When Will I Be Healed ?
What is God waiting for? Should I even expect God to heal me? Can anyone who comes in faith to Christ for healing be healed? Is there sound scriptural basis for that? Let’s consider two related scriptures. Isaiah 53:4 is part of a prophecy about the crucifixion of Christ (which would take place some 700 years after Isaiah wrote). Matthew 8:17 tells how Christ fulfilled this part of Isaiah’s prophecy. Consider the two verses below.
“Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…” Isaiah 53:4a.
“When the evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.” Matthew 8:16-17.
For those seeking physical healing, Matthew 8:17 is considered a foundational scripture. But why does Matthew quote Isaiah as saying that Christ bore our "infirmities and sicknesses" when Isaiah only said Christ bore our "griefs and sorrows"? Is there a crack in the foundation of those who expect healing from Christ?
The English language has no one word that expresses the complete meaning of the either of the two Hebrew words used in Isaiah 53:4. Strong's Hebrew Dictionary defines "choliy", the word translated as "grief" in Isa. 53:4, as: "malady, anxiety, calamity, disease, grief and sickness ". The definitions for "makowb", the word translated "sorrow" in Isa. 53:4, are: "anguish, affliction, grief, pain, and sorrow". This means that as Jesus suffered on the cross he actually took from us and bore in his own body all humanity’s experience of each of these forms of suffering. The following verse, verse 5, tells how Jesus was “wounded for our transgressions”, “bruised for our iniquities” ... “and with his stripes [wounds] we are healed”.
In the same way that “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa.53:6b), the LORD has also laid on him the infirmities and sicknesses of us all (Mat. 8:17).
According then to Isaiah 53:4-6, Christ’s finished work has provided healing for all our moral/spiritual ills, all our physical ills and all our emotional ills. Morally; Christ bore our sins, iniquities and transgressions. Physically; Christ bore our malady, disease, sickness, pain, and calamity (as in, emergency, accident, injury, etc.). Emotionally; Christ bore our anxiety, grief, sorrow, and anguish. (Though this pamphlet does not discuss it, the same truth applies to emotional healing that applies to spiritual and physical healing).
The Bible teaches that Christ became our substitute for sin. He took the guilt and punishment for our sin, did away with them by his death, and freely gave us his own perfect righteousness. (2 Cor. 5:21). In the very same way, the Bible teaches that Christ became our substitute in sickness. He took our infirmities and diseases, did away with them through his death, and freely gave us his own perfect soundness (see Acts 3:16). “With his stripes we are healed”. Even though the chief purpose of Christ’s cross was to atone for our sins and purchase complete forgiveness for every human moral wrong, Christ's death and resurrection also purchased complete healing for every human physical ailment.
To now experience for ourselves and share with others the consistency of healing found in the New Testament, we must first “receive Christ as our Healer in the very same way that we've received him as our Savior”. (R.S.) From Isa. 53:4,5 and Mat. 8:17 we see that faith for healing is rooted in the very same historical fact that faith for forgiveness is rooted in; Christ's death and resurrection. When Jesus cried out from the cross, "It is finished", he meant not only that our sins were paid for and pardon is now available. He meant also that the remedy for every other ill included in Isa.53:4,5 is also now available.
Though through the cross forgiveness has been provided for, and is freely offered to the whole world (Jn 3:16, 1 Jn 2:2, 1 Tim 2:4-6;4:10, 2 Pet 3:9, etc.), no one receives forgiveness until they hear about, and personally trust in the fact that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, took their sins in himself, died in their place, and rose again. Similarly, though through the same cross healing has also been provided for, and is freely offered to the whole world, healing is often not received until the sick person (or someone praying for him) hears about, and personally trusts in the fact that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, took their sickness in himself, died in their place and rose again.
Once we have turned from our sins, confessed them to God and trusted in Christ’s finished sacrifice for our sins, we receive complete forgiveness. We may at some later point remember an awful sin we committed in the past. If we begin again to feel guilty and condemned, does that mean that our sin is no longer forgiven? Has it been put back on our record? Anyone who understands God’s grace would abhor the suggestion that our forgiveness depends on our feeling forgiven, and not entirely on what Christ finished once for all by his death and resurrection. Forgiveness is received by simple faith in a FACT, regardless of our feeling (Christ’s death and resurrection being among the most thoroughly researched and documented facts of ancient history).
If we understand that forgiveness of sins has nothing to do with how we feel and everything to do with what Christ bore for us on the cross, consistency demands we understand that healing also has nothing to do with how we feel and everything to do with what Christ bore for us on the cross. As with salvation, so with healing; a change in our feelings is the caboose on the train of “Fact…Faith…Feeling”. Our healing originates in and proceeds from the very same historical fact that our forgiveness does, the death and resurrection of the Son of God, regardless of how healthy or sick we may feel at any given moment.
Whether we are feeling sickness, or guilt over sins already forgiven, we may honestly and confidently declare each day, "Healing belongs to me, just as forgiveness belongs to me, because of what Jesus finished on the cross!"
Below are a few additional verses which also illustrate that forgiveness and healing are inextricably united. Both were accomplished together by Christ’s suffering and death on the cross.
Psalms 103:2-3 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases...
If we believe that the first five words of verse 3 are true for us, can we deny that the second five words of verse 3 are just as true for us?
James 5:14-15 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
The Lord both heals the sick and forgives any sins they may have committed in answer to a united prayer of faith. Faith in what? In the scriptural teaching that both deliverances were accomplished simultaneously by Christ’s death and resurrection.
Mark 2:9-11 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? 10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) 11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
Jesus said that it takes less breath to say, “Your sins are forgiven”, but the result should be the same either way. Healing, in this case, was simply a visible proof (to the doubters) of forgiveness. Jesus knew he would soon accomplish both on the cross.
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Freedom from both the guilt and the power of sin in our lives is received by faith in Christ’s finished work. Physical healing is also received by faith in the same finished work. Notice the tense, “ye were healed”. God’s part of the healing was finished long ago. All that now remains is for us to receive it. Some 700 years before the cross, Isaiah wrote of our healing in the present tense, “...we are healed”. Some 30 years after the cross, Peter writes of our healing in the past tense, “ye were healed”.
It is unscriptural for us to consider our healing a future event. We ignore and reject God’s Word when we ask or hope that God will soon do for us something that he’s already told us he’s already done. What would we say to someone who sincerely sought God’s forgiveness for years, but never received it? We would say, “God cannot do for you more than he’s already done through Christ’s death and resurrection 2000 years ago. Now you must simply trust that your sins are paid for and believe he has forgiven you”. (1 Jn. 1:9).
The very same applies to healing. God is not going to do for us anything beyond what he’s done in Christ 2000 years ago. It’s now completely up to us to simply trust in what he’s already done, and believe he has healed us no matter how feel. Who is your ultimate authority, your body or your Bible? Which do you believe most, your temporal feelings or God’s eternal facts? (Rom. 3:4). Don’t wait for God to heal you. He’s waiting for you to believe him. Don’t expect to experience healing before you believe it. As with salvation, you must believe it before you experience it. When your symptoms seem most severe, say to yourself, to the devil and to anyone who will listen, “It doesn’t matter how I feel, God has declared (It is written), ‘by his stripes I was healed’. I thank God healing me!”
Have you seen Christ on the cross, bearing in his body the punishment for your every wrong? See him also bearing in his wounds the suffering of your every ailment.
If our faith is in fact, not in feeling, neither the memory of past guilt nor the feeling of present pain will make us deny God’s Word. According to scripture, both our sins and our sicknesses were taken away by Christ on the cross. Both issues are “forever settled in heaven”. Let them now be forever settled in our hearts.
How can we know if we are exercising sincere faith for our healing? Are we, from the heart, rejoicing and praising God for having accomplished our healing, in spite of how it looks or feels? Are we now at peace, knowing “It is finished”, it’s all taken care of? If not, meditate daily on the truths of these scriptures until your mind understands them, your heart believes them, and finally your body experiences them. BT
P.S. Feel free to print out, copy or distribute this page to those you love and pray for. Please include the information below. To send this page to a friend right now, click on the button at page bottom.
Your Bible Is Your Roadmap!
Tract #HEA 3 ("When Will I Be Healed?")
For more free tracts or CDs contact us:
P.O. Box 4614, Augusta, Maine 4330 U.S.A.
Website: roadmaptoheaven.net