Healing Ministry of Jesus
We had heard from friends that in Bury where we used to live twenty two years ago, there has been substantial re-development in the town: a new shopping area and a change in the road layout. On the day we visited we were pleasantly surprised by the dynamic buildings with colourful use of glass, lots of space in the pedestrian areas.
God called Nehemiah to go to Judah and rebuild the cities walls that lay in ruins.
It was in 445BC when Nehemiah heard about the Jewish homeland from those who had been and seen the ruined city walls and gates. At first he was devastated to hear of its demise. God moved on King Artaxerxes allowing Nehemiah to go and rebuild the city walls around Jerusalem. On his arrival he observed that the Jewish people who had escaped the exile had integrated with foreigners in marriage and business. Nehemiah was upset by how much the people had fallen away from keeping the Laws of Moses, he could not accept this. Nehemiah 1:2, 3, 7. 2: 6
Soon after he arrived a famine took hold and grain was being sold at a premium. The king’s taxes could not be paid by the poor. During that period wealthy Jewish people took advantage of the Jewish poor by lending money at a high rate of interest. When a person could not repay their mortgage or loan, they took in payment their vineyards and property and some people were sold as slaves. Nehemiah 5: 1 - 13
(Under law a Jewish person who owed money and could not repay their loan became their hired servant until they paid off their debt.)
Nehemiah brought the leading Jewish citizens together and spoke out against their practices. They respected Nehemiah and did as he said; they returned the vineyards to their rightful owners and wrote off their debts.
470 years later Jesus himself was sent by God to fulfil his purposes in proclaiming the coming of the kingdom of God to the whole of Israel.
On one of Jesus’ missionary journeys, Jesus was passing through Jericho he invited himself to stay at Zacchaeus the tax collector’s home. Afterwards Zacchaeus announced that he would restore four fold the money that he had acquired under false pretences and he would give half of his possessions to the poor. Zaccheaus through his repentance he brought salvation to his household through keeping the law.Luke 19:1-10
Zacchaeus was one of those who were once blind but now he could see. John 9: 39
It’s the same for us today Jesus will penetrate the blindness of our hearts to fulfil God’s purposes in our lives.
God in his love created all things and sustains all things in love, bringing healing and wholeness.
The Messiah’s Secret page 96“
But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go hence.” John 14: 31 Jesus was loved by his Father, and he loved his Father, he knew that he had a purpose to fulfil that was of his death and resurrection, so he laid down his life on his own accord out of love for his Father. His Father out of his love for humankind and for all creation wanted Jesus to save the world from eternal death, darkness.”
Jesus the Light of the world ” The Chemistry of the Blood/Chapter 4 page 58 "The Chemistry of Light.” M D DeHaan. M. D.
“Three kinds of Rays”
A scientific analysis of sunlight reveals that it consists of three kinds of rays:
1. Chemical rays or actinic. These rays are invisible and can neither be felt or seen.
2. Light rays. These rays can be seen but are never felt.
3. Heat rays. These rays are felt but never seen.
God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. We know that the Godhead consists of three persons: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Father corresponds to the chemical rays of sunlight; No man has seen God at any time.
The Son, who is the light of the world, corresponds to the light rays, the One whom we can see but not feel.
The Holy Spirit corresponds to the heat rays, since He is felt in the lives of believers but is never seen."
Jesus healed the Blind Man.
Jesus and his disciples came out of the temple and as they walked away they saw a blind man who had been blind from birth. Jesus addressed his need; his blindness which in doing so we read was to fulfil the purposes of God. John 9: 6-11.
In this miracle Jesus brought together creation and the creator, making God tangible.
The first thing that he did he spat on the ground and then he mixed his saliva with the dust, making an ointment.
What is the significance of this ointment?
1/ Adam was created out of dust. Adam means – red earth
2/ Saliva is also part of the miracle of our creation.
In our saliva is a chemical called Ptyalin. This chemical penetrates the indigestible starch in our food. It is as we chew our food the ptyalin gets to work, it converts ( a change in substance) the starch into sugar. This is a scientific fact.
“Wonderfully Made” The Amazing Structure and Functions of the Human Body by Prof. A Rendle Short, M.D., F.R.C.S.
”The process begins in the mouth. Food is broken up mechanically by chewing, and moistened and lubricated by the saliva. There is an enzyme in saliva called ptyalin, which acts on insoluble starch and converts it into soluble sugar. Food does not stay long enough in the mouth for this to be carried far, but the digestion is continued in the stomach, inside boluses of food, until it is stopped by the acidity of the gastric juice.”
The significance of this is that after Jesus made the ointment he anointed the man’s eyes with it and then told him to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam.
It was in the anointing that the Lord spiritually acted upon the ointment so that when it was washed off, he could see, his eyes were opened.
Through the anointing Jesus penetrated the closed eyes of his darkness, bringing sight when he opened his eyes.
The Pharisees questioned the man saying, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” verse 26 Theses words would imply that the eyelids of the blind man were tightly closed from birth.
The significance of washing the ointment off in the Pool of Siloam
Every day during the Feast of Tabernacles one of the priests would go down from the temple to the Pool of Siloam and draw a pitcher of water and return with it to the temple, pouring it into a basin at the base of the altar on the south side. Ezekiel prophesied that it was at this point where the pouring out of the water from the Pool of Siloam took place that the river of life would begin.
“Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced the east); and the water was flowing from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.” Ezekiel 47: 1
It was on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles that Jesus stood and proclaimed, “If any one thirst let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” John 7: 37-39
The Holy Spirit
When a person is baptised either by full immersion or by being sprinkled with water it is symbolic of being washed clean from sin and also of being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is also denotes a person making a public declaration of faith in Christ
Anointing with Oil
The disciples took with them oil for anointing the sick when they were sent out by Jesus with the kingdom message. The oil being anointed consecrated for specific use, the Holy Spirit acts upon the oil.
I do not believe that the oil has any power in itself, only the natural healing properties that some oils have. I’ve never before considered the Lord himself using natural created substances and spiritually acting upon them to bring about healing. Through this study I do believe that Jesus will do so.
Sacramental Anointing
During the communion service the sacraments: the wine and the bread are consecrated for the purposes of God. In the Anglican Common Prayer Book we read that the sacraments are the means by which we may enter into the benefits of Jesus’ passion; his victory over sickness and death through his resurrection.
“O Lord and heavenly Father, we thy humble servants entirely desire thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching thee to grant, that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and all thy whole church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion. And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and our bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that all we, who are partakers of this holy Communion, may be fulfilled with thy grace, and heavenly benediction. . . . “
The sacraments are symbols of Jesus’ saving grace, through faith we enter into the riches of the Lord’s inheritance to us.
“Bless the Lord , Oh my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his benefits,
who forgives all our iniquity, who heals all our diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.” Psalm 103: 1-4
Communion Service with Anointing with Oil
After receiving Communion a prayer for healing may follow at the Communion rail or a place is set aside where prayer and anointing with oil takes place. The oil is applied onto a person’s forehead or hands with the sign of the cross, accompanied with a short prayer.
"God our Father we give thanks and praise for bringing healing and wholeness to all those who come to you in faith, so that the purposes of God might be fulfilled in a Christian’s life and through the witness of being healed, people might see and believe." Amen
Simple Faith and grace
After having my second child I had pain like a migraine in my stomach. It was spasmodic but I was troubled with it for approx 3 years, the doctor told me that I had to live with it, I took medication to relieve the pain.
I was healed by the Lord after attended a meeting at Winton Baptist Church Eccles. During the service an invitation was given by the Minister H Oldham ‘Any one who would like a ministry for healing, to go to the vestry after the service and they would be prayed for,’ as I was in some discomfort at the time I responded in faith to that invitation. However, I was not healed immediately, I went home still in pain, but the next day it had gone and I never had that pain again. By grace I was also healed of other things in my life that I had been struggling with. Jesus brought healing and wholeness into my life and increased my faith. My healing took place before I was empowered by the Holy Spirit’s through the laying on of hands.
‘The Time to Heal’ Report
Over the last ten years since ‘The Time to Heal’ Report was published, the Anglican Church has been encouraging it’s congregations to be guided by this report in the ministry of Healing, which is based on scripture and has the benefit of many Christian anointed expertise and gifts in the ministry of healing today.
