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EXCERPT #3:Excerpt From Healing Moment Two: GOD’S AMAZING HEALING GRACE
MIRACLES OF HEALING IN THE GOSPEL OF MARK
John I. Penn, D.Min
February 4, 2022
The Greek word sózó can be translated into English as healing, health, wholeness, salvation, deliverance, or well-being. God’s optimum plan for the well-being of humanity was compromised in the Fall. The Fall not only compromised the relationship between God and human beings, but it also introduced sin, sickness, and death into God’s good creation. It is important to understand that sin has eternal consequences, which require a Godkind of solution.
Jesus is that solution. It is important to keep in mind that God’s wholeness is central to God’s good creation. God sent Jesus to restore that goodness which was lost in the Fall. Remember, the name Jesus in Hebrew is Joshua, which means salvation. Jesus came not only to save, but to heal God’s fractured humanity. To save is to heal, and to heal is to save. They are one and the same.
Even in the fall of humanity, God’s love and care for humanity have always been at the forefront of everything God has done in words and deeds. God hates sin but loves the sinner. That love is expressed in every covenant God has entered with his people. Even when God’s people break their part of the covenant, God remains faithful. Healing is a constant sign that God keeps His covenant agreements even with sinful and unfaithful humanity. This is an expression of unconditional love.
The cross is the ultimate expression of God’s covenant love. God’s covenant love is manifested in the gospel of the kingdom—salvation, God’s ultimate response to sin. Therefore, healing is a central part of Christ’s mission and ministry as God’s Messiah. Therefore, Jesus never refused to heal anyone because he knew that healing was God’s will. Healing and salvation represent God’s unconditional love, powerfully demonstrated through the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross atoned for human sin, including its consequences. Those who have turned to God for forgiveness have had their transgressions removed. They have been declared righteous and will live eternally with God in the resurrection. (See Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15.)
Although sin, evil, and death have been prevalent in our fallen state, God destroyed them through the cross, removing the curse all of humanity are born under. The apostle Paul reminded believers that because of the cross, nothing can separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus. Paul put it in this context:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:35-36, 38 NKJV; also Isa. 44:22).
Through the cross, everything that was lost in the Fall has been restored. Sin, sickness, evil, and death are no longer a threat to God’s good creation. Therefore, Jesus has the authority to heal the sick and to cast out demons. Jesus has given this same authority to his disciples to continue his kingdom work against God’s enemies and to call people to repent and receive the gospel of salvation. Fallen humanity has been made right with God through the cross and are now partners with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has empowered God’s people with charismata (gifts) to demonstrate God’s authority in the spiritual realm over the evil of this fallen world. God has giventhe church gifts of healings as a continuous sign of God’s restored creation.
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Next week, you will have an opportunity to read an excerpt from Healing Moment two, God’s Amazing Healing Grace T purchase my books, go to: https://www.my-book-store.com/. Until next week, Happy reading!