Does God Still Heal Today?

As Christians our attitude towards Divine Healing will have to be established on a foundation of faith, because God is a spirit being and we as people are spirit beings. And Divine Healing is spiritual healing. Consequently, the things of the spirit can only be walked in by faith and that's why God requires the righteous to live by faith.

Faith does not accept things as they are in the natural but applies the truth of God's word to every situation.

In encountering a sick or diseased person the Christian attitude and position of faith is for healing, though it is unseen and hoped for, faith sees the afflicted healed and is the initial evidence of the healing (Hebrews 11:1). This daily attitude of faith is indicative of righteous thinking. God's word clearly reveals that it is His will to heal everyone who comes to Jesus, and therefore it is the believer's responsibility to be in faith about healing and believe accordingly.

God's Will in O.T.

The fact that God healed throughout the Old Testament is confirmed numerous times in God's word. Let me mention just a few.

1. God reveals one of His redemptive names Jehovah·Rapha "I am the Lord your healer" conditioned upon Israel's obedience (Exodus 1. God reveals one of His redemptive names Jehovah·Rapha "I am the Lord your healer" conditioned upon Israel's obedience (Exodus 15:26).

2. Miriam healed of leprosy after she sinned against Moses and Moses interceded for her (Numbers 12:9-15).

3. Rebellious Israelites healed when they looked upon fiery serpent set our standard ( Numbers 21:4-9).

4. Hezekiah healed after he sought the Lord (2 Kings 20:1-7).

5. Naaman healed of leprosy after dipping in Jordan River (2 Kings 5:1-14).

6. Forget none of His benefits who pardons all your iniquities and heals all your diseases (Psalm 103:3). at Calvary is the legal basis for both forgiveness and healing.

Isaiah 53:4-5 reads as follows: "Surely our sickness (choli) He Himself bore (nasal, and yet our pain (macobe) Ha carried (sabal), yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, but He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed." The Hebrew word "choli" is normally translated as sickness or disease -- not grief as in the King James.

The Hebrew word "macobe" normally translated sorrow is also translated pain. The Hebrew word "nasa" translated bore means to lift up, bear away, convey or remove to a distance as the scapegoat in Leviticus 16:22 bore the iniquities of Israel into the wilderness. The Hebrew words for bore and carried (nasa and sabal) are the same as used in Isaiah 53:11-12 for the substitutionary bearing of iniquity and sin. Thus, Jesus in becoming a curse bore both physical and mental infirmity in addition to punishment for man's sin. The Holy Spirit translates the meaning of Isaiah 53:4-5 in Matthew 8:17....."He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases." And again in 1 Peter 2:24, the Holy Spirit said through Peter, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His stripes you were healed.

The Greek

As we come to the New Testament we see that the word salvation (Greek "soteria") or to be saved (Greek "sodzo") are all inclusive words relating the benefits therein to those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

Some of the benefits included in salvation are as follows:

1. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but that the world should be saved (sodzo) through Him (John 3:17).

2. Women shall be preserved (sodzo) in childbearing if they continue in faith and love and sanctity (1 Timothy 2:15).

3. To the woman healed from the issue of blood Jesus said, "Woman, your faith has made you well" (sodzo) (Mark 5:34).

4. And as many as touched Him were made whole (sodzo) (Mark 6:56)

5. To the one leper who returned to give thanks for his healing Jesus said, "Your faith has made you whole" (sodzo) (Luke 17:19).

6. The prayer of faith shall save (sodzo) the sick (James 5:15).

7. Moses supposed that his brethren understood God was granting them deliverance (soteria) through him (Acts 7:25).

Salvation or being saved includes eternal life, healing, preservation and deliverance. Thus, the believer in Jesus Christ is enabled to live a life of righteousness delivered from all works of darkness!

Jesus: The Revealed Will of God

The scriptures describe Jesus as the radiance of God's glory, the express image of His nature, the image of the invisible God (Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians.

He is also described as doing nothing on His own initiative but doing only what He saw His Father do (John 5:19, John 5:30). Jesus only did the will of His Father (John 4:34). We can see from these scriptures that Jesus Christ was literally the expression of the Father's will. His life was both a revelation and a manifestation of the unchanging love and will of God. Jesus literally acted out the will of God. He said, "I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of Him that sent me (John 6:38), and "the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works (John 14:10)."

Jesus' Healing Ministry

Jesus also said, "He that hath Been hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). So, when we see Jesus heal the multitudes, we see the Father God revealing His will. And, when "He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them" He was doing and revealing the will of God for our bodies. The will of God concerning Jesus' healing ministry is also seen in Matthew 9:35 when we're told that He proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Also, in Matthew 4:23, "Now Jesus went about all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. And again in Acts 10:38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." God's will certainly was revealed clearly through Jesus' healing ministry. The message taught in the gospels is one of complete healing for soul and body for all who come to Him.

Jesus Continues to Heal Today!

Jesus promised to continue His healing ministry while at the right hand of the Father as seen in John 14:12-13, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall you do, because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever you shall ask in My name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the son." And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen! (Mark 16:20). And thirty years after Jesus' ascension, we read, "All the other

By Jim Kasema