When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ (Matthew 8.1-4, NIV.)
For me the most important chapter in the Bible on healing is Matthew 8. Jesus came down from the mountain and thousands followed Him. A leper came and said, ‘If You want to, You can heal me!’ Jesus said, ‘I want to!’ and it was done. Then Jesus came into Capernaum and a Roman centurion came to Him, ‘Lord, I have a sick servant at home.’ Jesus said, ‘I’ll come to your house.’ He said, ‘Don’t, I’m not a good man,’ and I don’t suppose he was if he was a Roman centurion! But the officer said the most amazing thing, ‘One word from You and my servant will be healed! I’m a man under authority, an officer in the most powerful army in the world. I have authority from those above, and over those under me. My men obey me! Jesus, I recognise in You the same authority.’
Isaiah 53.5 says Jesus was wounded for our sin, bruised for our iniquity and with His stripes we are healed. Jesus healed all that were sick to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. So healing is to fulfil Bible prophecy! I talk about Bible prophecy, I write about it in Prophetic Vision magazine, but part of Bible prophecy is healing the sick. I believe Bible prophecy. Some people say that healing was only for the time of Jesus. But this prophecy is not ended. Jesus only healed for three years. There are more miracles of healing today than at any time in the history of the church – all over the world. T
Even at the time of the actual ministry of Jesus, the Bible says that Christ’s atonement for our sin is also His atonement for sickness and disease, that the cross He carried was our healing. Why not carry that cross of healing (1 Peter 2.24; Isaiah 53)? Sin and sickness are not from God, both come from the devil. The purpose of the first coming of Jesus was to make a way of escape from the evil which Satan and ultimately man, by his disobedience, brought into the world: ‘For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, to destroy the works of the devil!’ (1 John 3.8). However, this is only in part today, none of us is perfect in ourselves, we live in a world of sin and sickness and are surrounded by them. When Christ returns we shall be taken out of this world into the Kingdom of Heaven, then there will be no more sin, sickness or death. Until then, walking by faith, we must overcome sin – and temptation – and sickness.