as opposed to the light in John 9:3-5. Jesus rebuked evil spirits to heal sicknesses and infirmities. Matthew 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him [the boy], and the boy was healed instantly. Luke 4: 39 And he [Jesus] stood over her [Simon's mother-in-law] and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

Then, after Jesus healed, he would tell the people, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14) Now you're getting a picture of how the ancient Israelites viewed sickness and disease, but the bottom line is it was always viewed as a curse, no matter whether the origin was sin or satan.

And furthermore, God always had a plan to deal with the curse of sickness and disease. In Isaiah 53, He tells us what the Anointed One would come to do.

Isaiah 53: 4-6 Surely he has borne [5375. nasa: to lift or carry] our griefs [2483. choli: sickness] and carried [5445. sabal: to bear] our sorrows [4341. makob: pain]; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:11-12 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear [5445. sabal: to bear] their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore [5375. nasa: to lift or carry] the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

This chapter tells us Jesus would bear our sicknesses (v 4) as well as our sins (v 11-12). The same Hebrew words for bear, bore and borne are used (5375. nasa and 5445. sabal). In Galatians, Paul tells us that Jesus became the curse for us. Galatians 3:13-14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

This is the curse referred to in the law of Moses where all forms of sickness from disobedience was mentioned earlier. The Messiah came to save us, and we cannot separate physical salvation from spiritual salvation. Isaiah chapter 53 clearly links both of these together. The Messiah came to give us a complete salvation from all sickness and all sin.

Psalm 103:1,3 Bless the Lord... who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.

He dealt with our sickness and our sin at the whipping post and on the cross. Here Peter quotes from Isaiah 53. 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

When we choose to go on sinning or continue living in sickness and disease, we are bearing the sins and sicknesses that Jesus paid the ultimate price to bear for us. We are causing Jesus to suffer in vain because if we would bear sin and sickness anyway, he didn't have to bear it for us. Jesus bore our sin and sickness so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). Don't let Jesus' sacrifice go void because you refuse to claim His promises of salvation by faith.

We are forgiven from sins through faith just as we are healed of sickness through faith. The early Christians didn't separate these two. In fact, they were tightly linked in the sacrament of communion. The bread representing the body of Christ signifies His body broken for our healing. The wine representing the blood of Christ signifies His blood shed for our forgiveness.

This is the basis for a life of salvation here and now. It is a life that claims all of the promises Jesus accomplished for us in His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus is alive today and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He still forgives sins today, which means He still heals sickness and disease today, too. Claim your salvation. Declare it on the rooftops.

Salvation was paid for by Christ!

Talk About Jesus

There is an amazing passage in Deuteronomy talking about the greatest commandment in scripture.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The command is simple.

Everywhere you go, anywhere you are, anything you're doing, talk about the words of scripture.

Jesus clarified the commandments and prophecies in scripture with everything He said and did.

John 5:19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise."

John 8:28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me."

For Christians, this passage in Deuteronomy also applies to everything Jesus said. It applies to Jesus' commandments because He always spoke what the Father taught Him. Here's the point: All day, every day, talk about Jesus.

But why do we always feel awkward when we speak about Jesus with strangers or non-Christians?

It's the same when we speak about a topic we're not familiar with. I can see the same thing when I speak Chinese. If I've had the conversation before, it's easy to speak fluently, but if it's the first time discussing that topic, then I will get stuck and won't communicate clearly.

When we live all our days out speaking about Jesus, then no matter when or where we're talking, it will be natural and passionate. If we never talk about Jesus, even with friends and family, then it will come out as awkward and forced with strangers and non-Christians.

Preach the commands of Jesus to Christians and non-Christians. Talk about them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, and as frontlets between your eyes. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Use all opportunities to practice and speak Jesus' words and then they will be so natural when you speak that it will come out as the passion of your heart in real, genuine, and sincere truth.

Jesus' words need to become the life we live. They must infuse into every aspect and minute of our day. Then we will have personal relationship with Jesus by knowing Him. And we will love Him by doing what He said.

Let Jesus be your every topic of conversation. If someone starts talking about something else, then change the topic back to Him. Be so unsatisfied by anything other than Him that every other topic feels like it's robbing you of joy. Only Jesus satisfies. Only His words bring life and hope. So do not let them depart from you. Obsess over them and share them as a river of living water flowing out of you.

John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life."

John 7:38 "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Psalm 119:33-40 ה Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!