THE HEALING PRESENCE OF THE LORD Lesson one OLD TESTAMENT The healing ministry foundation To launch these lessons we will look at some scriptures in the New Testament. Acts 10:38 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. NIV Luke 4:18-19 18 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 brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 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 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. Luke 5:17 17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. NKJV 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 OT. 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 bring 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 OT 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 in the OT. 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. 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, so 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 Numbers16: 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� heal 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 now they begin to speak against God and Moses. In verses 6-9 we read: Num 21:6-9 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 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. 8 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. 9 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 It shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live. (This is a type of JESUS sacrifice on the cross). When they look they were healed for they allowed the presence of God come and take control by looking to the Lord, an act of obedience. Health is a blessing, promised in the OT that comes to those who are obedient; it comes to the nation and to the person. God has also given us healing through the natural process of the body, which God made us with. We also see the promise of supernatural healing taking place in the OT. Jesus took all our sickness upon Himself at the cross. Healing is in the atonement found in the scriptures: 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. We now have better covenant Hebrews 8:6, and the healing found in the OT must come to us as we are now have a better covenant then in the OT. The Old Testament gives 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. OT, examples of healing: Genesis 20:1-18: The healing of Abimelech. This story gives us some insight in that Abraham a prophet was the one ministering. A prophetic person should be flowing in the healing ministry also. God used Abraham in the healing ministry and answered his prayer even though he had sinned by misleading Abimelech. Abimelech was a heathen. This puts forward that the ministry of healing can be part of the dealings of God�s ministers and people to those who do not follow and serve Him. We also see that God sent a sickness of sort the household of Abimelech (see Gen. 20:18). God had closed up the wombs of the household of Abimelech. God recalls His action when Abraham the prophet prays for him. Abraham walk 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 OT 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. Numbers 12:1-16; 1Kings 13:1-24; 1Kings 17:8-24; 2Kings 4:8-37; 2Kings 5:1-27; 2Kings13: 20-21; 2Kings 20:1-11. The OT 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. Next lesson the healing ministry of Jesus. |