OCTOBER 2024
FORGIVENESS OF SIN AND PHYSICAL HEALING ARE CONNECTED IN THE BIBLE
Forgiveness is a gracious act of God that is grounded in the Covenant of Grace, mediated by Jesus Christ. God set us the greatest example in forgiveness. He showed us that when it is laced with love, it is vital for restoring relationships. This was how our relationship with God our Father was restored after man had committed sin (Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden) and fallen short of His glory. God sent Jesus to take the penalty for our sin and die in our place, enabling us to be forgiven by Him, thereby securing our access back into His Presence.
The wonderful thing about this forgiveness was that God didn’t wait for us to become good before He forgave us. It was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us. Here we see the gravity and impact of unconditional love for us God’s children. It is important that as Christians we hear this, so we have open hearts for others to enter into God’s Kingdom. So forgiveness glorifies God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and also opens us up to His extravagant love and shalom.
It was important to Jesus that we get a correct understanding about forgiveness, so He spoke a lot on it. A few examples include (Colossians 3:13.) “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” In this passage, we are being called to practice patience and forgiveness in our relationships. This mirrors the unconditional forgiveness God offered to us, through Jesus Christ. Jesus told us to love each other as that is how others will recognize us as His disciples, it’s important that we follow His example.
Another example is found in (Matthew 6:14-15.) “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Heavenly Father.”
Jesus is teaching us here that forgiveness is reciprocal in nature. As we forgive fully, we yield ourselves to receive God’s forgiveness and in that way, we experience spiritual renewal.
Yet another is (Ephesians 4:31-32) “Lay aside bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity and insults. But instead be kind and affectionate toward one another. Has God graciously forgiven you? Then graciously forgive one another in the depths of Christ’s love”. Here Paul is encouraging the church in Ephesus to forgive just like God in Christ forgave them. Christ is our model, and if He modelled this, we ought to do the same.
And then we see forgiveness of sin and physical healing put together in the Old Testament by David. In (Psalm 103:3)“ He declared that God forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
He prophesied that our redemption package would be complete because it had both our forgiveness dealt with and physical healing.
Again we see in the New Testament (1 Peter 2:24) “ Who Himself bore our sins in His own Body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose strips you were healed”. This found in the New Testament, was prophesied by (Isaiah 53:3-5) years before Jesus came, that He would accomplish this. So the stripes that Jesus received in the scourging (flogging), that is Jesus’s Body was broken so that yours and mine would be made whole. Also the death and shedding of His blood was for our forgiveness.
Jesus Himself taught His disciples to understand Forgiveness and Healing together at the Last Supper sometimes referred to as the Lord’s Supper. This is recounted in Mathew 26:17-30 and in all the gospels, Mark 14:22-26. Also in Luke 22:14-23.
Jesus gave thanks to God, and then broke the Bread declaring it’s His Body and they receive it. We know that His Body was broken in the stripes He received, so our bodies would be made whole. And then He blessed the Cup of wine and offered that as His Blood sealing the new covenant, poured out for many, for the complete forgiveness of sins He was making with them, and with you and I, each time we partake in the Holy Communion.
These two have always gone together over the years. The separation of forgiveness and healing has hampered the understanding of our full redemption package. It has also resulted in us believing more in forgiveness, but unable to appropriate our inheritance of healing as the children’s bread. It is important that we regain full understanding of our redemption package.
On the other hand, an inability to forgive often hinders the working of faith and healing. It opens a door to the enemy of your soul to poison one with bitterness, insecurity and even barricade us from blessings that the Lord wants to give us.
As we are able to release the anger, bitterness, resentment and hostility, we begin to feel empathy, compassion and sometimes even affection for the person who wronged us. It’s important that we ask the Holy Spirit to help us when we are struggling to forgive.
Also, unforgiveness causes our heart to get blocked, filling us with negative emotions and hindering our ability to receive healing freely. When our hearts are heavy with unforgiveness, or we are carrying offence, we are not in a place of yielding our hearts to Jesus. We justify the heaviness that we are feeling, blaming the person that did wrong to us. We forget that we have the power to initiate the forgiveness of the individual, and this will release our hearts to receive inner healing and impact any physical healing there might be.
Jesus gives us a great example in linking forgiveness with healing while He walked the earth. In the case of the paralytic man that was brought to Jesus by four friends, Jesus first said that his sins were forgiven so he should take up his bed and walk (Mark 2:12). This offended the religious scholars who felt only God could forgive sin. Jesus corrected them by showing them that He had the authority to forgive sin and thus appropriate healing on the paralytic. The man was instantly healed. He also wanted them to know that we have been given the authority to forgive sin.
Spiritually, when we enter into forgiveness we find that it can cause the healing of spiritual and physical wounds and bring the peace and love that only God can give.
Forgiveness connects us more deeply with God. It allows us to mirror God’s mercy, fostering a closer relationship with God. Forgiveness of other people’s offences causes God to release us of our offences.
Mentally, forgiveness can lead to a significant reduction in any stress and anxiety that we may be going through.
May the Lord bless us all.
Mina Bajomo
