http://bible.com/events/47034312
You can’t read your Bible without understanding that God is in the business of healing.
- In the Old Testament, God declares that He isJehovah Rapha, the God who heals:
He said, “If you listen carefully to 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.”Exodus 15:26
- In the Book of Matthew, the first thing Jesus does after calling his first disciples is preach and heal:
23Jesus went throughout Galilee,teaching in their synagogues,proclaiming the good newsof the kingdom,and healing every disease and sickness among the people.24News about him spread all over Syria,and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed,those having seizures,and the paralyzed;and he healed them.25Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.Matthew 4:23-25
- Throughout the Gospels, we see that Jesus didn’t just reserve this ministry power to Himself:
9When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demonsand to cure diseases,2and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of Godand to heal the sick.Luke 9:1-2
- Before Jesus was famous for resurrection He was famous for healing. And that didn’t stop with His ascension:
3One day Peter and Johnwere going up to the templeat the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.2Now a man who was lame from birthwas being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to begfrom those going into the temple courts.3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.4Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!”5So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,walk.”7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping,and praising God.9When all the peoplesaw him walking and praising God,10they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful,and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.Acts 3:1-10
- The ministry of healing continues throughout the New Testament:
13Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.14Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the eldersof the church to pray over them and anoint them with oilin the name of the Lord.15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.James 5:13
In the midst of this, there is an obvious question:
Why isn’t everyone healed?
John 5:1-8
5Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gatea pool, which in Aramaicis called Bethesda[a]and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[4]5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him,“Do you want to get well?”7“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8Then Jesus said to him,“Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
It’s never enough from God’s perspective, tojustheal you physically
- Jesus desires to strengthen the man’s faith
- Jesus desires to challenge the man’s willingness and desire for healing
- Jesus desires to minister to the spiritual needs in addition to the physical needs
The bottom line:
My healing is up to God. My trust is up to me.
James 5:13-18
13Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.14Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the eldersof the church to pray over them and anoint them with oilin the name of the Lord.15And the prayer offered in faithwill make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.16Therefore confess your sinsto each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a human being, even as we are.He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
For Further Study & Reflection:
Nazarene Article of Faith: Divine Healing:
https://2017.manual.nazarene.org/section/divine-healing/
Jeremiah 17:14
Heal me,Lord, and I will be healed;
saveme and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.
1 Peter 2:24
“He himself bore our sins”in his body on the cross,so that we might die to sinsand live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”