REASON #3

I am very aware that every time I present another one of my beliefs about divine healing, I am setting myself up for someone to tell me that what I believe is not “correct.” I love that I live in country where I can respect what you take from the Bible, and you respect what I take from the Bible.

What has convicted me most about sharing these beliefs is not just that I have been asked what I have learned, but that I have asked God over and over and over again in this 17-month-long investigation into divine healing, to check me if I am out of His will in any way or if what I am finding is not His truth. I have asked Him to make it very clear to me if I am off base in any of my beliefs. In 17 months of study, I have had nothing but confirmation from God. And so, I share my third “find.”

My search led me to an astonishing fact…..Jesus bore my diseases on the cross just like He bore my sins. WHY, I have asked myself and others, doesn’t the global Christian church around the world today TEACH this? Why hadn’t I ever heard this before? It is a hidden pearl of great price. My pastor told me that yes, in his seminary, that doctrine was taught. So, too, in probably many seminaries. And yet, this doctrine is rarely heard about.

In my book, I have written most about this prophecy and its fulfillment. I will again try my best to summarize this in general terms.

Isaiah 53 clearly teaches that bodily healing is included in the atoning work of Christ, His suffering and His cross. The church today teaches that He was wounded for our sins, but it neglects to look at the sentence which precedes it which says He also bore our infirmities!

           

            Surely He has borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows (also

            translated as pains). But He was wounded for our transgressions,

            He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace

            was upon Him, and by His stripes, we are healed. Is 53:4-5

Some translations read “griefs” instead of “infirmities.” My resources said that the original Hebrew word for griefs is everywhere else in the Hebrew Bible translated as “sickness” or “physical affliction.”

Jesus was made sick with our sicknesses and made sin with our sins. We are redeemed from disease as we are saved from sin, because Jesus bore them both. The verse below confirms that Jesus bore our sicknesses, and was fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy with His ministry on earth:

           

            Jesus cast out demons with a word and healed all the sick. This

            was to fulfill what was written by the prophet Isaiah [which says] 

           He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases. Matt 8:16-17.

We appropriate healing, then, in the same way we appropriate salvation when we are

saved. By faith alone through grace alone. To be saved, we confess our sinfulness,  accept that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is the only way to heaven, and claim salvation. As I have come to understand this, we can claim healing, then, just like we claim salvation when we accept God’s free gift. This does not necessarily mean that healing is instantaneous. It means that the Word of God SAYS he bore our diseases, so that is what I believe. I take Him at His word.

Even David spoke this biblical truth before Jesus ever came to earth: Bless the Lord, Oh, my soul…..who forgives all our sins AND heals all our diseases. Psalm 103:3.

The requirement for forgiveness of sins was the shedding of blood. Torture was not a requirement to provide salvation. Only the shedding of blood. But Jesus’ body was completely broken and tortured for our pain and disease. He was flogged and beaten until Isaiah tells us that He was unrecognizable:

            But many were amazed when they saw him.
            His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, 
            and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he

           was a man. Is 52:14

By those stripes we are healed. He did not need to be beaten to save us from sin, but to save us from disease. It was God’s will (Isaiah 53:10) to bruise him and make Him sick, because He wanted full deliverance for His followers.

I have chosen to take these words as truth. I believe what the Bible says. My illness was borne by our Savior. It doesn’t matter if I still have cancer cells on a PET scan. It doesn’t matter that there are tumors in my lung. Those things are testimonies of my human senses. I do not listen to the witness of my senses. I accept the Word of God over my senses and I have chosen to act on it. Seventeen months ago I found this truth, and from that day on, I have said to everyone who asked, “God is healing me.” And He has already healed one tumor of mine and one lymph node. I don’t know God’s timetable, but I have total faith that I will see total healing.

If I have never once doubted my salvation once I accepted Jesus as my Savior, then I should not doubt my healing either. Scripture is clear that he died for both. I stand on that. When it will become manifest in my body, I do not know. But by faith in the Word, I will wait and continue to see myself as God sees me, healed by His stripes.

It is simple. It is profound. He was tortured for me so I would not have to bear this cancer. I have accepted the indescribable gift of that, and have unwavering faith in it.