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Christian healing scriptures are found throughout the Bible.
You find Christian healing scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments. Sometimes we think that healing was only a part of Jesus’s ministry while it has been a part of all God’s covenants.
The Prophets state healing as part of the covenant at times, while at other times it is assumed.
It is important to understand the covenant that God has made with us concerning healing. When we agree with God and His covenant, our faith can be adequately released to receive what God has provided for us.
Hopefully, as you study this message, you will grow in faith to believe in God for healing miracles. I desire that each of us gain the conviction that God is not only able to heal but is willing.
Abraham, is one example
I want us to look at Abraham first in our study of healing. Abraham gives us an example of faith in God’s covenant. You will understand the importance of this as we go forward in our study of healing.
Abraham did not have a Bible, yet he knew God. He talked to Him as we do in prayer and we do know that angels appeared to him at times. However, the Bible does not tell us the little steps God used to build his faith.
But one big step is recorded for us. God made a covenant with Abram and Abram believed Him.
Genesis 12 1Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
When Abram obeyed, God counted obedience as righteousness.
Let’s put that into perspective. This command would be like God telling you to get your wife and children and take what you can carry and leave. You don’t know where you are going or how long it will take.
Abram had faith in God and the covenant God had established with him. He was fully persuaded that God could and would perform all He said.
Believing God is the key to our faith as well.
Paul tells us in Romans 4:20-21 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
Abraham’s faith was to him the evidence that God was able to perform all He promised. He did not have proof of what God said. We are now able to see what he could only believe would happen in the distant future.
The Bible illustrates Abraham’s unwavering faith
In Genesis 22:1-13 we have the story of God testing Abraham by telling him to go and sacrifice his only son, Isaac.
Verse 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Genesis 22:5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
Isaac asks Abraham where was the sacrifice they were to offer.
Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
Note Abraham’s two powerful confessions of faith.
First “The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you –vs 5.”
Second “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering –vs 8.”
Was Abraham speaking out of presumption, or were his two powerful confessions of faith based on something substantial?
Abraham based his faith on the covenant God had established with him.
Abraham had already been walking with God in a faith relationship to this covenant when God spoke to him about sacrificing his son, Isaac.
God had told him that He would establish His promise and covenant through Isaac. Abraham knew that God would heal Isaac to fulfill the covenant. God promised this in the following scripture.
Genesis 17:19-20 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. 20“And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
This promise pointed to the future
At this point in Abraham’s life, Isaac was still without a wife and offspring. Abraham based his confession of faith on the promise God gave him.
Even though the circumstances of the moment seemed in total contradiction to the covenant God had established with him, he continued to obey God. He based his confession and faith in the covenant, not the circumstances. As a result, he went on to be a man fully blessed by God.
Abraham’s faith is an example of the kind of faith that God desires of us to establish our healing.
Just as Abraham believed God according to the covenant established with him, we must believe according to the covenant God has established with us under His Son, Jesus Christ.
Christian healing scriptures – A healing covenant
As I mentioned in the opening remarks of this message, God provides healing in all of the significant covenants He has made with mankind.
In Exodus, when the Children of Israel came out of Egypt, God told them to partake of the lamb. We later read in Psalms that not one feeble or sick person came out of Egypt. Psalm 105:37 & Exodus 15:26
In the covenant God made with David, we find in Psalm 103:2-4 that God promised to heal all their diseases.
However, we will focus on Isaiah 53, which is a prophetic passage of Scripture concerning the ministry of the coming Messiah. In this passage, we find healing is an explicit part of the atonement. We also see the fulfillment of all that this passage spoke of in the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 53:1-10 is The Testimony of Healing in the Atonement.
Isaiah 53:4 NKJV Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 NKJV
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, everyone, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 NKJV
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Isaiah 53:10 NKJV
There are three bold statements in this passage concerning healing in the atonement.
ul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
Verse 4—He has borne our griefs. The Hebrew word for grief includes sicknesses.
Verse 5—By His stripes, we are healed. This includes emotional and physical healing.
Verse 10—He has put Him to grief. The amplified version says “He has put Him to grief and made Him sick.”
What happened when Jesus became sin for us?
We became righteous.
While Isaiah 53 gives a great example of Christian healing scriptures, the following are a few more.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
In the same sense that he became sin for us that we might be righteous, He also became diseased and sick so that we might be healed and made whole.
The above scriptures show healing is a part of the atoning work of Christ. We have redemption through the precious blood that was shed and the stripes that Jesus bore for us were for our healing. He took our diseases as well as our sins.
If this is true, we should find the fulfillment of this in the New Testament.
Jesus Fulfilling the Atonement.
Matthew 8:16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,
Matthew 8:17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”
Jesus was committed to all because of the healing covenant.
The gospels reveal very clearly that throughout the ministry of Jesus, he carried out this commitment of healing to all who came unto Him. We must also remember that Jesus is the same, yesterday and today.
Matthew 12:15 But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.
Matthew 14:36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.
Luke 6:19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
Jesus views healing and forgiveness as being equal.
Mark 2:9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?
Jesus saw healing someone of sickness as just as easy as forgiving someone of their sins. Sin and sickness came into the world through the fall of Adam and Eve; therefore, we must look for the healing of both from our Savior.
The Greek words for salvation or saved show that healing is a part of the atonement.
“Sozo” (verb) and “Soteria” (noun) are the two Greek words that are used for the term salvation or saved.
We must ask ourselves these questions:
Question: Since Christ “bore our sins,” how many does God forgive?
Answer: “Whoever believes.”
Question: Since Christ “bore our sicknesses,” how many is it God’s will to heal?
Answer: “All who believe.”
Why is forgiveness easier to receive than healing if one is no harder than the other with Jesus? Forgiveness is much more ingrained into our belief systems than healing.
Peter sees healing as something that has already been accomplished.
In 1 Peter 2:24 Peter says of Jesus, who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
This verse from 1st Peter says that Jesus bore our sins on the cross for our salvation. AND by His stripes, you were healed. Jesus did it for us, and we need to accept it by faith.
Healing is as much a part of the atonement and the New Covenant as forgiveness of sin.
Jesus is committed to healing all because of the healing covenant.
The same Bible that invites whosoever to be forgiven of his sins also invites all to be healed of their sicknesses.
Christ always forgave sins, and always healed sicknesses.
Remember, the Scripture that says, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body,“ also says, “by whose stripes you were healed.”
The same Scripture that says, “Who forgives all your iniquities,” also says, “Who heals all your diseases.“
Healing is simply the salvation of Jesus Christ having divine action in a man’s body the same as it had divine action in a man’s soul.
Why healings fail with so many Christian healing scriptures
If all of this is true, then why is it so difficult to receive healing? Let’s look at why we don’t receive healing that easily and some factors that hinder the healing process.
- Churches do not teach healing today.
- A lack of faith – It takes faith to receive healing – Acts 14:9-10.
- Unconfessed and unrepented sin – Isaiah 59:2, Psalm 66:18.
- Healing will not come to a double-minded person or one not convinced. – James 1:6-8, Romans 4:20
- Self Indulgence – James 4:3
- Having an indifference towards God and His purpose – Proverbs 1:28-30
- Building your faith on experience, circumstances, or the unanswered questions concerning healing rather than the Word of God – Romans 10:17
- Holding to unscriptural teachings – 2 Timothy 2:15 – Many people think that sickness is a part of the Christian life because Psalm 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions for the righteous.” The word “affliction” used in this case has nothing to do with sickness or physical disabilities. It means trials, hardships, persecutions, temptations, etc.
- Having a pattern of negative confessions that are not in agreement with the Word of God. – 2 Corinthians 4:13.
2 Corinthians 4:13 says, And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,
Other Factors
- Many factors hamper our being healed. Even when we are not guilty of any of the above items.
- Jesus always operated in the fullness of the Spirit and appropriated the fullness of the atonement. He was perfect in faith, which caused Him to have perfect success all of the time in His healing ministry.
- The disciples of Jesus operated under the anointing and were able to heal people as well, but there were times when they didn’t. People who lack faith cannot be healed. In 1 Timothy 4:20, Paul left Trophimus sick. In 1 Timothy 5:23, he referred to Timothy’s frequent infirmities as well.
Paul Realized
- Paul realized his lack of perfection and faith but still committed to press on to God’s perfect will – Philippians 3:12-16.
- This should be our testimony as well. When we do not appropriate God’s healing power, we shouldn’t get under condemnation but rather press forward to that which Christ has apprehended for us.
- We have not yet appropriated the fullness of the atonement provision in our lives. Even though Jesus made full provision for us in the atonement, we have not received the fullness of our salvation, but we press on to that which Christ Jesus has already laid hold of for us.
- Another factor to consider is the fact that the Body of Christ as a whole is still in an unperfected state. The more the Body of Christ comes into the stature and fullness of Christ, the more we will be able to partake of the blessings that come from that anointing – Ephesians 4:13,16, Psalm 133.
Conclusion
The Bottom Line is that the Christian healing scriptures should increase your faith
Your faith and healing come from a heart that is convinced that it is God’s will to heal. Jesus establishes healing as part of the New Covenant. He cannot deny Himself or altar the covenant.
You must be fully persuaded as Abraham was.
Psalms 89:34 says, My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
Another post you may like is: Pressing On For Jesus Christ.