Christian, you may have been sold a bill of goods. You may have been duped into believing lies about your physical body.
Some mainline churches have been teaching that when we are saved our spirits are healed, born again and reconnected to God immediately, which is true but they have no expectation of our bodies being healed in this life at all. We have been told that we have to wait until we pass from this life to the next to enjoy the healing of our bodies; that we don’t get glorified bodies until we reach heaven. Apparently we are in some sort of limbo or waiting game to see and experience the fullness of what Jesus accomplished.
We take the words of Jesus to His disciples, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” and think, “Oh well, our flesh is weak and that’s that. There’s nothing that can be done”. However, we must remember that Christ said this to His disciples before His crucifixion and resurrection and that He didn’t say this to mean that it was something that could never be dealt with. In fact, Jesus knew He was about to deal with that very thing by going to the whipping post and cross.
We also assume that Jesus is talking about just our physical bodies when He says “flesh”; but He’s not. Our “flesh” refers to the old selfish part of us that includes parts of our mind, will and emotions as well as our body. The truth is, that part of us is in the process of sanctification. The Glory of God is being renewed in our souls and our bodies right now and we are advancing from one level of Glory to the next, as we are learning to walk in the resurrection. I love how Graham Cooke puts it; “God gives us everything up front and then teaches us how to walk in it” and by “everything” he means forgiveness, deliverance, righteousness, divine health and prosperity.
Scripture is clear about all of the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection. In fact Psalm 103 tells us not to forget any of them. Here’s the Amplified version of Psalm 103:1-5;
“Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And all that is [deep] within me, bless His holy name.2 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits;3 Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases;4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you [lavishly] with loving kindness and tender mercy;5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle.”
When Christ was beaten and crucified, an exchange of epic proportions took place. He took our sins upon himself, in His body, so that we could be free of them. His body was beaten and broken so that yours wouldn’t have to be. He took our illness and disease and gave us His health. Then when Christ rose from the dead He demonstrated His ultimate and final authority over all sin, lack, sickness, disease, death and all the power of the devil. Sin has absolutely no more valid case against us and has no more legal ground to make us sick. The price has been paid and it is finished.
1 Peter 2:24 says,
“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”
The original word for “healed” in the 1 Peter passage above is the Greek word “iaomai” which means “to heal, cure, restore to bodily health”; it specifically refers to physical healing. Jesus took the stripes on His back to bear our sin and to heal our physical bodies.
This word, “iaomai” is also used in Matthew 8:5-13 when a Roman centurion asks Jesus to physically heal his servant who is lying at home paralyzed and in great pain. Jesus offers to come to his home but the centurion refuses and states that he understands, believes and accepts the authority that Jesus carries and that if Jesus would just say the word, he knows his servant would be healed, cured and made well physically.
“And Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go your way; let it be done to you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed (iaomai) that very hour.” (Matthew 8:13)
We have no problem believing that our sins are forgiven causing our spirits to be renewed and saved and some of us have no problem believing that our souls are being renewed and redeemed gradually as we are healed of trauma and painful memories but it’s so much harder to believe the same about our physical bodies. Why? Why is it more difficult to trust in Christ and believe on Him for the healing of our bodies here and now? Is it because we can see them with our physical eyes; because we can see and feel our issues and symptoms?
Here’s what God has been showing me this week. Very easily, we can “see” or believe that our physical bodies are the “weakest link” in our makeup. Among the three parts of our beings, spirit, soul and body; we can mistakenly assume that our bodies are inferior. We most often “see” our bodies as weak, sick and broken; but our bodies are not the “weakest link” or an “inferior” creation to our souls and spirits. God was not having an “off” day when He created our bodies. He made each part of us at the same time with the same power, Glory and care; fashioning each part of us with excellence in mind. In the beginning, our bodies were glorious and they can be again if we understand the fullness of what Christ did for us at the cross and see our bodies through eyes of faith. It is not a stretch to expect to be able to age gracefully, without illness or disease and live out the days ordained for us by God; provided we do our part by honoring our temples and looking after them properly.
We are a three part being. We are a spirit, with a soul living in a physical body. Adam and Eve were given the same body that we have with two arms and two legs; ten fingers and ten toes except prior to the fall they were without sickness, shame, fear and a skewed perspective of themselves. They walked in the garden before the fall, loving and appreciating their bodies; treating them with honor and respect being fully aware of the Glory that God had put in them.
It’s interesting that after Jesus was resurrected and appeared to His disciples, he walked along the path in His resurrected body having a conversation with them without even being recognized right away. What does that say? It says that His resurrected body was different enough that he was not recognizable at first; perhaps he was much younger looking with a brighter countenance, without weather beaten skin. He was likely more fit with perfect muscle tone as well without wrinkles or grey hair. How did they not recognize his voice though? Was it different? Perhaps. He quite possibly had an upgrade in wardrobe too.
In addition, as we understand that His body was different than before, we also know that since they did not gasp or freak out when they saw Him, He must not have been too different from everyone else. He wasn’t just a big ball of light without form and He didn’t look like an angelic being from heaven. He didn’t have wings and he didn’t have a halo. He was still human; but resurrected and full of Glory. We should also expect our redeemed and healed bodies to be the same; very similar to now, yet different; younger, full of vitality and free from sickness.
The Bible tells us that we were created in the image of God. God created us to look just like Him. In the book “Intercessory Prayer”, Dutch Sheets helps us to better understand what this means. He begins by explaining that we as humans are to represent or re-present God on the earth and then he writes,
“Now, it’s no small task to re-present God. Therefore to help us humans more adequately carry out this assignment, God made us so much the same as Himself that it was illusionary. “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen.1:27). The Hebrew word for “image” is tselem which involves the concept of a shadow, a phantom or an illusion.”
Dutch continues,
“An illusion is something you think you see, but on closer observation you discover that your eyes have tricked you. When the rest of creation saw Adam, they must have done a double take, probably thinking something along these lines; For a moment I thought it was God, but it’s only Adam.”
Amazing, isn’t it? It’s time to get a new perspective and vision of our bodies in Christ, already redeemed and glorified. What do you think your resurrected body looks like? All your excess weight is gone. All your wrinkles, gone. Anything that’s sagging isn’t anymore. You are completely divinely healthy in every way and you’ve got your glow on! Get a picture in your mind and allow it to burn into your imagination. This is who you really are through eyes of faith. See it and believe it and “let it be done to you as you have believed”.