RUSSELL SANDERS
9-10-2024
GOD’S PROVISION FOR SIN AND SICKNESS
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I have in the last couple of years referred frequently to 1 Peter 2:24. It is a lesson on the completed work of Jesus that I was never taught about in over 60 years of Pentecostal upbringing.
It reads, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, [so] that we, being [now] dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed.”
We were taught about the sin part being taken, but we were not taught that He also took our illnesses upon Himself as a key part of that same act of redemption.
That same faith that saved us also healed us. It was altogether one completed work. We were taught salvation through Calvary’s blood flow, but healing was considered to be a whole separate work. 1 Peter 2:24 lets us know that both our sin and our sicknesses were taken at the cross by Jesus 2,000 years ago. It is one single completed work, and not two separate works.
Jesus illustrated this in Matthew 9:2-6 when he healed a man of palsy by simply forgiving him of sin. He said to the man in verse 2, “…thy sins be forgiven thee.” This statement infuriated the scribes [teachers of the law] who were present. They considered it to be blasphemy because only God could forgive sins. So, to appease them, Jesus told the man to arise, take up his bed, and go home.
This is a clear picture that the same act that saves the soul from sin also provides healing for the body. Through faith upon Jesus and His redemptive blood, the whole man; body, soul, and spirit, are made whole, complete, nothing missing, nothing broken. This is “shalom,” the perfect peace given to us by Christ.
Shalom, shalom!
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