Names of Jesus - Healer

THE NAME
HEALER ++ Let's make a Deal!
Of the hundred and fifty or even the 260 names and references to Jesus in the AV Scriptures per Robert J Morgan "He Shall Be Called" Warner Pres, we pulled out eleven names for this series on the names of Jesus. For this week we are considering some aspects of the name Healer. People give nicknames to others all the time and this is usually to extend some endearment and some feeling thought or experience. In the scriptures each time the patriarch had an experience with the Almighty One their name was changed, presumably to describe the changes made within. Often we will call some one "sweetie","pookie", "shortly' the possible number of names are limited only by the number of people in the world! (factorial) As truly each interaction is an new experience. so trying to limit the names of Jesus to eleven is and understatement.(Pastoral Note* any time you discover your self giving a person other than a life partner "Love Names" check yourself as you may be pointed in a direction of destruction and thereby in a place of needing great healing, The best healing can take place before the dist ruction takes place!) But that not withstanding, we will endeavor to consider the "Healer." "Healing" we paste on so many acts and experiences that it is almost like the explicative "Nice." When I walked down the rim of the Grand Canyon a voice near by exclaimed Nice! Another tasted an fruit-cream desert and sighed, "Nice" Likewise "Healing" covers everything from scabbing over of a sidewalk skateboard scrape on the knee to reconciling from a nasty contested divorce, and from "Remission of AIDS" to making peace with "the Past"!
Our Scripture References: Isaiah 53:4-5;Matthew 8:16-17; and I Peter 2:24-24
describe healing as "The Person and Work of Jesus."

Context: The People; the place, One of the promises made by many prophets in "the Writings" those references in Jewish Literature to the Messiah announced "The Savior." This implied in their language Healing. Deut 32:39 attributes this quality to God. When He titled himself I am the God who heals thee (rapha= to heal to make healthful, the repair, restore.) II Chronicles 7:14 describes healing the land as a result of "My People Humbling (fasting) Praying (talking to God), Seek my face(Inquire of the Lord in His person),Turn from their wicked ways(Repent from all sin but most descriptions of "wicked" in "Torah" relate to Sexual improprieties and deviations.) Under the Covenant of Moses to obtain the desired result the seeker must perform the prescribed action. In short "Works (In faith) beget results!"

So we have a people who from the first description of God (Gen 1:2) finding a world "with out form and void," began to speak order and restoration, (I.E.Healing to our World!) In deed if anything could be termed as His Nature Healing was believed by these to be the purview of G-d in their own writings. Our society seconds this belied that Healing is the norm by allocating approximately one-third of our resources to this area of life. And Jesus made his proclamation of His theology in Matt 5-7 then immediately began to heal. The only time the "Will of "God" was requested or given was in Matt 8 where the leper asked. Jesus replied "I WILL." He then began in the following verses to paint a picture of what he thought healing consisted. The leper, The Centurion(No name given) Peter's mother, the Demon possessed, healing all manner of sick folk and all to fulfill prophesy from our verses in Isaiah.53. One facet of Gods nature consists of Healing; always has always will.

All of he covenants of the OT represent some form of exchange. God said, "You do this and I will do that." in short a form of exchange. In Genesis God met Abraham where he was told him to go to crossroads of the known world and set up a place of mercantile. He said I will cause you to be a person of succ3essful trade. Trade implies each party has something of value to the other party. In Hebrews the writer describes that Faith was the characteristic that God values. In 2Chron 16:9, the prophet describes God as looking over the whole world to find someone with a perfect (complete) heart to demonstrate his power (like healing.) In Matthew Jesus placed no limits on who might receive healing other than that of faith. Hebrews 11 describes Faith as the means of believing that God IS and that He Rewards those who seek Him!

With this as context we have Isaiah predicting a New covenant where exchange of a sort will describe the nature of the covenant. One of the terms of the "Divine Contract" would be Healing. Typically in our fellowship we say we give our heart to Jesus, receive Him and by many other description we "Get Saved!" Isaiah 53 describes this process as one where we exchange His Righteousness for our inequity. Righteousness would be "rightness with God." At this time we exchange our sickness for his Healing, our griefs for his Joy. Isaiah seems to be predicting a New Covenant in which the Healing will become a part of day to day life. With this understanding; "Being Saved" is by implication "Being Healed." I see a picture developing! Being saved is an instantaneous event. But it also is process that takes place over time. This is a Kind of a progressive thing that lives and grows in different phases of life. This picture of salvation proves out the faith once declared on that day of new birth. In the end as we are presented before the Father we will have been transformed into the image of Jesus,Complete in Him. This kind of healing then can be of three phases. Once and for always, a process of growing in the "Light" of the scriptures, then a complete finished work that excludes the presence of disease. John G. Lake once proclaimed that the Life of God within him would kill the Plague as found in the villages of his Africa. He demonstrated by taking samples of the froth from a dying person, Then examining under a microscope. The disease teamed it's death across the glass. He then picked it up in his hand for a few minutes before reexamining the microscopic sample. After his touch the organisms lie still in the light of the glass and instrument.

Looking at this same concept from a different angle we might notice Jesus said I will never leave you or forsake you. If He is there how could he get sick. An immediate dilemma presents itself when a outbreak of influenza breaks across the land. Obviously many believers are touched by the fever and other symptoms. Even as the presence of sin does not annul the salvation earned by the purchase price Jesus paid for forgiveness, neither does the experience of disease annul the benefit of healing also purchased at the same time. Then process of enforcing the salvation on the circumstances of sin also exemplifies the process of enforcing the benefit of healing upon the sickness. I sometimes imagine driving a stubborn dog out of my yard and then continnually watching that he stays gone! This process does not preclude my taking vitamines, drinking fluids and getting the rest necesary for my natural body to fight off the symptoms at the same time. In this way both the body and the spirit through faith work together to enforce the new covenant upon my world.

In conclusion, naming Jesus as Healer becomes a tri-part process. In my spirit I call upon his name as my healer. In my mind I think thoughts of obiedance and life. In my body I do those things that remain consistant with a healthy lifestyle. Jesus being Lord of my life implies Jesus Lord of my healing.

Preamble

this blog is an attempt to provide some contact for those who for what ever reason miss the teaching of their ABF; Lake Pointe Church, Rockwall,TX.

We are an evangelical fellowship with roots in the Southern Baptist Convention. Any assumptions about meanings not clearly stated should be seen through this point of view. I personally never intend to teach doctrines contrary to Scripture or the prevailing understanding of them extant in the leadership. As such these postings are my own and as such I accept sole responsibility for them

I personally caim no formal theological degree, but instead rely on the wording and meaning of the words in context. Where possible I would apply the Strongs definition of the root word from either the Hebrew or the Greek, not being fluent in either. Context derived in three parts. 1) Specific word and verse context. 2)Covenant context in light of the major explicit covenants as are developed by order in the Generally accepted Cannon of the scriptures 3) The person and work of my Lord Jesus, as revealed in His words from scripture and by the witness if my life. (As he said "If you have seen me you have seen the father," I derive my understanding of this person from the words of Jesus and my witness of Him.)

I primarily use the "20-20-20 Method" of preparation for teaching a specific lesson or verse. By that I mean: I read the verse(s) 20 minutes, I meditate (think about) on the verse 20 minutes, then I write the thoughts and lessons that I experienced as I combine these two time segments together for the last 20 minutes. The implication of this method is that others may and probably will read the same verses and develope a different understanding of the subject. I encourage this as your rendering of the precepts are the only thing that will have menaing in your life. I hope to be salt leaving readers with a thirst for self study. My hope is that He would increase and I would decrease!

The format of the ABF lends itself to much interactive exchange, thus the use of the blog format hoping for this kind of exchange.