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The purpose of this writing is designed to show that emotional, mental and physical healing
was God’s plan and purpose from the moment He first gave life to Adam and Eve. The early church
understood that it was God’s desire that all His children live in complete wholeness. They also
understood that complete wholeness involved both the spiritual and physical, which means that you
are to be completely healthy in your spirit, soul (which is made up of your mind, will and emotions)
and body.
The early church operated in the gifts of the spirit and one of those gifts is healing. They did
exactly what Christ commanded and commissioned them to do, they healed the sick by the authority
contained in the Name of Jesus.
Unfortunately in 590 AD, Pope Gregory 1 introduced the false doctrine that God uses
sickness and disease as one of His methods to chastise and humble His children. This false doctrine
is presently being taught in our churches today.
Because this incorrect doctrine is still being taught, many Christians are needlessly suffering
with sickness, disease and pain that is literally stealing the abundant life Jesus died to give them.
They are told, God has put this sickness on you to humble or refine you in some way. Just be patient
and carry the cross of your sickness until God sees fit to remove it from you. Ironically, these same
preachers and teachers who tell their subjects it is God’s will that they be sick, will also tell them to
go to a doctor and get some medicine to help alleviate the symptoms of their sickness. If God really
does use sickness to chastise His children, why are they telling their subjects to go against God’s will
by seeking medical attention?
It grieves God to hear His children pray “Lord, if it be your will, heal me” just as much as it
grieves God to hear His children pray “Lord, if it be your will, save me.” To God, you are already
healed by Christ’s death on the cross. Salvation from both sin and sickness was accomplished in the
same redemption by Jesus dying on the cross in your place.
It is extremely difficult to have faith for something you don’t know you have. How can
anyone have faith that God will heal them if they don’t know it is God’s will to heal them. Without
faith, you cannot receive anything from God, because faith in Him and His Word moves God, not
doubt.
I am going to start in the Old Testament and move to the New Testament to show you that it
is most definitely God’s will to heal you. I am not going to show you by my words, but by God’s
Words.
Old Testament
God wants us to live long normal, happy, peaceful, healthy abundant lives. After all, Jesus
said in John 10:10: ... I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. It is also God’s
will that we live long lives free of sickness and when our bodies grow old and give out, we would die
and return to the same dust from which we were formed.
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... You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
Psalm 104:29
With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
Psalm 91:16
God wanted us to lead a healthy, carefree life in His presence. But, through the sin of Adam
and Eve sin and sickness entered the human condition. Therefore, just as through one man sin
entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all
sinned. (Romans 5:12)
Now we know that both Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, but Paul only mentions Adam
in Romans 5:12. Paul only mentions Adam because men have seed, women do not. We inherit our
sin nature through Adam, that is why Jesus had to be born of a virgin. He could not have a
biological earthy father because if He did, He would have inherited the same sin nature we inherit
from our fathers. For Jesus to be a perfect sacrifice for our sins and sicknesses, He had to be sinless
and blameless.
The covenant of healing
If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in
His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the
diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.
Exodus 15:26
The covenant of healing was the first covenant God gave to the Israelites. In it God identifies
Himself as Jehovah-rapha - The Lord who heals you. This is one of God seven redemptive names.
God does not bring sickness on His children, Satan does. He will allow it, if you get into
disobedience, but He will never put sickness on you. The original Hebrew text reads: I will permit
none of the diseases upon you which I permitted on the Egyptians.
In Exodus 15:26 God enters into a covenant or a contract with the Israelites. A covenant is
an agreement, contract, promise or a pact between two people or two parties. In this covenant God
tells the Israelites, if you obey my commands, you will be free from sickness because I am your
healer.
Deuteronomy 28 is a chapter that outlines the blessings for obedience to God’s commands
and the curses for disobedience to God’s commands. As you will see below, sickness is a curse.
The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke in all you undertake to do,
until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds,
because you have forsaken Me. The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has
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consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it. The Lord will smite you
with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the
sword and with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish.
Deuteronomy 28:20-22
If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book,
to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring
extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and
miserable and chronic sicknesses. He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which
you were afraid, and they will cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague which, not
written in the book of the law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed.
Deuteronomy 28:58-62
Basically, God is saying in the above verses, if you break my commandments, you break my
covenant I made with you in Exodus 15:26 and I will allow sickness to come upon you. The
Israelites were a very disobedient bunch. They were always fault finding, complaining and
grumbling about something. However, when they repented of their sins, they were healed. Numbers
21:4-9 below is a good example of how the covenant between God and the Israelites works. The
Israelites became disobedient, then they repented and God healed them.
Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of
Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against
God and Moses, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there
is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food. The Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people
came to Moses and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you;
intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us. And Moses interceded for
the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; and it
shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live. And Moses
made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any
man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
Numbers 21:4-9
So what can we conclude from this. We know that God made a covenant of healing with the
Israelites in Exodus 15:26. We know from Deuteronomy 28:20-22;58-62 if you disobey God’s
commands, one of the curses is sickness. We know from what you just read in Numbers 21:4-9, the
Israelites did not like the manna God was feeding them and they complained about it, which is
disobedience. The Israelites broke the covenant by their complaining and snakes were permitted to
bite them. When the Israelites repented and came back in obedience to God, God was able to fulfill
His part of the covenant and heal them. God is not a covenant breaker, He may give you a better
covenant, but He will never break His covenant because He said My covenant I will not break, nor
alter the word which has gone out from my lips. (Psalm 89:34)
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Isaiah 53, the redemptive chapter
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4
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
There are three words at the beginning of verse four that need to be looked at closer, these
words are borne, griefs and sorrows. It is important to understand the Hebrew meaning for these
words in order for you to understand what Christ did for you on the cross.
The Hebrew word for borne is nasa - this word is used of the undertaking of the
responsibilities for sins of others by substitution and it means to lift up, carry or carry away, to take
up, forgive or accept.
The Hebrew word for griefs is choliy- this word means sickness.
The Hebrew word for sorrows is makob - this word means pains.
So what is Isaiah really saying when he says: Surely He has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows... . To paraphrase, He is saying, Jesus literally took upon Himself all our sicknesses and
pains by becoming our substitute and dying on the cross on our behalf. Jesus does not suffer with us,
He suffered for us.
Now let’s take a closer look at verse five of Isaiah 53. If you look at verse 5 again, you will
see three words. These words are transgressions, iniquities and chastisement. If you should look
these words up in any dictionary, you will notice that the definitions of these words refer to sin or
punishment for sin. Now let’s look at a couple of verses from the New Testament.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Romans 6:23
We know that transgressions, iniquities and chastisement all refer to sin in some regard. We
know from what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that Jesus, even though He knew no sin was made
sin on our behalf. We also know that the wages of sin is death. Therefore, we know that Christ had
to die on our behalf because God put all the sins of humanity on His shoulders so that sin may die to
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us because our sins died with Jesus on the cross.
Now lets look at the last part of verse five. And by His stripes we are healed. We all know
what and means, also, in addition to, plus. Isaiah 53:5 is a very important verse because it outlines
our two-fold redemption. In this verse, we get salvation from sin and sickness by one final act of
Christ dying on the cross. In this verse, the sin question and the sickness question of our redemption
is answered, Christ bore them both.
Now lets go to Isaiah 53:10 in which Isaiah clearly says that it was God’s will to make Jesus
sick with our sicknesses. Jesus was to bear our sickness and disease so that we would not have to
bear them.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; he has put Him to grief and made Him
sick...
Isaiah 53:10 Amplified Bible
Even David equated sin and sickness in the same redemption. He knew when you are
forgiven, you are healed. Isn’t that exactly what happened in Numbers 21:4-9, the Israelites
repented, their sin was forgiven and they were healed. Lets read the words of David.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your
iniquities, who heals all your diseases.
Psalm 103:2-3
New Testament
As Jesus stood in the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, he proclaimed.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the
poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to
set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
Luke 4:18-19
Jesus said My Father has sent me to do these things. Why? Because it was God’s will. Jesus
also said in John 6:38: For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will
of Him who sent Me. Jesus also said He only did what He saw His Father doing. (John 5:19-20)
We know it is God’s will to heal because throughout the four Gospels, Jesus went from town
to town and city and city teaching the Good News, healing the sick, casting out demons and
forgiving sin. He turned no one away, He was never too tired, He never told anyone that His Father
had this sickness on them for some reason and to come back later, then maybe He could heal them.
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In the sermon on the mount, in Matthew 6:10 Jesus instructs us to pray. Your kingdom
come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. There is no sickness in heaven and there is
to be no sickness here on earth. There is no sickness in heaven because that is God’s domain and
God’s perfect will can be accomplished because there is no Satan or demons in heaven. However,
the earth is Satan’s domain and he is the little g, god of this world and he still attacks God’s children
with sickness. We still have to contend with him and his fallen angels until Christ comes back to get
us. Therefore, we are expected to use the authority given to us by Christ to heal the sick.
Jesus redeemed us from physical sickness
There are some religious scholars who believe the sickness Jesus bore on our behalf in Isaiah
53:4-5 was only spiritual. But, according to Matthew, this is not true. According to Matthew, Jesus
is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4-5 and Jesus came to redeem us from physical sickness.
When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He
cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfill what was
spoken through Isaiah the prophet: He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our
diseases.
Matthew 8:16-17
Even John the Baptist knew the miracles, signs and wonders that would be a token of the
coming Messiah. This would be how the Christ would be identified. While John was in prison, he
heard of the miracles Jesus was performing and sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus a specific
question. Notice how Jesus answers John’s disciples.
Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his
disciples and said to Him, Are you the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else? Jesus
answered and said to them, Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive
sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and
the poor have the Gospel preached to them.
Matthew 11:2-5
Jesus told John’s disciples. “Yes, I am the Expected One and here’s why.” I am the Messiah
because I do these things, I restore sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, those who could not
walk are walking and those whose flesh was once rotting are healed.
Jesus is always willing to heal
There is only one occasion in the Gospels in which a person ever questions Jesus willingness
to heal. This occurred with a leper in Luke 5:12-13.
While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and
when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You
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can make me clean. And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be
cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him.
Luke 5:12-13
This leper by Jewish law was considered unclean. He was required to cover his upper lip and
yell out “unclean, unclean” if anyone would come near. This man was an outcast and he was forced
to live outside the city because of his disease. He was defying Jewish law and risking death by even
attempting to approach Jesus.
Verse 12 said this man was covered with leprosy, so that probably means the disease was in
its final stages. This man was desperate and he had nothing to lose by approaching Jesus. He
probably figured, “If I don’t approach Jesus I am going to die, but I can take my chances and go to
this man who I have heard performs miracles, I just may get healed, so I have nothing to lose and
everything to gain.”
So, he approaches Jesus with his request. “Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.
The first thing Jesus does is correct this man by saying, “I am willing.” This leper had never heard
Jesus preach, so he did not know Jesus was willing to heal. He didn’t know that Jesus was sent to
preach the favorable year of the Lord. He didn’t know that Jesus was the Jubilee and the restorer of
all things.
He never questioned the ability of Jesus to heal, only His willingness. He found out Jesus
was willing to heal and Jesus restored to him his health and consequently his life. There are many
Christians today who like this leper don’t know God is willing to heal them. They know He is able
and they know He heals some, but they are not convinced He will heal them. This is unfortunate
because healing cannot manifest in unbelief and doubt.
Peter knew Jesus bore our sickness
Peter the apostle, walked and talked with Jesus. He was one of the favored apostles because
he was allowed to see and hear some things that the other apostles weren’t allowed to hear or see.
Peter knew why Jesus came to this earth. He knew of Christ’s redemptive work.
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
1 Peter 2:24
Peter knew our redemption was two-fold. Jesus bore our sins and sicknesses so we would
not die to them. This is the same Peter who outside the gate beautiful said to a crippled man in Acts
3:6: ... I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus
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Christ the Nazarene – walk! This is the same Peter who in Acts 5:15, people would lay their sick
on the street in hope that the shadow of Peter would fall on them and heal them. Peter was
commissioned by Christ to heal the sick and he knew it, otherwise, he would have never attempted to
do so.
We are all commissioned by Christ to heal
After Jesus died, arose and ascended to heaven, we became the hands, feet, eyes, ears and
mouthpiece of Jesus. It is our duty and responsibility to continue to perform the same works Jesus
performed while He was here on earth. We are all members of Christ’s body and Jesus Himself said
in John 14:12 that anyone who believed would not only do the works He was doing but would do
greater works than He because He was going to the Father. Christ commissioned all believers to
continue His work.
Christ commissioned the twelve apostles
Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to
cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Matthew 10:1
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received,
freely give.
Matthew 10:8
Christ commissioned 70 others
Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him
to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.
Luke 10:1
Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those
in it who are sick, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you.
Luke 10:8-9
Christ commissioned all believers
These signs will accompany those who have believed: In My name they will cast out
demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any
deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Mark 16:17-18
What Jesus says above is absolute. He said all believers will do these things. All means all
and they will means they will, Jesus did not say maybe.
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Christ commissioned the church
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are
to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in
faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed
sins, they will be forgiven him.
James 5:14-15
Conclusion
We are commanded and expected by Christ to perform the same miracles He performed. The
age of miracles did not pass away with the death of the last apostle. Healings are alive and well in
today’s church because Jesus is alive and well. The healings He performed 2000 years ago, He is
still performing today. He is still our Lord, He is still our Healer, He is still our Savior. Nothing
about Him has changed, nothing about the redemption He died for has changed. Folks, He died for
us and He entrust us with a wonderful responsibility, heal the sick.
... whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever
you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16:19
Healing is already a reality in heaven, there is no sickness in heaven because sickness is
already bound in heaven. Therefore, perfect health and wholeness is now a reality here on earth
because our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ bound sickness for us and gave us the authority in His
name to bind the works of the devil, which includes sickness. We will always have the sick among
us and we must stand up as Christians and exercise our authority in Jesus name and heal the sick.
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