Just Like Jesus

"We are healed because He is healed."

WE MUST stop blindly accepting what we’ve heard. The church has developed its own lingo. This is not such a bad thing. It happens in sports, in business, and in many other areas of interest. The problem with it is, most just accept and repeat what they hear and have no actual revelation of it.

I have to know what I’m saying, so I ask God, and He answers. Sometimes immediately. Sometimes, later on. But because I want to know, He will show me Truth.

One example is Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24. Both say, “By His stripes (meaning Jesus), we are (or were) healed.” We accept this. We claim this. But do you really know what that means? Most answer, “It’s talking about His wounds. He was beaten so we could be healed.” But that isn’t really the answer, only the story.

Jesus’ body was mutilated beyond belief. He had a crown of thorns crammed on His head. These were not your average briars but were meant to wound severely. He was beaten with a whip which had many straps and pieces of glass and metal tied to it. It tore the skin open, leaving deep gashes. There is the agony of crucifixion, not just nails in His hands and feet but difficulty breathing and severe trauma to the mind. After death, His side was pierced. His organs were damaged, and blood and water flowed out.

We must know WHAT He endured AND that He died, His heart stopped beating, His breaths ceased. He was buried in this damaged condition. There was no reviving Him in that day, nor would it be possible in our day. Then, for three days, He decayed.

It isn’t just that He died and suffered in dying, which we are meant to see. Isaiah 52:14 says, “His visage was so marred more than any man.” Isaiah 53:2 follows it with, “And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” He didn’t even look human. He allowed that for us, yes, and that’s a soul-aching realization. Yet what happened to Him when He was Resurrected is our example. It is the Truth behind Isaiah 53:4-5 and 1 Peter 2:24.

In Luke 24, we see Jesus unrecognized on the road to Emmaus, talking of the Scriptures with two disciples. They did not know Him until He broke bread at dinner. They walked the distance with Him, invited Him to dine with them, and never saw Him as their crucified Lord. He had no injuries, no scars, no signs of physical damage, and was of sound mind.

“And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.” (Luke 24:30-31)

Outside the tomb, Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener. She didn’t know Him either but asked where He’d taken her Lord (John 20:15).

When Jesus appeared amongst the disciples, in the room behind shut doors, He did say they could see His hands and feet and stick their hand in His side (Luke 24:39;John 20:20,27). That’s a fascinating thing. And also that, minutes later, He ate in front of them (Luke 24:42). A man who’s had a sword thrust in His side, a sight He said they could see, would not be able to eat anything. He also ate when He appeared to them at the edge of the lake. Peter and the others had gone fishing. Notice, they did not recognize Him at first, when He spoke to them (John 21:4).

He didn’t LOOK CRUCIFIED. He would not be so well, so healthy. He would have great physical damage. He didn’t SOUND CRUCIFIED. He would have great mental trauma. A man crucified COULDN’T BE raised to life, for that matter. We rejoice in this, but don’t see the Truth: We are healed because He is healed. He was severely wounded unto death, and is now so well, so healthy that, in those first moments, His best friends didn’t know Him.

He is the Alpha and Omega of John’s Revelation who John fell at His feet, overcome.

How much GREATER these Scriptures are now. They have moved from a vow, a pledge we profess, to something we can handle of the Word of Life (1 John 1:1). You can’t take healing from me anymore. I am healed because my Lord is healed. He is of sound mind. He is physically perfected. This is stated in Philippians 3:21 and again, in Romans 8:11. The same Spirit who raised Him from the dead, the Holy Spirit, dwells in us, and He will bring life to our mortal bodies. Jesus’ own healing is why.

“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” (Philippians 3:21)

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:11)

The word “faith” is another often used churchism, as I like to call them, that I did not understand. We will not “walk by faith” until we realize it is trusting God. We trust God because we know how much He loves us; we know that we know it, and nothing can take it away from us. When I understood what it meant to “renew my mind,” I was healed of so much mental turmoil. The Remedy Translation says Jesus’ mind was filled with the Spirit (Luke 4:1). The renewing of our mind, the healing of our thinking, comes as we allow the Spirit to work in us. He takes us deeper and deeper into the peace of God, and God’s peace alters how we react. We don’t think like we used to. We think like Jesus.

“And this trust is established by the evidence of God’s supreme trustworthiness provided by Christ.” (Philippians 3:9, Remedy)

You can count on me to always explain things to you. I will never simply use statements people have coined. In fact, this is something God has laid on my heart. He wants us to value our words. Not to be afraid of them, but to speak wisely, and wisdom only comes from God’s Spirit, who asks our time, our commitment. And rewards us with more and more joy in His Presence.

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

“Jesus, with his human mind filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Spirit into the desert.” (Luke 4:1, Remedy)

Photo by Alex Woods on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com