Does God Still Heal Today?
It is doubtful if there are many of us who would say God doesn’t heal people. However, a question often heard is, “Does God still heal today?” This teaching addresses that very question. Please take the time to read the Scripture references, and the stories surrounding them, as it will add understanding. Everything is directly based on scripture and it is vital that you become very familiar with it.
1. Jesus was a healer while on earth and He is still the same today.
Here is what the Holy Spirit reveals about Jesus in the book of Hebrews:
Heb 13:8 Jesus, the Messiah, is the same yesterday and today and forever.
That is quite a striking statement. If Jesus was a healer yesterday, then He is still a healer today. We know he healed as He walked on earth. In fact, healing was one of His main activities. Throughout the Gospels we read story after story of Jesus healing those who came to Him. He is still doing it today, He hasn’t changed.
What does Heb 13:8 mean to you? Answer this question in your notebook.
2. The ancient Hebrew Scriptures attest to God’s continual healing.
The ancient Israelites had no question that God healed and that he continued to heal.
Exodus 15:26 He said, “I am the Lord your healer.”
The important point here is the tense of the sentence. Note that it doesn’t say, “I will be your healer,” or, “I was your healer.” No, God is saying here, “I AM your healer.” This is present tense and very important. He healed yesterday and He still heals today. We can clearly see here what God’s intention is. God is making Himself known as the one who provides healing for us, now, today.
Isaiah has something very important to say about healing.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we were healed.
What is Isaiah talking about? Answer in your notebook.
3. Our healing was completed on the cross.
The apostle Peter quotes this passage from Isaiah.
1 Pet 2:24 “…by His wounds you were healed.”
What Peter is telling us here is that Jesus took all of our sickness, disease, and disability upon Himself when He suffered and died. Notice what the last words of Jesus were:
John 19:30 When He had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
Just as Jesus was about to give up His spirit He said, “It is finished.” For those who would ever need healing, it was accomplished then. Isaiah puts it so well, “by His wounds we were healed.” It is finished. It has already been accomplished.
As one prominent evangelist likes to say, Jesus did not say, “To be continued.” The means of our healing was completed, finished, done, taken care of, and paid for. This is part of what is meant when we read in Like:
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and give sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bruised.”
Is It God’s Will To Be Healed?
So many times people ask this question and then conclude that it must not be His will for them to be healed because they still hurt or are still sick. A variation on that is, God sent, or is using, this sickness to teach a lesson. Neither could be farther from the truth.
Some people believe that sickness is from God and therefore must be God’s will. If this is true, then why are they going against God’s will by going to the doctor? What father wishes sickness upon his children? We are confronted by the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people.” Libraries throughout the world are full of books trying to answer that very question.
One of the main activities of Jesus was healing. Never once did Jesus say, according to scripture, that a person had to remain in their condition in order to learn a lesson. In fact, the Gospels show repeatedly that Jesus healed ALL who came to him. Matthew 4:21, 8:16, 12:15, 14:35-36 are just a few of the many stories about Jesus healing all who came to him. (For a full listing of healing stories in the New Testament see Lesson Seven: God’s Healing Word.)
When Jesus sent out the twelve (Luke 9:1), and then again when He sent out the seventy (Luke 10:1-9), His instructions were to heal the sick. Notice that He didn’t give instructions to heal only certain people. It is clear to see that Jesus healed ALL who came to Him. How I pray that you take this into your inner most being … YOU are part of ALL … Jesus wants to heal YOU and those you pray for!
Remember that in giving the Great Commission, found in Mark 16:15-18, Jesus commanded His followers to “go into all the world… lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” He doesn’t say, “Go only to a few places or lay hands on a few people.”
Mark 16:15-18 And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature… and these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils;… they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Think about this: Would you expose your child to disease or injury in order to teach a lesson? Do you want your child to be sick, or in good health? God is our Father, He is the perfect parent. Matthew 7:11 tells us that if we, who are evil, can love our children, how much more will God do for us, His children. The Lord wants for us that we be in good health as it says in 3 John 2:
3 John 2 “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.”
