Healing - Is It a God-Given Right?  by Ken Speer

Oh boy! If you're not ready to clobber me, yet, you may soon be ready. Read on.

Does God heal because we are nice guys and deserve to be healed? Is it mind over matter? Is it positive confession? Does God just heal when he's in the mood to heal? Does He just pick out some random sick people to heal and neglect the others? No! Healing is a definite promise to all based upon the work of Jesus on the cross. Let's look at the familiar chapter 53 of Isaiah:

• Isaiah 53:3-5 "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
  

• "He hath 'borne' our 'griefs'"  Like English words, Hebrew words have several connotations. Hebrew words can be translated into a number of different English words. Sometimes, the other possible words can shed some light on the full meaning of the Hebrew word. The Hebrew word for "borne"  is "nacah". "Nacah" can also be translated, "to lift, accept, bear, carry away, ease, forgive, help, hold up, lade, lay, lift up, pardon, raise up, receive, spare, take, and wear". The Hebrew word for "griefs" is "choliy".  "Choliy" can be translated, "malady, anxiety, calamity, and disease". So, you get the idea that Jesus carried away our maladies, anxieties, calamities, and disease. The Interlinear (rendered in Hebrew, Greek, and English, side by side) Bible translates this phrase, "Surely He has borne our sicknesses and our pains". Why did he carry away or lift our sickness, disease, or malady if we are supposed to carry it?
  
• "and 'carried' our 'sorrows'" The Hebrew word for "carried" is "cabal". "Cabal" can mean "to carry, be burdensome, bear, be a burden, strong to labor". The Hebrew word for "sorrows" is "makobah" and can be translated "anguish, affliction, grief, and pain". He bore and was burdened with our affliction, grief, and pain. Why would he bear something of ours if we are supposed to bear it?
  
• "with his stripes we are 'healed'" The Hebrew word for "healed" is "raphah" and can be translated "to mend, cure, heal, physician, repair, and make whole". So, we see that the word, "healed" has to do with being physically healed just as much as "stripes" has to do with being physically afflicted. This is further confirmed by Matthew 8:16-17, "When the even 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 Esaias (Greek form of Isaiah) the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." This is a paraphrase of Isaiah's words. When did Isaiah say this? In Isaiah 53, quoted above. Again, about what does Isaiah 53 concern itself? The crucifixion of Christ. So, Jesus "took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses" during his crucifixion. In Matthew 8:16, did Jesus spiritually heal all that were sick? No. It is clear that Matthew 8:16 is speaking of physical healing. 1 Peter 2:24 repeats this part of Isaiah 53, "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." So, we find the phrase in both the Old and New Testaments.
  

• In Numbers 21, the Lord sent fiery serpents upon the children of Israel and many died. He did this as a result of their constant complaining and disrespect. He instructed Moses to make a serpent of brass and set it on a pole. When an Israelite was bitten by a fiery serpent, he was to look on the brass serpent, and he would live. Compare John 3:14-15, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." The brazen serpent was a type of Christ being made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). As the serpent was raised on a pole, Christ was raised on a cross. The Israelites were physically healed when they looked to the brass serpent on the pole. Conversely, one can conclude from this that we are physically healed when we look to Christ on the cross, as well as being spiritually healed.
  
• In Leviticus 14, we read of the ceremonial cleansing of a leper. If the priest, upon examination, found the leper was healed of his leprosy, the priest was to take two birds. He was to kill one of the birds, then dip the live bird in the blood of the dead bird and set it free. The bird killed is a type of Christ. The bird dipped in the blood of the dead bird and set free is a type of man, being set free by the blood of Christ. Of what was the leper set free? The physical disease of leprosy.
  
• Hebrews 5:9 "And being made perfect, he (Jesus) became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him". The Greek (the original language used for the New Testament) word for "salvation" is "soteria". Other meanings of "soteria" are "rescue, safety, deliver, save, health". As we can see, the word "salvation" includes health, when protracted out into it's full depth.
  
• Further indications that physical healing and forgiveness of sins were, both, paid for by the atoning work of Christ are found in James 5:15, where the healing of one that is physically sick is automatically accompanied by forgiveness of sins. In Matthew 9:2, when a man, "sick of the palsy", was brought to Jesus for healing, Jesus responded by forgiving the man of his sins. And, why not, if both were paid for by the same atoning work?
  
• As we demonstrated in the article, Healing - From Where Does Sickness Come?, sickness is considered, in the Old Testament, a curse. In Galatians 3:13, we read that "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us". When was he made a curse for us? The second part of Galatians 3:13 continues, "for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree". When did Christ hang on a tree? At the cross.