Depend On The Lord for Healing - Part 2
- God Has Confirmed That Healing Is Available Today For Anyone Who Will Take It By Faith
Written by Eileen R. Jacobs
In our previous teaching article, titled Depend On The Lord for Healing - Part 1, we started off by sharing a question from F.F. Bosworth. In his book, Christ The Healer (1924), he asked this rhetorical question, "How can there be faith for healing if there is no promise in the Bible that the sick can apply to himself?" We spent some time laying down a foundation for faith based on Jesus' finished work of atonement at the cross. If you have not read the previous article, we really encourage you to get that foundational teaching. It will help you settle for good, who is trying to steal your health and life, and who is going to heal you completely. Let us remember these very important words of Jesus...
"For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." - Luke 9:56
To continue to answer F.F. Bosworth's question, we praise God that the Bible contains so many promises that the sick can apply to themselves, and begin to receive the healing that has been purchased for them by Jesus at the cross.
This will be the second in a series of articles to help you in your understanding of the promises for healing that the sick can apply by faith. We are following one of the Lord's most important principles of Bible interpretation here to help establish your faith for healing; the testimony of two or three witnesses. You are probably wondering what that means, so let me briefly explain before we move on in establishing your faith for healing in more of God's promises.
In the Old Testament, when The Lord was instituting The Law with the nation of Israel, He made it clear to them that in matters of justice and establishing truth in a matter, one testimony or one person's witness against another was not enough. In order to confirm the truth, there needed to be two or three witnesses for any word to be established, especially in matters of accusation that involved life or death for someone. See for yourself...
"If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness." - Numbers 35:30
"On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. " - Deuteronomy 17:6
This judicial principle of God, for establishing truth, is practiced today in our own courts of law. When we get to the New Testament, we observe the Apostle Paul using this principle in his investigation regarding accusations coming from some members of the Corinthian church against his ministry. He is quoting the Old Testament Law in this case.
"This is the third time I am coming to you. EVERY FACT IS TO BE CONFIRMED BY THE TESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES." - 2 Corinthians 13:1
Finally, we see Jesus, the Son of God, using this same principle as He teaches His disciples about His kingdom.
"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED." - Matthew 18:15-16
In this article, I am not aiming to teach in too much depth about the Old Testament law of "Two or Three Witnesses", nor how Jesus sees it applied for the church under the new covenant, but I am trying to demonstrate how God confirms His own Word using "Two or Three Witnesses." He never leaves us wondering about a truth based on a single verse.
This is an important principle when interpreting the Bible and will help you in understanding what God meant by what He said. In other words, God backs up His own promises with more than one Scripture, so we will know the truth about a matter. I actually just demonstrated this principle of using two or three witnesses (ie. passages of Scripture). You'll notice that I used Numbers 35:30, Deuteronomy 17:6, 2 Corinthians 13:1, & Matthew 18:15-16 to show that God Himself uses this principle to express the meaning of His own Word. Here you have God giving this law to Moses and the children of Israel in the book of Numbers. God then confirms the word again in the book of Deuteronomy. We see how Jesus uses this law to establish the principle for the church regarding sin in the book of Matthew. And, the Apostle Paul uses the principle in dealing with the Corinthian church in the New Testament. So, you see that in the Word of God, Scripture confirms Scripture. It is the Lord's word of testimony, and He uses two or three other words of testimony to confirm His own word. This is why you see so many of the New Testament authors quoting the Old Testament or quoting each other.
So, why is this important? What does this law about confirming every fact with two or three witnesses have to do with depending on the Lord for healing? First of all, in Part 1 of this series of articles, we saw that there was a promise for healing that was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53, that when the Messiah would come, He would remove sickness & disease from us and we could be healed and made whole. This was a first witness for the promise of healing that we sited for the sick to apply to themselves.
"Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole." - Isaiah 53:4-5 AMPC
Then we found that in the New Testament the writer Matthew informs us that Jesus was the One who fulfilled this promise of Isaiah, proving that He was the Messiah who would take away sickness and disease. Now we have a second witness.
"When evening came, they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons, and He drove out the spirits with a word and restored to health all who were sick.
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." - Matthew 8:16-17 AMPC
Next we found the Scripture that was confirmed by the author Luke in the book of Acts. These words were spoken by Peter as he ministered to an entire household of Gentiles who wanted to hear the "Good News" of salvation in Jesus. Why would Peter have mentioned this healing tidbit of the work of Jesus if it were not going to be available to everyone in Cornelius' household? Here we have a third witness.
"You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." - Acts 10:38
Whenever I am reading the Scripture and I find what appears to be a promise regarding something, like healing...something that perhaps I really need at the time...I want to know if there are more Scriptures that testify to the same thing regarding this promise of healing. Are there other Scriptures that confirm that healing is something I can expect from God? Has God given more than one witness to establish that a fact is true? We have learned from the Old Testament Law that one single witness is not enough to establish a fact.
Believe it or not, there are still those today who believe that supernatural healing is not for the day and age we are living in. They believe that supernatural signs and wonders were a confirmation for the time of the first apostles, and are no longer needed or are not active in our present day. This is not confirmed in Scripture, nor does history agree. While they believe that God may heal, they do not believe that God heals all the time, or rather, that healing was provided in the atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross, and that it is possible for every person to lay hold of if they will take it by faith. If you have heard faith-destroying teaching that makes God's promise for healing seem unattainable, or belittles the finished work of Jesus regarding His act of taking our sicknesses and curse in His own body while He hung on the cross, then I encourage you to re-study the Word of God for yourself. Look up every reference regarding healing in the Bible and learn the truth. This is what the Holy Spirit told me to do many years ago. Don't be robbed of what is yours through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ.
"...let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, "THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED." - Romans 3:4
If God has given a promise, especially a promise that His Messiah would fulfill without any effort of my own, I think I'd rather hold on to that promise with all the tenacity I have in me until the thing God has promised becomes real in my life. This is what it means to have faith ... "the substance of things hoped for." (Hebrews 11:1) Instead of basing our faith on people's opinions or their life circumstances, let's "let God be found true..." Jesus encouraged us to come to faith like little children. If you've ever given a little toddler a cookie or a toy they really want, it's nearly impossible to get it away from them. They grab it tight and you have to pry their fingers off of it to get them to let go. Let's treat God in His goodness and faithfulness to keep His promises in the same way.
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;" - Hebrews 10:23
God has made us very clear, discernible, and precious promises in the Scripture regarding healing. Friends, believe with me. Let us consider God faithful. This is how all the saints listed in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews gained a testimony and became witnesses to the fact that God keeps His promises.
"For by it the elders obtained a good report." - Hebrews 11:2 KJV
These Old Testament saints heard a word or a promise from God and they hung on to it, believing God regarding it, and obtained their promises. Not only that, but they "obtained a good report." That is the Greek word martureō. According to Thayer, it means...
"to be a witness, to bear witness, i.e. to affirm that one has seen or heard or experienced something, or that he knows it because taught by divine revelation or inspiration; to give (not to keep back) testimony; to utter honourable testimony, give a good report."
How can we not sink our faith into these promises and cling on tight. If we refuse to be removed from the promises of God, like a child who won't let go of the cookie, we will eventually end up with a testimony. We will be able to testify to the faithfulness and the goodness of God.
The following testimony is as fresh as this article. As I was finishing the final draft, just before sending it to be edited, the "thief" (John 10:10) came and began to attack my family, one by one, until he had managed to afflict us all with a violent sickness as diabolical as he is. That set us back in releasing this article while we stood our ground in faith. In the midst of feeling attacked and defeated, the Holy Spirit finally gave me these words and it was exactly the weapons we needed to defeat the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-17) and gain this testimony.
"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. - Galatians 3:13 KJV
"Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you." - Luke 10:19
Yes, here is another witness! "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law." You can find an exhaustive list of the curses associated with the broken law found in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. Every sickness that could ever come upon mankind is listed there. Praise God we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Simply stated...we have been "bought out" of those curses, those sicknesses that we very much deserved, because Jesus became a curse in our place.
Hallelujah!!! Once our family laid hold of the promise of Galatians 3:13, we took Jesus at His Word regarding the second promise and we used the authority Jesus has given us over the enemy that brought the sickness, bound it in Jesus name, then cast it out of our house. Every one of us is well. Praise God for His promises! It doesn't help the devil's cause to come against the children of God who stand firm on the promises of God. Now...we have a testimony; a testimony we can use until Jesus comes!
So friends, if you need healing, find these promises. Listen to the Holy Spirit as He guides you to just the right promise for your situation. Confess them out-loud. Speak them over yourself and your family. Let them penetrate your heart. If you will anchor your faith to them and refuse to be stolen from, you'll see those promises come to pass in your life. You will experience the healing that is promised to you right now. No one in heaven needs healing, so take what the blood of Jesus and His grace has made available to you right now and live. Live now... live long and become a witness to the goodness of God in Christ Jesus!
Now that, dear friends, is GRACE...
written by
Eileen R. Jacobs (March 2019)
Copyright © 2019 Eileen Jacobs Ministries. All rights reserved.
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