New Testament Healing
Romans 8:11 (KGV) says, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” What does it mean to “Quicken?” Strong’s Concordance says it means to “Give life” or to “Make alive.”
In the Living Bible it says, “And if the Spirit of God, who raised up Jesus from the dead, lives in you, he will make your dying bodies live again after you die, by means of this same Holy Spirit living within you.” But wait! There is a problem with this translation. It says after you die your bodies will be made alive. That does not line up with the rest of scriptures! If you go back to Romans 8:11, it says, “Quicken your mortal bodies!” The definition of Mortal from Thayer’s Greek Lexicon is “Liable to death.” We could say it another way, “Subject to death.” Hebrews 9:27 in KJV it says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” One gentleman asked, “Pastor Larry, what about those that are alive when the rapture takes place?” I have no Bible answer, only an opinion! Before I give you my opinion, I need to say this. There are some things the Bible does not make clear. However, if we know the character and nature of Father God, we will realize that those things we want to question will surely be taken care of by our Father God. My opinion is that those who are alive when He comes will die and before they hit the ground they will be resurrected.
Now back to our subject: New Testament Healing. In Matthew 8:17 (KJV) it says, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” I like the Amplified version, “And thus He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, He Himself took [in order to carry away] our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases.” [Isa 53:4.] Right here is where religious people want to argue. But Brother that is from the Old Testament? So! Yes, I know some religions stick strictly to the New Testament. I believe God gave us both the Old and the New Testament so we could have an understanding as to why it took so long for Jesus to come. Galatians 4:4 in KJV says, “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
In 1 Peter 2:24 in KJV, it says, “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.” As I shared in our last Newsletter, “It was easier for Jesus to bare our sickness than it was for him to bare our sin.” If Jesus only bore our sins, why did He have to suffer so much physical abuse? We know the Blood is what washed our sins away! If He did not bare our sickness and only bore our sin, then all He needed to do was go to the cross and shed His blood.
The Old Testament Shows Us All That Redemption Includes
We need to see the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament. The best example of this is found in Galatians 3:13-14 (KJV), “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Here is the verse that should make us all shout Hallelujah! Galatians 3:29, in AMP, “And if you belong to Christ [are in Him who is Abraham's Seed], then you are Abraham's offspring and [spiritual] heirs according to promise.” Now don’t let that word spiritual cause you problems. Remember, we are going to understand the Old Testament through the light of the New Testament.
First, the spiritual he is talking about here is in regard to belonging to Christ. In other words, are you “Born Again?” Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If you have fulfilled this, then you are in Christ! Secondly, what is “The blessing of Abraham?” If you go back to the Old Testament and study the life of Abraham, you will see that “The blessing of Abraham” was three fold: 1. Spiritual life, 2. Physical Healing, and 3. Prosperity. Then go to Deuteronomy 28, where you can see the Blessings and the Curses. These scriptures have to do with living for the Lord. When you don’t live for him then you open the door for the curses to come upon you. Understand that these cursing verses are written in the permissive sense. Also, as you read these remember according to the New Testament God IS NOT in the killing business. Jesus said in John 10:10 KJV, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Can you see why you are to understand the Old Testament in light of the New Testament? If you only read the Old Testament, you will get the idea that God is mean and bad. It is always amazing to me when people, including church people, don’t understand something; they say it has to be an “Act of God.” The insurance companies of the world are the best example. They use an “Act of God” when bad weather occurs. Yet we read in the New Testament that Jesus spoke to the bad weather and it stopped. If it were an “Act of God” then Jesus was going against His Father? No Way!
The real question among church folks has to do with a simple phrase, “Why didn’t so and so get healed?” I am glad you asked that question. I will give you a simple answer and then I will explain it from the Word of God. So and so never heard from Father God for their self! If you will study closely Hebrews 11, you will see that each person who is mentioned heard from God for their self. Let’s look at Abraham and Sarah. Remember, God had spoken to Abraham 24 years before and told him that he would have a son. Why was it taking so long? In Genesis 18:1-2 KJV, it says, “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground.” For the sake of space, drop down to verses 9-10, “And they said unto him, where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.” I believe one of the reasons it took 24 years for the Word that God had given to Abraham to begin to manifest was because Sarah did not have the faith because she had not heard from God herself. Up until this point in time she only heard it from Abraham. Even though Sarah laughed, there was no way she could deny it.
What I am saying is, too many church folks are trying to act in faith based on just knowledge and what a preacher or teacher said or even some testimony they heard. For example, when we were in
- Pastor Larry
