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To launch these lessons we will look at some scriptures in the New Testament.
Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. NIVLuke 4:18-19
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. KJV
One of the most noticeable ways Jesus serves the people is by healing them. In Matthew it states that He healed all.
Matt 8:16
When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick KJV
One thing we see is that the power of the Lord was present to heal in Jesus life here on earth. He the Son of the living God was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers Jesus for His ministry, for the Spirit descended on Him at His baptism, Mark 1:10. It says in Luke that "the power of the Lord was present when Jesus was ministering."
Jesus had introduced Himself to Israel as the one who came to heal for the Father had sent him. He was anointed by the Father to carry on in a greater way the ministry the Father had brought to Israel in the Old Testament. In Exodus 15:26 is where the Father declares that He is Jehovah-Rapha "the Lord who heals you". All the way through the Bible Father God and the Son of God's ministry is based upon these parallel heavenly disclosure that healing is fundamental to the ministry and character of God.
The Old Testament brings out the character and ministry of the Father God as one who is concerned about His people in all the every day health aspects of life for their Spirit, soul, and body. When we read through the Old Testament we see this in many scriptures. Such as these: Exodus 15:26; Leviticus 7:22-27; 11:1-15:33; 17:1-16: Psalms 147:3, and Isaiah 61:1-2.
This shows us that the ministry Jesus did was an expansion of Father God's healing ministry it the Old Testament. Jesus would also go on to expand this ministry through those disciples that followed after Him even unto this day. It would be a development of the healing ministry in the power of Holy Spirit. The healing presence of the Lord is more evident that one might think. In the Old Testament; there are many examples of healing and the promise of health. For instance, in Exodus chapter 15; God gave His first promise to heal. This promise is for all; even unto this day. Father God names the conditions for them, the conditions were met, and we read in Psalm 105:37 "He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes." KJV
The complete condition of health in the population of Israel continued as
long as they met the Father's conditions. Then we see in Numbers 16:41-50
that sin was found in them. The presence of God was not in their life for
the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 14,700 die from the
plague. When they met the conditions the plague was stopped, and God
"Jehovah-Rapha" healed all. Again in chapter 21 they allow the presence of
God to lift from them by allowing sin to take over. See verses 4 and 5.
Their condition of health had remained good for 19 years, but they began
to speak against God and Moses. In verses 6-9 we read: Num 21:6-9
And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it
upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is
bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a
serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that
if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass,
he lived. KJV
And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the
people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came
to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the
LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the
serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
Note the phrase from verse 8, "It shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live." (The brass serpent being lifted up on a pole was a type of Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross). When they look they were healed. This was because they allowed the presence of God come and take control by looking to the Lord, by performing an act of obedience.
Health is a blessing, promised in the Old Testament to those who who are obedient; it comes both to the nation and to the individual. God has also given us healing through the natural process of the body. He created our physical bodies with the ability to heal and regenerate themselves, with globulin to close up bleeding wounds, with antibodies to fight germs, etc. God "built" our bodies with the ability to heal naturally. We also see many promises of supernatural healing take place in the Old Testament. God already worked out His plan of salvation when Adam and Eve first sinned. The Old Testament is full of many "fore-types" of what Jesus would do on Calvary. This pertained to our salvation and restoration with God, and it pertained to our physical healing. Jesus took all our sickness upon Himself at the cross. Here are some scriptures that talk about healing as a part of Christ's atonement: Isaiah 53:4-5; Matthew 8:16-17; 1 Peter 2:24; Galatians 3:13.
According to Deuteronomy 28:15-22, 27-29,35-61 all sickness is a curse of the law. But God the Father according to Galatians 3:13, said Christ Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Now we have better covenant (Hebrews 8:6) and the healing found in the Old Testament must come to us because of what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross.
The Old Testament many some examples of healing. These examples in the Bible give us a foundation that points to the healing ministry that Jesus fulfilled and developed and pasted on to believers today.
Let me share one of the Old Testament examples with you. Genesis 20:1-18 documents the healing of Abimelech. God had struck Abimelech with with sickness for taking Sarah as one of his wives, even though Abraham had sinned by misleading Abimelech to believe that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife. Yet God struck Abimelech for Abraham's sake because Abraham was His prophet and His servant. We also see that God sent a sickness of sorts the household of Abimelech (see Gen 20:18). God had closed up the wombs of the household of Abimelech. As soon as Abimelech found out that Sarah was already married, he returned her "untouched" to Abraham. Then God instructed Abraham to pray for him and to minister healing to him. Note that Abimelech was a heathen. Old Testament story demonstrates that, even from the earliest of times, God's plan was for His servants to minister physical healing to the unsaved.
Abraham walked in faith and we must walk in faith, it is a very fundamental to the healing ministry.
[While ministering in India my wife Alice and myself have ministered healing in the meetings for all kinds of sickness. We have prayed for many who were barren, they had no child and could not have one. We have seen many healed from this condition. I have been in India four different trips and know of the healing results. Of course there are many we do not know about for this type of healing takes time to show the healing. I will share more of the different healing in lessons to come.]
Please read these scriptures in the Old Testament and see how Jehovah-Rapha "the Lord who heals you" is at work. Write down what you find. Allow Holy Spirit to help you understand, also to give you insight. Pray before you read these.
The Old Testament underlines the dominion and power of God, but we also see the healing ministry coming to light, which was to go on to burn brighter and more powerfully developed through the ministry of the Son of God, then to be passed on to the believers to minister to those around them.
Our next lesson will be on the healing ministry of Jesus.