Healing Goes With Salvation
The gospel that Jesus preached was very clear, and if we re-familiarize ourselves with it, divine healing will be much easier for us. Jesus’ gospel ministry had a certain look to it that, if we all could see the black and white video of His three and one half years, we’d sigh with relief and leap for joy at the simple connection between salvation and healing. Jesus never separated the two. “Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness…” (Mat. 4:23) Over and over again, the gospels mention the healing ministry right along with Jesus’ teaching and preaching ministry. Jesus, Himself, even asked the rhetorical question, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? Jesus instantly heals the paralytic and implies that both forgiveness and healing are equally easy.
There is a pattern with Jesus, not only in his own acts, but also in His commission to the disciples. Every time He ordains His twelve, or the seventy, or even every disciple from then till now, He hooks preaching with healing. “He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease…And as you go, preach…Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons…” (Mat. 10:1, 7,8) He says the same thing in Mark and in Luke, even in the Great Commission speech. And then in John, He confirms that He expects us to do His exacts works and then even greater works. He EXPECTS it!
When I saw this truth as a little baby Christian (howbeit a baby with power), I felt that I should just obey Jesus. I began to lead people to Christ as often as possible, and for many of them, I would offer more. I would ask if they were sick or had pain. Then I would force myself through the fear and intimidation and make the same promise to them for healing as I just did for salvation: that if they want God to heal them, He will do it right now just like He saved them right now. One of the first times I remember was a teenager who had approached me and some other teenagers on a neighborhood sidewalk. After a short conversation, he decided to receive Jesus. He prayed to God and was saved right there. I asked him if he had any physical problem or pain, and surprisingly (for a healthy looking teenager), he told me he had injured his knew two years prior, and that it still hurt him. Right there I prayed for him and he was instantly healed, jumping up and down with no pain. Praise the Lord: saved and healed in one day, just like in the Bible.
The Greek word for salvation (soteria, verb: sozo), in itself, gives absolute evidence that the healing of the body goes with the salvation of the soul. Jesus used the same word to forgive the woman in adultery (“Thy faith has saved thee (sozo), go in peace.”) as He did to tell the woman with the twelve year issue of blood, (“Your faith has made you well (sozo). Go in peace.” Luke 8:48) Saved from sin, saved from hell, saved from guilt, and saved from sickness, saved from pain, saved from depression, anxiety, torment, and poverty. It all comes from the same place the same way: faith in Jesus Christ, the cross, and the redemption.
