Memory Verse:
“This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases’” Matthew 8:17
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
“For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 6:23
It is God’s will that we seek Him for healing
Sickness is the result of human sin, from SIDS to Alzheimer’s, and ultimately to death, all can be attributed to the rebellion of humankind against God. You don’t have to “personally sin” to be affected physically by the “results of human sin” in general. Sickness unto death came into this world as a result of “the fall” (Geneses 3) and remains due to the total depravity of humankind to be without sin. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23); “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
It should be understood that if in this present age we were to receive the “just deserts” for our personal sin, we should all be dead long ago!
Healing is the result of God’s grace and not our personal striving. Did any of us deserve to be the beneficiaries of Jesus’ saving work on the cross? Absolutely not. The message of the gospel is that God isn’t fair. We don’t get what we deserve, we get God’s grace instead. If God can willingly forgive sin because of Jesus’ work on the cross, he can equally willingly heal on that basis as well. Not based on our deservedness. Whether people’s sickness comes from personal sin or from simply living in a sin-ridden world, it is the will of God (refer lesson 1) that we pray and seek for God’s gracious healing to be extended to those who suffer. Provision for healing is made available to us through Christ’s victory over sin by His atoning work upon the cross.
It is God’s will that humanity has eternal victory over sin and sickness
Reading Revelation 21:4
What do you observe?
What does the passage mean?
How do we apply this to us today?
Can end-time healing benefits be experienced in the present? Is it God’s will to heal us today?
The answer to this question lies in our present reality as Christians.
We sit in between the time of the coming of Christ and his establishment of God’s rule 2000 years ago, and the still to come rule of God, the coming King as is pictured in the Alliance crown of the Logo.
Reading Mark 3:26-27
What do you observe?
What does the passage mean?
How do we apply this to us today?
The kingdom of God “as now and not yet” is described in a number of ways in the New Testament. Jesus gives an excellent picture of our present reality in Mark 3:26. Here he has been accused of casting out demons by the power of Satan. He denies this by stating it makes no sense for Satan to destroy himself. He counters this with his own description of reality. Jesus say, “In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.” Jesus is the thief, stronger than the strong man. Jesus has tied up the strong man–Satan, and is now pillaging Satan’s house at will. The time of God’s rule, the Kingdom of God, has come in Jesus’ ministry, but His final victory is in the future. The strong man has been tied up and can be robbed, but his final defeat is yet to come. When Jesus faced his accusers in his trial, he said His reign was yet to come. He will ride the clouds of heaven and rule from the right hand of God. The final victory over sickness unto death was yet to come. Sin, sickness and death have been dealt with by a blow which signals their ultimate defeat. But we’re still waiting for the final final victory over sin, sickness and death when Jesus returns.
All our benefits from God’s grace are as a result of Christ’s work on our behalf. When we ask for forgiveness for sin, we are forgiven. Yet, each of us knows that even as Christians, complete liberation from sin in our present reality is an impossibility. We continue to be tempted, and we, on occasion, fall into sin. Furthermore, we continue to feel the effects of the sins committed by others. We are not immune to temptation and sin but it is the will of God that we do not sin, seek freedom from sin and appropriate His power for Holy living through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
This same reality impacts our health. We are not immune from sickness. But it remains the will of God that we seek to appropriate His healing benefits. And yet, we also remain in the old age, of now and not yet, suffering and death, the effects of humanity’s sin, awaiting eternal victory. This is not something new. Lazarus was even resurrected from the dead by Jesus, but he was not given physical eternal life. As far as we know, Lazarus died a second time.
Reading James 5:5
What do you observe?
What does the passage mean?
How do we apply this to us today?
Reading Hebrews 10:19
What do you observe?
What does the passage mean?
How do we apply this to us today?
Reading 1 Corinthians 5:21
What do you observe?
What does the passage mean?
How do we apply this to us today?
To appropriate healing you need to know that you can approach the Father, by Jesus and through the Holy Spirit. That you are clean, forgiven, declared righteous, that all your sin has been atoned for and that this reality positions you to ask God for healing.
Reading John 10:10
What do you observe?
What does the passage mean?
How do we apply this to us today?
Reading Matthew 9: 32-33
What do you observe?
What does the passage mean?
How do we apply this to us today?
Reading Luke 13:11-12,16
What do you observe?
What does the passage mean?
How do we apply this to us today?
While commonly sickness is a result of general sin (ie. old age), at times sickness may be the result of personal sin or a spirit of infirmity. Seeking God for healing should always be accompanied with a heart of repentance, prayers of deliverance and anointing with oil for healing.
A question that sometimes is asked… If Jesus is our healer, should we see a doctor?
Two centuries before Christ a Jewish wise man named Jesus ben Sirach in a book often known as Ecclesiasticus gave advice on God, healing, and physicians:
- Honor physicians for their services, for the Lord created them;
for their gift of healing comes from the Most High, and they are rewarded by the king.
The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,
and in the presence of the great they are admired.
The Lord created medicines out of the earth, and the sensible will not despise them.
Was not water made sweet with a tree in order that its power might be known?
And he gave skill to human beings that he might be glorified in his marvelous works.
By them the physician heals and takes away pain; the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.
God’s works will never be finished; and from him health spreads over all the earth.
My child, when you are ill, do not delay, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly, and cleanse your heart from all sin.
Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour,
and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.
Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;
and do not let him leave you, for you need him.
There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,
for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success in diagnosis
and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.
He who sins against his Maker, will be defiant toward the physician.
(Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 38:1-15 NRSV)
Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the whole person. Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil are taught in the Scriptures as privileges for the Church in this present age and a primary activity of Christian witness. This healing is appropriated through: 1. Seeking God. 2 Repentance from sin. 3. Prayers of deliverance including anointing with oil. 4. Approaching physicians.