Reading: Isaiah 53:1-12
"He who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your bodies by His Spirit which dwells in you" (Rom 8:11)
All the three Persons of the Godhead are interested in our health. (Psa 35:27). God the Father bound Himself to His people with a promise, "I am the Lord who heals you" (Ex 15:26). God the Son bore our sicknesses on the Cross (Mt 8:17). God the Holy Spirit bestows gifts of healing and gives life to our mortal bodies (1 Cor 12:9; Rom 8:11).
Though healing is a free gift from God, there are several conditions to receive healing. There was no sickness prior to the fall of Adam and Eve. Therefore it is proper to seek healing of the soul before the healing of the body. To the paralytic, Jesus first said, "Your sins are forgiven you" and then, "Arise, take up your bed and go to your house" (Mt 9:1-7). While listing the benefits God bestows on us, David put them in proper order. First, forgiveness and then healing (Psa 103:2,3). Prophet Isaiah also indicated the same order when he was describing Calvary (Isa 53:5).
Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God before healing the people (Mt 4:23). Healing is a Kingdom blessing for the Kingdom citizens. One must be born again into this Kingdom to enjoy the privileges of citizenship. This does not mean that God never heals a person unless he surrenders his life to Him. God is love. He gives rain and shine both to the good and the bad. In calling us as His own children, His love towards us is intensified (1 Jn 3:10).
If we fall sick, taking stock of our lives is a must. Physical health and spiritual well-being are entwined (3 Jn 2). Though all sickness is not divine discipline, it is certainly one of the rods God uses to correct His people (Dt 28:58,59). God struck Miriam with leprosy for the sin of backbiting. She was healed after seven days of repentance (Num 12). The physical suffering of Job deepened his repentance and heightened his knowledge of the Holy (Job 42:5,6). After healing the man at Bethesda who had been sick for 38 years, Jesus warned him, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing comes on you" (Jn 5:14). As long as David was covering his sin, he could not enjoy health and vitality (Psa 32:3,4; 38:3). This relationship of spiritual well-being to physical health is rediscovered by modern medicine. The human immune system is inhibited by bad moral choices. Earlier we repent, sooner will we recover.
Be Thou our great deliverer still, Thou Lord of life and death;
Restore and quicken, soothe and bless, with Thine almighty breath!
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