The cure for sin!!

There are several ideas in scripture to do with sin. One is that our sin needs to be covered. Another is that God needs to be pleased, there are others. Of course Jesus' death did the lot. All of these pictures although true are pictures to try and help us understand how sin has separated us from God and how the Crucifixion has brought us back together.

The idea of healing in the bible has mostly always been seen as healing. The guy I learned from certainly saw healing as being about healing. The word faith people also see it very much that way. For example, it me through that common verse at you, "By His wounds we have been healed!" I have only ever heard one person say that this is not talking about healing!! Let's have a look at the verse in context.

The first thing to see is that the verse as it is quoted begins with "for" as in "For by His wounds. .
."

"For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." 1 Peter 2:21-25

OK, so is this "passage" About our being brought back to God through Christ's sacrifice for our sins, and He Himself being an example to us? Or, is it about healing?

After 3, 1, 2, 3:

Well, it seems odd that he should through in a verse about healing. It is a picture, "He bore our sins . . . for by His wounds we are healed."

"Healed" is a word that describes our being treated for our condition, which was sin. The passage actually quotes Isaiah. Not word for word, more to do with it's fulfilment. Isaiah puts it in future terms, here it is past. However, actually, there is no future tense in Hebrew, so actually it was always in past tense. Sorry that's very technical!

Now, I am sorry, I am hinting at stuff here, I don't even want to go into it here, because I want to get to the point I am interested in. And that is looking at "healing" as a picture of sin removal! The Old Testament often uses sickness and an allegory for sin and often asks, "Who can heal us?" That is the context of Isaiah's half of this statement.

Anyway, to the point! Imagine a doctor going into a room of people. All of the people there have something wrong with them. Most are too embarrassed to talk about it, and no one really knows what the others have wrong with them. The doctor comes in and lists a whole bunch of conditions and says, "If you have any of these conditions, I have the cure! I can heal you!"

Each person accepts the cure.

Until we see this picture, we will see people with long wagging accusing fingers telling us that we are evil and full of sin and our sin is what is wrong with us.

Now, listen to what Peter says, "By His wounds, you have been healed!" No wagging finger! No accusation.

Now, imagine someone goes back to the doctor because the condition seems to have re-emerged. What does the doctor say and do? "Here, have some more medicine!" No finger wagging, no accusation. Now, where there is wagging and accusation is those who allow there condition to get bad and refuse to go back to the doctor. Those who would rather have the condition than the cure.

Another, now! Now, have you been healed of all sickness and ailments? Of course the word faith people want us to go around saying we have been healed when we haven't because that's "faith!" However, do you believe that Christ's work on the cross did the job of making you acceptable to God? I hope the answer is a big, "Yes, Absolutely!" Then not only does "healing" fit the context of salvation in the passage, it also does in our faith! So, why are people stopping their kids insulin? For the same reason we are afraid that our sin will bring us condemnation, because we have been robbed of the rightful place of this truth.

I am not sure I have got across the release I felt when this sank in the other day. Up until now I have seen sin as something from the point of view of all the other pictures. They are all ugly pictures. But this picture balances that. Of course sin is still ugly. All the other pictures make us feel that it is something we have deliberately done and can prevent. Whereas this puts it in the right perspective. Can you give yourself cancer? No. If you have it can you decide you wont have it one day and it will just disappear? Apart from going to a doctor can you do anything yourself to prevent it or stop it? No (For pedants, I am using this as an analogy, I am sure I could find something that fits if you try and push the analogy!) So, sickness is an analogy of sin, then we need a doctor! There is nothing we can do! We know that! So why do we get so wound up about it?

What a wonderful release to realise that we are sick and need a doctor! Hey, you know what? That reminds of something someone else said, now who was that?!!