HEALTH & HEALING

Health & Healing

‘You will surely say this proverb to Me, “Physician, heal yourself!”’ Jesus said those words to members of a synagogue after He had read them the following from Isaiah, ‘The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD’ Luke 4:18-19.

Your health! Mckenzie's in the Vale of Leven

It’s all very well if Jesus is able to heal others, but is He able to heal Himself? They mocked Him as He hung on the cross, saying, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God’ Luke 23:35b. The message from the people is clear: What real use is a healer who cannot heal himself or a saviour who cannot save himself?

‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire’ is a proverb that springs to mind. In other words, what real use is it to be healed of cancer only to die of something else? Cancer survivors are ecstatic when given the ‘all clear’ after a couple or so years. But for healing to be lasting it must be injected with salvation. Healing is only the signpost. Salvation is the destination. Who in the trenches of war would rather have a picture of their loved one instead of the reality the picture depicts?

That healing and salvation are related can be seen in the following words of Jesus, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance’ Luke 5:31-32. Sinners need a saviour as the sick need a physician. One way to cope with a life-threatening illness is simply to ignore it. But it will get you in the end! One way to cope with sin is simply to ignore it. But it too will get you in the end! Indeed, sickness and sin are related. To be sure, your own particular sins may not be that which brought on your sickness, but sickness is one of the clear symptoms of sin. Sickness and the pandemic of death that all humans ultimately experience are the result of sin.

God formed Adam the father of all humanity from clay. The batch of clay (humanity) became marred when Adam rebelled against God (Genesis 2:7; 3:17-19; Jeremiah 18:4; Romans 9:21). Like cracked bricks, there is something wrong with each of us. What David says applies to us all, ‘Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me’ Psalm 51:5. However, he also says, ‘For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb … My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth’ Psalm 139:13,15.

God could have destroyed all mankind in the fire, but instead has chosen to heal and to save it! In the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come’ (Matthew 6:10a). ‘And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of diseases among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them’ Matthew 4:23-24. Jesus said to Pilate, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ John 18:36a. His kingdom is not about maiming and murder, sin and sickness, disease and death. Rather His kingdom is health and healing – as attested to by His miracles! As sickness is a reminder of the judgment to come, so healing is a picture of Christ kingdom to come.

Have you come to Jesus for healing and salvation, or just for the healing without the salvation – like nine of the ten lepers? (Luke 17:12-19). Jesus says, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life’ Luke 5:24. Death is the result of sin. The cure for the soul is in knowing that, even though you may die, you have passed from death to life! As Jesus said to Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though He may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ John 11:25-26. How can Jesus be so sure of these things? Well, consider again the words, ‘Physician, heal thyself!’ Jesus said, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up … He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said’ John 2:19b,21-22. Only Jesus has power over sickness and death. Therefore only Jesus qualifies as Saviour! Physician, heal us!