“Who His Own self bare 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.” 1 Peter 2:24
As we read the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John one thing becomes very clear, Jesus is all about healing the sick. Jesus healed lepers, He healed the blind, the lame, the demon possessed, and He even raised the dead. “Now when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much of the people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, weep not. And He came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to thee, arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him unto his mother.” Luke 7:12-15 Jesus had not yet gone to the Cross and He had not yet received a single stripe, yet we see that His purpose and His ministry was to make people whole, and healing is part of being whole! If this was Jesus’ Ministry before He was sacrificed and if this is how He acted before He was raised from the dead, how much more do you suppose that this is how His Ministry is now? Now that He has shed His Blood and ushered in the New Testament, the perfect Covenant?
Let me ask you this as well, did that mother, whose son had died, come to Jesus and ask for a miracle? Did her son ask to be raised from the dead? No, Jesus was just walking by and He had compassion and acted on His compassion. Look at John 5:5-9. “And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath.” This lame man at the Pool of Bethesda showed no faith whatsoever; he only had doubt and when Jesus asked him if he wanted to be whole, he said that he couldn’t be, because someone else would beat him to it. Did this man’s complete lack of faith stop Jesus? Absolutely not! Jesus just told him to be whole and he was. There are a lot of people that will try to tell you that your healing depends solely on our faith, or our ability to believe that we can be. Well here are two examples where there was none and yet there were healings! Faith can play a role in healings, Jesus told the woman with an issue of blood, Luke 8:43, that her faith had made her whole. But grace and compassion are a huge part of God’s personality and God is not limited!
As we read the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John one thing becomes very clear, Jesus is all about healing the sick. Jesus healed lepers, He healed the blind, the lame, the demon possessed, and He even raised the dead. “Now when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much of the people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, weep not. And He came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to thee, arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him unto his mother.” Luke 7:12-15 Jesus had not yet gone to the Cross and He had not yet received a single stripe, yet we see that His purpose and His ministry was to make people whole, and healing is part of being whole! If this was Jesus’ Ministry before He was sacrificed and if this is how He acted before He was raised from the dead, how much more do you suppose that this is how His Ministry is now? Now that He has shed His Blood and ushered in the New Testament, the perfect Covenant?
Let me ask you this as well, did that mother, whose son had died, come to Jesus and ask for a miracle? Did her son ask to be raised from the dead? No, Jesus was just walking by and He had compassion and acted on His compassion. Look at John 5:5-9. “And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath.” This lame man at the Pool of Bethesda showed no faith whatsoever; he only had doubt and when Jesus asked him if he wanted to be whole, he said that he couldn’t be, because someone else would beat him to it. Did this man’s complete lack of faith stop Jesus? Absolutely not! Jesus just told him to be whole and he was. There are a lot of people that will try to tell you that your healing depends solely on our faith, or our ability to believe that we can be. Well here are two examples where there was none and yet there were healings! Faith can play a role in healings, Jesus told the woman with an issue of blood, Luke 8:43, that her faith had made her whole. But grace and compassion are a huge part of God’s personality and God is not limited!
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