Articles
Peter 20 - Healed
Healed
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1Peter 2:24)
Times of sickness and disease, as is the case currently, bring a great focus upon the doctors and caretakers of the population. Hardly a day passes without saying or overhearing someone remark of their thankfulness for those on the medical front lines in the battle against disease. Periods of pandemic aside, there is an appreciation and a recognition of the need for medical personnel, facilities, treatments, pharmacies, and medicine. Those with medical conditions and sickness search for healing—second opinions are sought, research is done, and preparation is made through the opening of medical savings accounts or the purchase of health insurance. Being healed—feeling good—is a compelling physical desire. How many have that same desire for true healing, spiritual healing?
The people to whom Peter writes are God’s people. In becoming God’s people, they had been healed—healed by Jesus (1Peter 2:24). Jesus had healed them and had accomplished this through his death on the cross and by His wounds. “He released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him” (Matthew 27:26-31). The scene of His sufferings and death upon this earth are the wounds of which Peter writes. Physicians are in the business of healing. Jesus, while on earth, cast Himself in the role of a healer or a physician: “it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, ‘Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?’ And hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:15-17). Does Jesus fit the description of a physician?
Jesus taught that a disease was prevalent. People had turned from God—this disease was sin. Jesus quoted prophecy of such: “FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM” (Matthew 13:15; see also again 1Peter 2:24; Mark 2:17). Sin requires spiritual healing. Bodily sickness, though mentioned several times in Scripture (e.g., Philippians 2:27; 2Corinthians 12:7; 1Timothy 5:23), is not part of the concern in atonement.
Jesus also knew the disease of sin and the tragedy connected with it. It was not like a common cold or even a more serious physical malady. This disease separates from God—“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear” (Isaiah 59:1,2)—it is death: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
Jesus knew people and their need for healing. Others might be fooled in this matter—physicians have been known to make a faulty diagnosis—but not Jesus—He knows man inside and out (John 2:23-25; Hebrews 4:13). Jesus also knows of the need for healing (Romans 3:10-13; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Ezekiel 18:4,20).
Jesus is qualified to take care of this disease. Jesus came to heal this disease (Matthew 1:21; Luke 19:10; Matthew 26:28). Jesus had proper endorsement as a physician. He alone could provide the prescription for sin—he was the one with the authority to do it (Matthew 17:1-5; 28:18). Jesus stated the prescription (Mark 16:15,16) and He paid for the remedy (1Peter 1:18-19).
Jesus, knowing the nature of the illness and man’s tendency to procrastinate, pled with people to come to Him that they might be healed and have comfort and rest (Matthew 11:28). Furthermore, Jesus warned about the final results if people do not come to Him for healing: “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). The only way to receive the healing that is needed and that He provides is to follow Him completely, even into the likeness of His death and resurrection (Romans 6:1-4).
Jesus also warned relative to the danger of a relapse (2Peter 2:20-22). He let it be known through Scripture that He has a remedy for this relapse as well (1John 1:8-10; James 5:19-20).
Thoughtful and careful people have a family doctor. They know how to reach him. They know him by name. They call him when they are sick. They follow his instructions and take his medicine. How is Jesus, the physician of the soul regarded?
- Peter_20_-_Healed.pdf (73.22 MB)
