Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
– Isaiah 53:4–5
According to the words God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, Jesus – when He was crucified – not only bore the penalty of our sins on His body, He paid for our sickness as well.
The prophet says that “by His stripes we are healed”.
Jesus showed that this was true when He walked the earth as a human being. He healed every person who came to Him; He turned nobody away.
It is important to remember that when Jesus walked the earth He did so as a man; He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and He was led by Holy Spirit, because He was modeling for you and me how we are to live our lives.
In other words, He was teaching us to do what He did.
So ask yourself this question: if we are supposed to do what Jesus did, how are we to respond to those around us who are sick?
If you have been trained by the modern American church, you have probably already made an excuse in your mind about why you are not qualified to heal the sick. You've probably heard it explained away, usually with some comment to the effect that we are not Jesus. We are not able to do the same works that He did – that's what some will say.
While the evidence seems to confirm that idea, and I certainly am still working on raising the dead and walking on water, I also know that the Bible clearly teaches that we are to believe God's truth, and not the evidence of the world.
Jesus clearly taught that we, His followers, would do “greater works” than He. Not even works that are “equal to” ones He did, but “greater works”!
My proposal is that we have an assignment. And that is to keep on receiving the abundance of grace, and the gift of God's righteousness, until we begin seeing those “greater works”. It is after all, the mission which He gave to us.
A good place to start might be… to heal the sick.