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the  Preachers  blog

Blogs are posted every Wednesday

He Removed Our Diseases - Chris Barnes

5/7/2020

 
Over the last two weeks, the teaching at St Aidan’s has touched on the topic of healing. Last week Alpha focused on whether God still heals today and last Sunday Rev. Susan touched on this topic of healing in the sermon. This is a topic that can often lead us to more questions. Does God still heal today? Why are some healed and not others? If you are like me, then you have spent a lot of time praying and contemplating about these questions over the last week. Through my prayer and contemplation, I have found that the books of Isaiah and Matthew are good starting points to begin wrestling with this topic.

In his Gospel, Matthew tells his readers that the physical healings Jesus performed during his earthly ministry fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy found in Isaiah 53:4. We read in Matthew Chapter 8:
When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him. That evening many possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a single command, and he healed all the sick. This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet, who said “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.” (Matthew 8: 14-17)

Matthew clearly saw the connection between Isaiah’s prophecies of what the Messiah would do and what Matthew saw Jesus doing. To all who had eyes to see, Jesus’ ministry of healing was a sign of his deity, his authority, and a call to believe in him.
Yet while Jesus healed many who came to him, he didn’t heal everyone, and everyone he did heal still eventually passed away at some point. So, were the healing works of Christ during the three years of his ministry the essence of what Isaiah prophesied? Was this the sum of what Isaiah was describing when he said that Jesus “was whipped so we could be healed” (Isaiah 53:5)?

In reality, Isaiah saw something beyond the three years of Jesus’ ministry of physical healing. He saw into his eternal ministry of healing both body and soul. Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated the character of the redemption he came to purchase on the Cross by forgiving sin and healing bodies. The physical healings Jesus performed give us a foretaste of what we can expect in the age to come when the curse of sin is finally eradicated.

Many readers of Isaiah’s prophecy attempt to force into this age what God has reserved for the next – the age when there is no sickness or death. In his first coming, Christ gave us a foretaste of what it will be like in his second coming when his healing will be pervasive and permanent, given to all freely. In short, some will be healed now but all who believe in Jesus will be healed when Christ returns.

With all that being said, perhaps it is good for us to desire to know more about this topic of healing. For this is something that will be fulfilled fully in the age to come, that all who believe in Jesus will come to experience. But in the meantime, the gift of spiritual healing (forgiveness of our sins) which is guaranteed to us through Jesus bearing our sicknesses on the cross should be more then enough to sustain us who believe, until He returns.

Prayer – Lord Jesus, I pray for your healing power to be at work in my life. But if you should see fit for me to experience a situation that I must endure, I know that you will also give me the grace I need to endure faithfully, waiting in hope for the redemption of my body to everlasting life.

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St Aidan’s Anglican Church
274 Campbell Street | Winnipeg, MB R3N 1B5
Phone: 204.489.3390 Email: staidans.churchoffice@gmail.com
  • Home
  • Worship Online
  • The Preachers Blog
  • Easter Services
  • Bible in a Year
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • The Re-Gathering
  • Youth
  • Cords
  • Prayer Requests
  • Request Pastoral Care
  • Give
  • Grocery Pick Up
  • Statement of Faith
  • Video Archive
    • 2023 Videos
    • Real Lives
    • 2022 Videos
    • 2021 Videos
    • 2020 Videos
  • Sermon Audio Archive
    • 2020 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centered Eternities November 2019
      • The Real Joy of Easter - Holy Week 2019
    • 2018 Sermons
    • 2018 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centred Church Spring 2018
      • A Gospel Shaped Church Fall 2018
    • 2017 Sermon Series >
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
      • The Saviour King Lent 2017
      • The Victorious King Holy Week 2017
      • The Living King Easter 2017
      • The Brother King Fall 2017
      • Worship the King Advent 2017
    • 2016 Sermon Series >
      • Real Obedience Lent 2016
      • Unity of the Church
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
    • 2015 Sermon Series >
      • Real Gifts 2015
      • Real Mission 2015
      • Mission Discerned
    • 2014 Sermon Series >
      • Real Church 2014
      • Real Lives 2014
    • 2013 Sermon Series >
      • Real God 2013
    • Sermon Archive From 2014 - 2017
  • Christianity 101
  • The Psalms Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • The Re-Gathering