Dear Family
Exactly what do we have if not the inspired Word of God? Could it be that the Bible is just a random collection of ancient texts which have been skilfully manipulated by self seeking individuals for purposes beyond the common man’s understanding? Perhaps there is some of it that is true, and some which has, over time, endured adulterated embellishment? Or is it possible that we have an incredible document made up of 66 books, fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, written by around 40 different authors from a wide variety of professions, over a period of around 1600 years on 3 different continents? For me, the latter is true. Logic demands that any critic of the Bible needs to take a good, solid look at how it manages to bring such a unified message from such a diversified authorship over such a long period of time. Aside from the internal integrity, the shear weight of evidence stacked in its favour in so many ways, including its success in “staying alive” in the throes of the most calculated and brutal attacks to destroy it, and the irrefutable success rate of the prophecies contained therein, is for me unmistakably God!
The psalmist stated in Psalm 107:20 “He sent forth his word and healed them.” My experience exactly. Healed, healing and will be healed—as I apply His Word to my life by believing the One who had it written for me. He sent it, and He uses it for my wholeness.
I quoted the American comedian, actor and author WC Fields, a lifetime agnostic who was discovered reading a Bible on his deathbed, in a sermon recently: “’I’m looking for a loop-hole,” he explained. Clearly this is a man who needed the Word to provide solutions to his eternity which hopefully he found before he entered his forever place.
Oh saints, read it, love it, study it, get to know the Originator of it, and as you do, thank Him for sending that Word to you for your healing!
Tag Archives: healing
The Messianic Mystery
THE MESSIANIC MYSTERY
After He put them all out, He took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with Him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha koum!’ (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up.”).
Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat (Mark 5: 40-43).
When we read this story from a western, non-Hebraic perspective, there are details which make no sense. I have already mentioned, in yesterday’s post, the reason for Jesus making a fuss about who touched Him. Apart from His need to reassure the woman with the chronic bleeding that she was indeed a daughter of Abraham and to commend her for her faith which was the vehicle of her healing, there was a practical reason for drawing attention to the presence of an “unclean” woman. He did not want to embarrass or rebuke her, but to alert the crowd that she had touched Him.
He had to gain access to the dead child but, as a rabbi He was forbidden entry into the room of a dead person. If He were already “unclean” as they thought, the mourners would not have stopped Him.
As a Jewish man, Jesus would have had the obligatory tassels (tsitsit) on the bottom of His garment. God had instructed His people to sew tassels on the corners (kanaph) of their outer garment to remind them of who He was and of His instructions (Torah) on how to live. Later on, the tassels were sewn onto the corners of a prayer shawl, called a talith, which was pulled over the head when a Jewish man prayed. The corners of the talith, the kanaph, were also knows as the wings. When the high priest blessed the people with the Aaronic blessing,
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace (Num. 6:24-26),
he would wind the tassels around his fingers and lift up the corners – the kanaph – of his talith as though his talith were wings which he spread out over the people, symbolising God’s protecting “wings” over them.
Malachi prophesied that Messiah would come with healing in His kanaph – in the corners of His talith.
But for you who revere my name, the sun (the word “sun” can be better translated as “servant”) of righteousness will arise with healing in its rays (better – “His wings (kanaph)) (Mal. 4: 2).
Are you beginning to get the picture?
When Jesus stood beside the dead child, His symbolic action would have had meaning for Jairus because he was the synagogue ruler, a man educated in the Old Testament Scriptures. What did Jesus probably do? Is it possible that He wound the tassels of His prayer shawl around His fingers and lifted up the corners, spreading His “wings” over the little girl? He would have been acting out the prophecy of Mal. 4:2 before the eyes of the astonished parents and disciples.
Then He spoke to the child, saying, ‘Talith ha koum.’ The translation of the Aramaic, according to Mark was “Little girl, I say to you, ‘Get up.’” Is it possible that Jesus actually said, “The Messiah is here (implicit in the word talith). Little girl, get up’”? Jesus was doing exactly what Malachi said He would do. He would come with healing in His kanaph. Jairus would have understood the symbolism and what Jesus was implying by His action and so would Jesus’ disciples.
It’s no wonder they were all astonished. The miracle was surprising enough, but even more surprising that it was done by the one promised through the prophetic word centuries before. He was actually there, in the room, talking to them – the long-awaited Messiah!
It was imperative that the witnesses to the raising of the child and the way it was done, did not talk about it. Why? Jesus was adamant that people came to faith in Him through their own conclusions based on the evidence and not on the hearsay of others. Theologians call this “the Messianic secret”. He did not want them advertising Him so that He could win a popularity contest. He wanted them to believe in Him because they were convinced that He was the Messiah.
Did you notice that the woman also touched the tsitsit of His talith? She knew the secret!
Brilliant again!
Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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It’s All About The Tassels
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TASSELS
“While He was still talking, someone from the leader’s house came up and told him, ‘Your daughter died. No need now to bother the Teacher.’
“Jesus overheard and said, ‘Don’t be upset. Just trust me and everything will be alright.’ Going into the house, He wouldn’t let anyone enter with Him except Peter, John, James and the child’s parents.
“Everyone was crying and carrying on over her. Jesus said, ‘Don’t cry. She didn’t die; she’s sleeping.’ They laughed at Hm. They knew she was dead. Then Jesus, gripping her hand, called, ‘My dear child, get up.’ She was up in an instant, up and breathing again! He told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were ecstatic, but Jesus warned them to keep quiet. ‘Don’t tell a soul what happened in this room.'” Luke 8:49-56 (The Message).
What is it with Jesus? One minute He’s shouting, ‘Who touched me?’ and the next He’s telling the parents not to tell anyone what happened in the room where their daughter was raised from the dead!
None of this will make sense until we understand about the tassels. In Numbers 15:37- 38, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels (Hebrew – tzitzit) on the corners (Hebrew – kanaph) of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them…'”
Each tassel had five knots and four spaces, representing the five books of the Torah and the four letters in the name YHWH. They were to put the tassels on their outer garment or cloak (Deuteronomy 22:2) which eventually became the prayer shawl or talit. The corners (kanaph) of the talith were called the wings.
Now Malachi’s prophecy in Malachi 4:2 (NLT) begins to take on a new meaning. “But for you who fear my name, the Sun (it can also be translated “servant”) of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings (kanaph),” This was a Messianic promise.
When the woman with the issue of blood touched the tassels of His prayer shawl, she must surely have understood Malachi’s prophecy and experienced the healing which the tassels symbolised.
Now let’s look at the phrase Jesus used when He spoke to the child. Mark recorded Jesus’ actual words: ‘Talitha koum.’ The translation into English blurs the true meaning. It should read ‘Talit ha koum’ — ‘The talit is here. Get up.’ Jesus, the Messiah was there, in the room, wearing the talit which symbolised the name, the Word, the nature and the ways of God.
This entire episode, to the man who was intimately involved with the life of the synagogue, the centre of religious activity in the town, must have had deep significance. He and his wife had actually witnessed the fulfilment of Malachi’s prophecy.
Just to be told not to tell anyone that Jesus raised his daughter from the dead made no sense because they all knew she was dead — Luke made sure of that when he said that they laughed at Jesus — and they all saw her alive again. It only makes sense when we understand that Jesus forbade them to tell anyone how it happened.
It was always Jesus’ intention that people decide for themselves, based on their interpretation of the evidence, who He was. The final proof of His identity was yet to come, in His resurrection from the dead. In the meantime, He did not want to attract followers who were either out for entertainment by watching His miracles or after him for what He could give them.
And Jesus is still looking for true disciples who follow Him because He is Lord! Are you one of those?
Twisted and Bent Over
TWISTED AND BENT OVER
“He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn’t even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her He called her over. ‘Woman, you’re free!’ He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.” Luke 13:10-13 (The Message).
Luke had a special interest in Jesus’ ministry to women in keeping with his purpose of presenting Jesus as the ‘Son of Man’. Women were disrespected in Hebrew culture, treated as inferior to men, and even as a husband’s ‘possession’ to be retained or disposed of at will. By His compassion and care for women which Luke recorded so tenderly, Jesus gave women the dignity and respect accorded them by their Creator.
Knowing full well that healing on the Sabbath would create a furore among the religious leaders, He persistently ignored their scruples and healed whoever was afflicted whenever He had opportunity. This woman was so twisted in body by her disease that she could not even lift her head to look into His face. Perhaps she was not aware of Jesus but He was aware of her, and with His awareness came His spontaneous response to her plight.
His words to her are also surprising. ‘Woman, you are free!’ not ‘Woman, you are healed!’ Was Jesus aware of a deeper reason for her affliction? Of course, all human imperfections are the result of Adam’s original sin, behind which lay the deceiver’s subtle enticement to disobedience, but in this woman’s case, was there something in her life that directly resulted in her enslavement to the physical condition that held her bound for eighteen years?
It is medically attested that 95% of physical conditions are the outcome of stress which is the body’s response to sustained high levels of adrenaline, the ‘fright, flight, fight’ hormone which prepares our bodies in time of crisis. There is one condition that plays havoc and does untold damage to our physical systems, unforgiveness. Every prolonged emotion that flows from our refusal to let go of a real or perceived offense does damage to us and not to the person against whom we hold our grievances.
Jesus often warned of the consequences of unforgiveness, the most drastic and unthinkable being cut off from the Father’s forgiveness. Is this not one of the main reasons why doctors wrestle with physical problems that defy diagnosis, why hospitals and psychiatric facilities are filled with sick people and why our world is overrun with cruelty and violence? The world is full of angry people who do not realise that forgiving those who have hurt them would set them free.
There is powerful symbolic significance in Luke’s descriptive words of her condition – she was twisted and bent over and could not look up. This is what happens to us inside when we refuse to forgive. We cannot look up and see the face of God when we are twisted and bent over by bitterness and hate. Only the presence and words of Jesus can set us free so that we can stand up and look up.
Jesus changed this woman’s life with a few words. ‘Woman, you are free!’ In them she found forgiveness for her own sin and release from the anger and bitterness with which unforgiveness had poisoned her body and her life. She stood upright and gave glory to God. What a moment!
Is it possible that you can also experience spiritual and physical healing when you become aware of His presence, hear the words of Jesus in your heart, feel His touch and receive the forgiveness which will free you to forgive others? This is the key to your healing.