Dr. Jehovah Rapha — a poem

Dr. Jehovah Rapha

(Exodus 15:26, Mark 5:25-34)  

Her brow was wet with fever,
And her body wracked with pain.
She did not know just what was wrong,
But the symptoms would not change.
She knew she needed healing,
But she had no way to pay.
Who to turn to; who to trust;
Who to show the way?

A friend said to her, “Sister,
I know a doctor kind.
He cleanses lepers, makes lame walk,
And gives sight to the blind.
In fact, He’ll take on any case,
And cure it every time.” 

“Oh, would that I could go to Him,”
She then was heard to say.
“But since I do not know His name,
How can I know the way?
And even if He’d take my case,
I simply cannot pay.” 

“My dear, fear not,” her friend replied;
“There is no need to fear.
I’ll take you to Him right away;
He’s really very near.
His name’s Jehovah Rapha; He’s
‘The God that healeth thee.’
And because of His Son’s precious blood,
The healing – it is free!

~

© 1998 Sandra Conner

 

Healing Book Now Has Its Own Page

Just a note to let my readers know that the book Healing Is For You! now has its own page on this blog. Rather than readers who want to know more about healing being required to search throughout the site for the various chapters, the entire book is now offered on its own page.  You will find it in the navigation bar.  The last chapter, however, “God’s Medicine Chest,” has been put into its own page, separate from the rest of the book, because it is made up primarily of hundreds of healing scriptures and can be accessed more easily by having its own tab.

Over the years, this book has been used in churches, home studies, and Christian and Bible schools. Testimonies have come from people of all ages and in all walks of life as they have received the truth of God’s Word and had their faith lifted to receive their own healing from the Lord.  I pray that it will do the same for all who read it here.

 

God’s Word Is Medicine

(In my book Healing Is For You! I cover the whole subject of healing from God and many of the avenues to receiving that healing, as well as the hindrances to receiving it. Chapter Four of that book discusses seven of the means God has ordained as tools to help us receive His healing virtue into our bodies and souls. One of those means is His Word. This article is an excerpt from Chapter Four of the book and deals with the Word as medicine. I offer it here as an encouragement to any who are facing disease or deterioration in their bodies (or souls). Even if you have found your situation to be particularly resistant to change, this method offers hope beyond what other means can offer.)

TAKING THE WORD AS MEDICINE

Of all the means by which we can receive healing from our Lord, I think this one excites me the most. God has a medicine that works for every disease, injury, deformity, or deterioration in the human body. It also works healing in the human soul – that part of us that incorporates our mind, will, and emotions. {Don’t get the soul confused with the spirit. The Word says that God, who is Spirit, created us in His own image. So we’re first and foremost spirit beings. The Bible sometimes refers to this part of a man as his “heart.” But that spirit – which is the part of us that is born again when Jesus comes in – also has a soul and a body that carry out its will, and the Word sees them as separate and distinct parts of each human being. “… and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Thessalonians 5:23)}.

But back to the medicine: Our dear Great Physician does not need a pharmacy. He has created one medicine for us, and it will accomplish a complete cure for any illness or infirmity of body or soul. It has absolutely no negative side effects. It has no expiration date. And it will never drain our finances. God’s medicine is His very own Word.

Proverbs 4:20-22 says:

“My son, give attention to my words; incline thine heart unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they [my words] are life to those who find them and health to their whole body.”

The word health here is also the Hebrew word for medicine. So we have a promise here that the very words spoken by God will work on our flesh like physical medicine. Internationally known Bible teacher Derek Prince, who ministered throughout the world for decades, has often shared his personal testimony of how he became totally convinced that God had made provision for healing His people. He said that this one Scripture in Proverbs did the most to help him, because “it was one healing Scripture that no one could spiritualize by insisting that it did not refer to physical healing.”

That attempt to spiritualize all healing scriptures been a problem in our western culture. I say the “western” culture, because the truth is that thousands of people in other cultures all over the world have no problem believing God heals. They believe in all kinds of spiritual manifestations – both Godly and demonic – so they are not open to the traditions of western men who would like to rob them of their faith in the supernatural and relegate them to nothing but man’s efforts at practicing medicine.

(I think perhaps it’s important here to take a detour and clarify a point that is made in chapter one of the book. That entire chapter, entitled “Jesus Is Our Doctor,” is in an earlier post on this blog. The point referred to is this: Medical science is, in no way, God’s designated substitute for what Jesus did when He was on earth – or what God did for His covenant people under the Old Covenant. Medical science is nothing but man’s best effort to help himself. Will God work through those efforts? Certainly. If our faith is at the place where we believe we need the intervention of man for our health, then God, who wants us well more than we want to be well, will use whatever means we allow Him to use. But that does not mean that we should encourage people to stay on the level of being totally dependent on man’s means. The best physicians in the world freely admit that the efforts of medical science are not enough to eradicate, or even overcome, sickness and disease on this planet. Physicians do what they can, but they inevitably come face-to-face with that which they cannot cure. And in the worst scenarios, their treatments have brought about death in their patients. So we must be careful not to discourage people from feeding on God’s Word and allowing it to create faith for His healing in their lives. God simply has a better way to health than man’s imperfect efforts.  And if Jesus truly is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” and He healed every single person who came to Him for healing – without exception – then He will do the same today.)

The truth is that the Word of God is able to heal our bodies because it is able to change our flesh.  And why not? It was that very Word that created the matter out of which our flesh is made. The first chapter of John’s Gospel tells us that the Word was with God and was God and that all things were made by Him (that Word). It then tells us that the same Word became flesh. Then the first chapter of Hebrews tell us that God originally made and continues to uphold the entire world by His Word. Then Hebrews 11:3 tells us again that the world was made by the Word of God and that “what we see was not made out of things which are visible.”

So think about it: Genesis 2:7 tells us that God made man’s physical body out of the dust of the ground (that dust that was created out of nothing but His Word). Then he says that he created woman’s body out of the bone of man – still the same substance. So the physical bodies we live in are nothing but the substance created out of God’s living Word. Well, no wonder that same Word can change those physical bodies, destroying rebellious cells and creating brand new healthy ones in their place.

Then Hebrews 4:12 adds,“The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and morrow …”

How interesting that it enters into the very morrow of our body. That is the root source of our blood and cell production. Every new cell manufactured in our bodies is made in that bone morrow. Can you see that the Word in the very manufacturing center of a human body can completely remake that whole body?

So how do we get it to work? The more we study the Word, meditate on it, and speak it out of our mouth, the more it works its way into our whole system, producing its life there. However, when we are facing a specific physical problem, we can take doses of this priceless medicine just like we do a prescription from a human doctor. I have done this so often and know of many other believers who have done the same. Taking the Word of God as medicine has cured migraine headaches, kidney infections, paralysis from strokes, broken bones, cancer, tuberculosis, mental deficiencies, and multitudes of other illnesses of body and soul.

Find the healing Scriptures that relate to your particular malady, or the ones that speak to your own spirit, and begin to read them or speak them to your body. Put your own name into them.  They were written for you. You may need to take a dose three or four times a day. In a particularly critical case, I have known believers to read their Scriptures every fifteen minutes for several days.

Derek Prince, whom I mentioned earlier, has shared his personal testimony of a physical problem that even a long hospital stay could not cure. His doctors told him they had to discharge him without being cured, and that he must be sure to stay away from extreme heat and moisture, because those two things would seriously aggravate his problem. Unfortunately, his work where he was stationed in the armed forces required him to spend most of his days in just those two conditions. Nevertheless, by the time he was diagnosed, he had come to believe that God’s Word could be taken as medicine. So every day for several months, he set aside time after each meal and read the Word of God – just as if he were taking a doctor’s prescription. At the end of those months, his body was complete free of the disease, and he was totally well.

Dr. Lillian Yeomans, a medical doctor who was healed personally and walked away from her medical practice to minister healing through God’s Word, had a patient in the last stages of tuberculosis. She began to read her Scriptures from Deuteronomy 28, which referred to her specific condition, and read most of the day for several days. The patient, who was almost dead and virtually without faith for healing to begin with, gradually became strong enough to read for herself, and as she did so, the Word itself created faith in her heart. Suddenly, one day, the reality of her healing exploded in her heart, and she jumped from her bed completely healed by the Word of God.

I have had many personal experience of using the word as medicine successfully. One of those times concerned a relative who was experiencing some very alarming physical problems. One day he suddenly began having severe chest pain and feeling extremely weak and sleepy. By the next day, he could hardly stay awake at all, and when he was awake, his speech was sluggish and slurred. He had a personal physician whom he saw periodically, but in this case his decision was that he wanted to receive his healing from the Lord rather than to go through all the medical channels. I prayed and called on several other believers for agreeing prayer. The symptoms persisted, and my relative lay in bed, almost constantly asleep. He was unable to stay up and alert for any lengthy periods. As I sat beside his bed on the worst day, praying and speaking the Word, the Lord quickened to me His Word from Psalm 118: 16-17. I grasped it like a life preserver, which it was. I knew the promise was for this man as much as for anyone because the Word says that every promise is already answered ‘yes’ in Jesus. (2 Cor. 1:20). So I put his name into the Scripture and began to speak it to him: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. Richard shall not die, but live, and tell of the works of the Lord.” I realized that this one verse had everything in it that he needed at the time. It covered his need for life to drive out death, which was obviously at work, and his need for complete restoration of his speaking faculties.

I spoke that Word to him consistently throughout the day, whether he was waking or sleeping. I sat beside the bed for long periods of time, speaking it over and over and over. By the next day, he showed definite improvement. I continued to speak God’s Word, and he continued to improve, reading and speaking the Word for himself as well. By the following week, he was back to normal, and for the rest of his long life, never had a recurrence of that problem. Nor could his doctors find any cause or need for treatment concerning it later on.

One of the most rapid healings I ever received personally by applying the Word as medicine was for an abscessed tooth. When I awoke early one morning to prepare to go teach school, I noticed a severe pain in and around a broken tooth in my upper right jaw. I couldn’t stand to eat on it, so I had something warm to drink, took a dose of the most potent pain killer I could buy over the counter, and went on to work. I also took along a bottle of medication to apply topically to my tooth and gums. You may ask, “Didn’t you pray?” Yes, I did pray, but it was more or less on the run. I was blessed to be teaching in a Christian school, so I asked for prayer at work also.

However, by the time my first class was over, the pain was going all over my jaw, up the whole right side of my head, and part way down my neck. It was the most excruciating, indescribable pain I’ve ever experienced. I applied and re-applied the topical medication, with no appreciable benefit at all. I took a second dose of painkiller as soon as the time limit on the bottle would allow – again with no effect. By 11:30 that morning, the pain had become so debilitating that I could no longer function at work, so I went home – barely able to concentrate on my driving. I had the overwhelming conviction in my heart that if I could just close myself away with the Word of God for a while, I would receive my healing. (Often we receive when believers lay hands on us or when we are in a meeting where faith is high and the gifts of healing and working of miracles are in manifestation. However, when we don’t have those opportunities – or they don’t seem to bring the manifestations we need – the Word is still reliable as a sure source of God’s healing virtue.)

When I arrived home, my husband and a friend were working on the television antenna. Knowing it was odd for me to come home at that time of day, my husband followed me into the house to see what was wrong. As I told him, I was already getting into bed and putting a tape of healing Scriptures into the tape recorder on my nightstand. He prayed for me briefly and went back outside to finish his work. I turned on the tape of healing Scriptures and began to let my spirit and body absorb their medicine. I fell asleep listening to the Word. I awoke about an hour later with all of the pain completely gone. I was able to eat on that tooth and do whatever I liked, totally free from pain. The abscess was gone, and I was well. The Word of God had done what God had sent it to do.

A similar testimony comes from internationally known evangelist and Bible teacher Marilyn Hickey, who has shared publicly on television about finding a lump in her breast and facing possible surgery. But she believes God’s Word when it proclaims itself to be medicine for every part of our bodies, so she chose Scripture passages that spoke particularly to her spirit about her condition, and once every hour, for twenty-four hours, she laid her Bible on the lump and spoke those scriptures to her body. She did not sleep that night, but continued to apply the medicine of the Word around the clock. At the end of the twenty-four hours, the lump was completely gone.

A few years ago, my husband had a broken hip that would not heal. For a period of two or three months, the doctors could see no indication of improvement in the bones at all. The orthopedic surgeon said tests indicated the bones were failing to get proper blood supply, due to other tissue damage caused by the break. He also told us that without good blood supply, the bones could not heal and the only other option would be a complete hip replacement. But we chose to believe the Word of God would heal both the blood vessels and the bones. We took Scriptures of healing, especially some relating specifically to bones, and applied them in faith, speaking them to my husband’s body several times a day for many weeks. We also prayed, of course, and many strong believers in our church and family also prayed for us faithfully. The enemy tried to discourage us. He tried to convince us that after so much time had passed, even God’s Word would not cause healing to begin again.

But, dear Christian, the devil is a liar, and God is faithful to His Word. That holy medicine worked itself into my husband’s bones and blood vessels and produced healing. All of a sudden, those bones began to knit together properly by the power of God, and in every examination that followed, the doctor was able to report that he saw no indication of problems with the blood supply either. It was sweet victory when the doctor was able to look at the x-rays and tell Richard that his hip was completely healed. In fact, he was amazed that he could see no fracture line and explained to us that the physician can always see a fracture line even after the bone has healed. (This situation is a good example of a time when Richard and I felt the need for some human medical help also, and the Lord had graciously led us to a doctor who continually encouraged us to keep praying and believing God for our miracle. He knew also that the outcome lay in God’s hands alone.)

Another very encouraging testimony of healing through application of the Word concerns a friend of mine who is a praise and worship leader at a full gospel church. She had been having problems with high blood pressure. She went to the doctor, who put her on medication, but it just wouldn’t bring the pressure down. Finally the doctor decided to send her to the local hospital for a special shot that would make her pressure go down rapidly. For a few minutes after she had taken the shot, everything seemed to be all right, and the nurse left her alone to rest a few minutes before going home. Suddenly she began having an allergic reaction to the drug in the shot. Her left arm became numb. Then her heart began to pound as if it would come out of her body. (Her description).

By the time her daughter had brought the nurse and doctor to the room, my friend’s whole body was completely out of control. She said that her mind still worked, but all it would do was tell her she was going to die. She was able to speak periodically to the doctor at first, but finally even speaking became more than she could handle. She could hear the nurse talking to her daughter about a rash that had broken out on her body, and she could tell that they were hooking her up to some monitoring devices. The other thing she could understand was that the doctor himself was very alarmed, and, naturally, fear began to work on her too.

Her daughter had called other believers to pray, and, before long, my friend’s pastor came in. She was still in this crisis situation and said that, by this time, she could not communicate at all, but could feel herself sinking deeper and deeper toward oblivion.. Her pastor walked to her bedside, laid his hand on her head, and began singing the Word from Isaiah 60:1: “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”

She said she could hear him, but she could not respond. “He sang this song over and over and over,” she said, “and as he did, I could feel my spirit respond. I gradually began to feel myself being drawn back up, up, up.” She was so aware that the power in that Scripture song was what was drawing her back to normalcy that she said although she couldn’t talk at this time, she kept thinking, “Don’t stop. Don’t stop singing.” Her faithful pastor, led by God, kept singing, and everything in her body gradually came back to normal. Her doctor, who had been sitting at his desk in the room with his head down, most likely praying as well, rejoiced and praised the Lord with them. The pastor himself later related that he had never been led to minister in just that way before, but all he felt to do was to sing her that Word. That precious Word! It heals and brings life when nothing else can!

Dear sick one, these experiences happened to real people. And there are hundreds of testimonies just like these in the halls of faith down through the centuries. Best of all, they are backed up by the Word itself. Psalm 107: 20 says of God’s people in the Old Covenant that “He sent His Word and healed them.” And as we have already discussed, He is still the same today. (Hebrews 13:8). If we will be as faithful to apply God’s medicine to our physical bodies as we are our prescriptions from a human doctor, we will get the most wonderful results.

Even people who aren’t sure they do believe have found that by applying the Word with an honest heart, the faith has been created in them by the Word itself. (Romans 10: 17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word.). Then the physical results come. So open up God’s Medicine Chest. Read the Word. Sing it. Play it on tape. Have others read it to you. Use any or all methods of getting this divine medicine into your being. For whatever the diagnosis, this precious Word is the cure.

(You will find a separate page on this site, listed in the navigation tabs as “God’s Medicine Chest.” It is full of healing scriptures, in order to help make your search easier. Click on that tab and make use of those scriptures whenever you need them. And feel free to print them out if you’d like to do so. The only thing I ask in return is that you leave me a comment to let me know that the article and the scriptures are a blessing to you.)

If you are interested in a copy of the entire book  Healing Is For You!, you might want to visit the publisher’s website at StEllenPress.Com.

(Scripture references taken from the following:
The New American Standard Version, Copyright  1960,1962,1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by Permission. 
The King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
The Amplified Bible, Old Testament. Copyright  1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified Bible, New Testament, Copyright
 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation.
Used by Permission.)

Jesus Is Our Doctor

                                                                                                                                    

Do you have a family physician? Is he kind, compassionate, and easy to talk to? Does he make house calls? Is he able to diagnose and treat all the various maladies that beset the different members of your family, without having to call in one or two specialists? Does he guarantee a complete cure every single time if you follow his instructions?

I’m sure by now, dear Reader, you’ve experienced at least a chuckle or two, for we all know that we will never be able to answer “yes” to very many of these questions about any human doctor. However, there is one doctor who meets all of the above criteria. He’s been in practice for thousands of years, and He hung out a shingle in Exodus 15:26 advertising His availability to all who have need of Him. He gladly takes on new patients daily, and He specializes in hopeless cases.

We’re referring, of course, to our dear Lord, Jesus Christ. Did you know that He is your doctor? Yes, the Almighty God who created our bodies and souls to be perfect, nevertheless knew that sin would invade our lives and with it the curse of death. Sickness, of course, is simply death in process.

So our gracious Creator made provision for cleansing from sin and sickness. He shows Himself a healer at various times, even in the book of Genesis, but in Exodus He makes the clearest statement of all about His relationship to our need of physical and emotional healing. When He delivered the Israelites from Egypt and began to make them a nation under Him, He first established a covenant with them to govern His relationship with them. The very first covenant promise He made to this whole nation of people after bringing them from Egypt is in Exodus 15:26:

“If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians, for I the Lord am your healer.”

Now, in the original Hebrew language, that word healer is literally physician, and to the Hebrew people, what the Lord had actually said was, “I the Lord am your physician; I am your doctor.”

A little later, He reaffirms Himself as the one who cares for their health, when He says in Exodus 23:25-26:

“You shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and water, and I will remove sickness from your midst. There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”

You see, God always intended to be the doctor for His people. He intended to remove sickness from them and cause them to walk in health and long life. His Word is full, from beginning to end, of promises about our healing coming from Him. Who is better qualified to do the job than the Creator Himself? He’s a doctor who never loses a case that is entirely turned over to Him, and His prescriptions have no negative side effects.

Now, the Lord is not against us when we believe that we need to make use of human doctors or medications. Psalm 103:14 says that He remembers our frame, that we are dust. He realizes that most of us have been reared in a society, even a church society, that has, for centuries now, been taught that God doesn’t heal the way He did when Jesus was here in the flesh, and that medical science is one of God’s substitutes for what Jesus once offered. He understands that we must have time to let His truth create faith in us and set us free from those teachings.

God has His own means of healing, which we discuss in detail in a later chapter, but He is so concerned that we be well and whole that He is willing to work through any channel that we allow Him to work through to get us well. If we believe we need a human surgeon’s hands, and if we pray, God will move heaven and earth to work through that surgeon’s hands for us. If we believe we need an aspirin and pray over it before we take it, God will bless that aspirin to do us some good.

We must, by no means, belittle the human medical profession. On the contrary, most of the doctors and nurses that I have known have been kind, dedicated, sacrificing people. If it were not for them, many of God’s people who have not known the truth about healing would have long ago been dead. And even if all believers looked only to the Lord for their healing, there would still be millions of non-believers who would die miserable deaths and suffer untold agonies if they had no access to doctors and human medicine. Christians who have a desire to enter the medical profession have a real mission field among non-believers for that very reason.

But beloved, as sons and daughters of God, we must always be raising our sights to God’s highest and best. We need to be honest with ourselves, and each other, and recognize that medical science is not God’s substitute for what Jesus once offered. Rather, medical science is man’s best effort to help himself.

Dr. Herman B. Betten was only one of many medical doctors who, upon learning the full truth about God’s healing, gave up the medical practice completely and began ministering God’s Word and helping people receive healing through His Word and the power of His Spirit. In a sermon he preached in 1917, he explained why he gave up medicine. He said, “The reason I have given up the medical profession is not because I do not think it is a good thing, but because I have found something else that is better.(Sermon preached in 1917, quoted in Wilford H. Reidt, Jesus God’s Way of Healing and Power to Promote Health, p. 99.)

God’s people need to lay hold of that which is better. If we will stay faithfully in God’s Word, apply it in obedience, and spend time with Him in prayer, we will come to the place where we are fully convinced that God has healing for us from His own hand. We will come to a place of faith that will let us receive health and life from our Heavenly Father and not have need of man’s services.

God is the most experienced, most knowledgeable, best equipped, and least expensive physician, surgeon, nurse, and psychiatrist in the universe. He’s the better way to health. We need to set our sights on His better way. We all know from experience that when driving a car, whatever direction we set our eyes is the direction our car will take. So it is in spiritual things. If we keep looking up – to God’s highest and best way for us – we will rise to live on that level. We must not condemn ourselves for walking where we are, but neither should we be satisfied with always living with less than God’s best.

So what should we look at? JESUS. Is it that simple? Basically, yes. We can hear all kinds of arguments, using Scriptures out of context, to tell us that God may not want us well, or that He may insist on our having surgery or taking human medication in order to get well. In truth, if a believer were to take those over-used Scriptures in the light of all the rest of God’s Word, rather than the doctrines of men, revelation would come. I have often chuckled over the fact that so many who argue that we must use medicine, on the basis of Paul’s telling Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach, are the very people who believe that it is always a sin to drink wine.

And I never fail to feel sorry for people who insist that Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was a physical illness, when Paul clearly says himself that it was an evil spirit – “a messenger from Satan” – sent to cause him problems in the natural. (2 Corinthians 12:7). Paul, and every Christian, must be willing to suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel. Jesus didn’t take that as our substitute. But He did take sickness, disease, and infirmity for spirit, soul, and body, so that we wouldn’t have to; and it is an insult to Jesus Himself for us to choose to carry them again in ourselves.

There will always be arguments against believing God for our healing because, since the Garden of Eden, there have been arguments against taking God at His Word about anything. But as you, dear Christian, spend more and more time in the Word and prayer, the Truth will shed light on all those lies, and you won’t have to depend on your own reasoning to overcome all the arguments.

So, does God Himself tell us in His Word exactly what to expect from Him concerning healing? He says in Psalm 103:3 that He “forgives all of our iniquities and heals all of our diseases.” Psalm 107:20 says that when the Israelites were sick and dying as a result of their sin, God “sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”The One Who forgives sin is the One Who delivers from its consequences. Are we saying then that sickness is always the result of sin? There may not always be a specific sin that leads to specific symptoms, but all sickness – death in process – is the result of sin gaining ascendancy over man in the Garden of Eden and bringing in the curse, which would eventually destroy all that sin had contaminated.

In Deuteronomy, chapter 28, when the Lord, through Moses, is instructing His people about the blessings of following Him and the curses of refusing to walk in relationship with Him, He lists a multitude of specific things involved in that curse. He names numerous diseases specifically, including mental sickness. But just so there won’t be any misunderstanding, in verse 61, He says that all sickness and disease experienced by man are part of the curse of the broken law. But the great news is that according to Galatians, chapter 3, Jesus took that curse for us, and we now have become inheritors of the blessings.

So here we are, back again to Jesus. He not only took our sin so that we could be righteous; He also took our sickness so that we could be well. Let’s read this same truth from another part of Scripture. Isaiah 53:4-5 (Amplified Version) says:

“Surely He has borne our griefs, sickness, weakness, and distress, and carried our sorrows and pains; . . . He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement needful to obtain peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes that wounded Him, we are healed and made whole.”

Now, does that really mean physical and mental healing? Let’s be sure. Look at Matt. 8:16-17:

“And when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill, in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.’”

Could it be clearer, Beloved? Isaiah was prophesying a Savior who would fulfill all of the covenant promises of the Father God, including the promise to be the perfect physician for His people.

Notice that this prophecy, when translated fully from the Hebrew, includes griefs, sorrows, and distresses, all of which affect the mind and emotions. And if we will look at Isaiah 61:1, we find the picture of Jesus coming to heal the brokenhearted also. Jesus says in Luke, chapter 4, that He has come to fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 61, so we can have confidence that there is no hurt or brokenness is our spirit or soul that is not also covered by Jesus’ work. I can testify personally to two different times in my life when I experienced such a broken heart that I thought surely it was too shattered for the Lord to heal it completely. But, dear Christian, when I turned it all over to Him, He so completely healed my broken heart and restored my joy that I can barely remember how hopeless I felt. Jesus did that for me; no one else could have. He’ll do it for you too.

Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus was the “exact representation of the nature of God.” He came to show us in the flesh exactly what God is like and what He will do. Indeed, He gives us such a complete picture of Himself as a compassionate, faithful doctor that if we will but look at it long enough, every doubt and fear will dissolve away, and we will have total confidence.

One of the main hindrances to our receiving healing is totally eliminated when we look at the preceding Scriptures. Many people feel that they have to talk God into healing them; they are afraid that it may not be His will every time. But an honest look at Isaiah 53, especially in combination with 1 Peter 2:24, which says, “… by whose stripes you were healed,” will make it clear that the Lord has already made His decision, once and for all. The question of healing is settled forever because God sees that work as having been completed and the price paid in full by Jesus. God’s Word is settled forever in Heaven. Now all we have to do is settle it here on earth. We have to say, “I agree with you, God. Jesus paid for it. He’s my healer. You said You would be my doctor and that Jesus was the fulfillment of every promise. So that means He’s my doctor. I’ll take Your healing.”

Sometimes we look at the leper that came to Jesus in Matthew 8:2-3 and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Now he hadn’t had the opportunity of getting to know Jesus well enough to know for sure that He was always willing to heal. But you’ll notice that Jesus didn’t waste any time letting him know. His immediate response is, “I will.” That settled the question, and that leper was able to tell people everywhere he went that Jesus was not only able, but very willing. Jesus’ response to the centurion in that same chapter is equally as quick. As soon as He hears the need, He says, in verse 7, “I will come and heal him.” Look at His willingness, beloved. He is so willing to heal – so hungry to meet the needs of His creation.

But, let us look at an even more wondrous sight. See the woman with the issue of blood, in Mark 5:25-30:

“Now a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse, after hearing about Jesus, came up in the crowd behind Him, and touched His cloak. For she was saying, ‘If I just touch His garments, I shall get well.’ And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My garments?’”

Beloved child of God, let the picture of this event sink down deep into your spirit. See the brilliance of it as it outshines any other Scripture in expressing the finality of God’s decision to heal His people. Oh, I can rarely think about it without tears springing to my eyes as I fully realize what our dear Lord has done for us. Examine the story closely, you who are still fearful that God may not be willing to heal you. This little woman had heard of Jesus. No doubt, she had heard many tell of His compassion, His wisdom, and His miracles. She may have even heard Him speak with her own ears, although that is doubtful, since she was considered unclean in her diseased state and probably would not have involved herself in public gatherings, except in this desperate hour. But she makes it clear by words from her own mouth that she has heard enough to know that this man is a healer. He has healing in His nature; He is so saturated with healing virtue that it even flows through His garments. She makes up her mind that she is going to have some of it, presses through the crowd, lays hold of Jesus’ clothes, and receives complete healing.

Did she ask Jesus to heal her? NO. Did she ask if it was His will for her to be well? NO. Beloved, do you see? Not only did this little woman not ask Jesus to heal her; she did not even get His permission to take healing virtue from Him. Jesus Himself didn’t know that anything was happening until He felt that healing power flow out of Him. Even then He didn’t know who had received but had to ask.

“How could that happen?” you may ask. Well, God’s nature is healing, and He sent Jesus to manifest His nature in the flesh. That woman saw that healing nature of God, accepted Jesus as the appointed vessel to dispense it, operated on her God-given covenant rights, and took her share, without asking. No need to ask. No need to get permission. God had promised, and then sent the fulfillment of the promise. His decision was made. He had come to set His people free from sin and deliver them from the curse. When a heart full of faith connects with the forever-settled Word of God, it’s like striking a match against a hard surface: the result is inevitable. Hallelujah!

It would be good for us to look at another woman who recognized something in the nature of Jesus that caused her to know He could not refuse her healing. In Matthew 15, beginning at verse 21, we meet a Canaanite woman who has a daughter who is demon-possessed.

“And behold a Canaanite woman came out from that region, and began to cry out, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.’ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she is shouting out after us.’ But He answered and said, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!’ And He answered and said, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ But she said, ‘Yes, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered and said to her, ‘O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed at once.”

Now this woman did not have a covenant with Jehovah as the Israelites did. She did not actually have the same legal right to God’s provisions of deliverance and healing as the covenant people of God did, but she had a desperate need and had perceived something in Jesus that caused her to know that He could and would meet her need. Jesus does not speak to her immediately. When He does speak, He reminds her that He was sent to the covenant people of God. Her only reaction is to ignore any indication that she doesn’t fit the requirements and to continue to press in to get her need met. Then Jesus speaks more directly. Many may think our Lord cruel in this conversation, but He is working to draw something from this woman for her good, and for the good of those who are watching, and those who would later be reading of this event. He tells her that deliverance and healing are the bread that belongs to those in the covenant family of God, and not to those who are outside that family (who were often referred to as “dogs” in that day).

It has always seemed so remarkable to me that this woman could stand to hear such an answer and yet never waver in her expectation that Jesus would give her what she asked. Jesus is so pleased with her response that He calls her a woman of “great faith,” and He grants her request fully. What was it that marked this woman as being “great” in faith? She saw in Jesus the goodness and compassion of God, and she knew that could not fail. She ignored everything to the contrary. She would not consider any other answer but that this living God would meet her need. She determined to look only at God’s loving nature, to press into it and hold on, somehow knowing that very nature would not be able to refuse to meet her need without denying Itself. Beloved, that’s the way God feels about it. If we will meet Him on the line of total faith and commitment to Him, refusing to give attention to anything to the contrary, His very nature and faithfulness to His Word will not allow Him to refuse us the help we need.

But, is that true every time? Well, let’s look at the life of Jesus, the Physician. If, according to the Word, He is the only complete and exact representation of God and His will, then we will be able to tell if God is always willing to heal and deliver every person every time. It really doesn’t take very long to read through the four gospels, and get a complete picture of the life of Jesus. The fact is that Jesus healed everybody who came to Him for healing. He healed a lot of people who didn’t come to Him, but He healed everyone who did come. Matthew 4:23 says that Jesus “was healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” Verse 24 says, “they brought to Him all who were ill, … and He healed them.” Luke 4:30 says, “And while the sun was setting, all who had any sick with various diseases brought them to Him, and laying His hands on every one of them, He was healing them.” Luke 6:19 says, “And all the multitude were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.” Matthew 12:15 says, “But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed Him, and He healed them all.”

ALL, ALL, ALL. There was never one to whom Jesus said, “No”. There was never one to whom He said, “You’ll have to wait.” There was never one to whom He said, “I’m trying to teach you something through this sickness.” No one seeking healing ever heard Him say, “I can’t heal you because it’s time for you to die.” (On the contrary, He recalled several fromdeath.) There was never one to whom He said, “Go down the street to Doctor So-and-So, and I’ll give him the wisdom to give you an operation, and you’ll get well.” No, dear Christian.

History tells us that there was rather advanced medical science being practiced during the time of Jesus, and even as far back as Moses. Dr. Lillian Yoemans, who gave up her profession as a medical doctor to minister God’s supernatural healing power to the sick, says in her book Healing from Heaven, “The history of medicine shows us that they (Egyptian physicians) had a most elaborate system of medicine and surgery … The ancient Egyptians prior to and contemporaneous with Moses performed many surgical operations, including the removal of tumors and operations of the eye. As to medicine, they had an extensive pharmacopoeia.” She goes on to say, “But the most striking thing about the attitude of the Word of God toward human systems of healing is that they are ignored therein as though they were non-existent. In view of the fact that elaborate systems of medical science flourished during the periods covered by the Sacred Record, it seems that no words could be more eloquent than the divine silence regarding them.” (Healing From Heaven, revised edition, pp. 37,38, 66.)

Medical science was not a tool that Jesus needed to use. There are dedicated people out there today who offer medicine and surgery in an effort to help, but Jesus still has a better way. He can perform surgery without cutting into our body; He can perform surgery without costing us a fortune. Jesus never told anybody, “You go to man and get your help.” Rather, He always said, “I am your help. You can have it if you’ll take it.”

God never changed His mind. He sent Jesus to destroy the work of the devil. That’s why Jesus healed all that were oppressed of the devil. We never have to wonder if sickness is from God. God sent Jesus, and He healed every oppressed person, saying all the time that He was only doing the will of the Father. He’s still doing the same thing today. How can we be sure? Malachi 3:6 says, “For I, the Lord, do not change.” And Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” He has healing and deliverance for you today. If you’re sick, make an appointment with the Great Physician, and let Him make you well!

This article is Chapter One in the book Healing Is For You! by Sandra Conner.  You may learn more about the book online and order a copy from the publisher, St. Ellen Press.

(Scripture references taken from the following:
The New American Standard Version, Copyright
1960,1962,1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by Permission. 
The King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
The Amplified Bible, Old Testament. Copyright  1965, 1987 by
The Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified Bible, New Testament,
Copyright 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation.
Used by Permission.)