Series: Finished Works; Healing

Sunday 5 August 2018 – Kobus Swart

Rev. 12:10-11, Isa. 53:1-6; John 19:28-30; John 19:28-30; Jas. 1:13; 1 Pet. 5:8; Mark 7:25-29; Heb. 8:6; Rom. 16:11, 20; Matt. 5:21-22; (John 9:1-3); Matt. 8:16-17; 1 Pet. 2:24; Zech. 3:1-7; (Job 1:6-7); 1 John 1:9

Let’s begin at the finish by reading: Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death”(Rev. 12:10-11). This is not just the finish but the formula to walk from. This is where we should start: the finished works!

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging, we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him(Isa. 53:4-6). These truths are so basic and we think we know them but we do not know them by revelation. Have you received it by revelation into the inner spirit man? When Jesus died on the cross everything legal that was necessary for healing was accomplished. Jesus on the Cross:…knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfil the Scripture… He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:28-30). Everything you and I need to live as overcomers has been granted to us and is finished by the work of the Cross.

I have been in healing crusades and I have seen miraculous healings, but I have also seen people being prayed for and not getting well. What is it then, even after Jesus said, “It is finished”, “all things have been accomplished” why don’t some get it? One thing we know – Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone (Jas. 1:13). Do not blame God when you are not being healed. God does not use evil; it is against His very nature and person to do such a thing. Sickness is not from God. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8). Satan has no other job than to walk around looking for who he can devour, including Christians.

Look at this example: A Gentile woman was seeking deliverance for her daughter, was first denied by  Jesus, because the New Covenant had not been put in place by Jesus work on the Cross. The Old Covenant was only for the Jews and was still in operation, but Jesus called healing “the children’s bread” (Mark 7:25-29). In other words, it is the Covenant right of those who belong to God to be healed. If this was true under the Old Covenant how much more is it true under the New Covenant (Heb. 8:6). There are better promises under the New Covenant.

Do not miss what grace has done. We have not earned anything. Peter, the New Testament apostle understood that satan is still operating legally against us. Yes, satan was under judgement (John 16:11) but the God of peace will soon crush satan under our feet (Rom. 16:20). God is waiting for the Church to apply the finished works.

We must not give the devil legal rights or he will use them against us in the courts of heaven. “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell (Matt. 5:21-22). A word spoken from a bitter, angry and hateful heart can cause legal troubles in the spirit. Could it be that we are not being healed because we will not deal with our hearts and with our bitterness? There could be a judgement against us in the spirit realm that will not allow everything Jesus died for to manifest in our life. Have our words of ridicule and judgements against others allowed legal things against us to hold us in sickness? (Henderson) If you are struggling to be healed and numerous people have prayed for you for healing, and you are still not well, it is time to stop and listen to this. Somewhere in your life you may have said something, done something that gave satan a platform from which to accuse you in the courts of heaven. Take time, sit before the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to help you to see where you have given the enemy a legal right. We must learn to deal with motive, wounds, hurts or intention that can be used against us in the courts of heaven. People can even start to have emotional connections to their illness.

There are cases where generational things have followed you from your forefathers (John 9:1-3). There are sometimes issues that need to be dealt with once and for all. The possibility does exist that the iniquity in a person’s ancestry can give the devil a legal right to bring such things into being. We must be discerning when we deal with sickness and disease. Henderson states that the Cross at its core is a legal transaction in the spirit. The key is when we function in the courts of heaven we are operating from the finished works of Jesus on the Cross. One of the main purposes of Jesus dying on the Cross is to declare sickness illegal. That is part of the finished work. John the Baptist declared that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He did more than focus on disease, but unfortunately many ignore the fact that on the Cross Jesus declared sickness illegal. If you do not believe that, you welcome the enemy all the time, you have an open door.

Matthew quotes from Isa. 53:1-6 (Matt. 8:16-17). 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 (1 Pet. 2:24). We were healed! It is important to know that the Cross is a verdict rendered. That verdict only works if it is executed, otherwise, it remains hanging. A person who dies and leaves a Will needs an executor. A verdict without execution has no power.

In the courts of heaven, God asked satan, who was standing among them, “What are you doing?” He answered that he was roaming around in the earth (Job 1:6-7 – read the Message Bible). Satan is like a roaring lion seeking to devour (1 Pet. 5:8).

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by. (Zech. 3:1-6). The Lord rebuked satan and refused his accusations and had Joshua clothed in new clothes. Satan and his company of angels are always coming into the courts to find reasons to accuse people. When we do not respond to the accusations they torment us, often manifesting in sickness and can also affect our finances and aspects of our personal lives.

Some people have been prayed for by faithful believers but have not been healed. Some only receive their healing after appearing in the courts of heaven and dealing with the accusations of satan. Look at the Lord’s promise to Joshua, if he lived in a way that pleased God, he would be allowed to walk among the heavenly beings that he saw surrounding him. He would be allowed to visit with a company of angels and saints. And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here (Zech. 3:7).

Question: Can believers still sin? Sin means missing the mark. Here is the promise. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We execute the verdict of the Cross when we ask forgiveness and confess; we put the finished works into operation in our life. Repentance must become part of our lives; a softness, brokenness, easy for the Holy Spirit to convict you. If the Holy Spirit highlights something, be quick to repent and stand before the Lord. By being quick to repent we may facilitate the healing of someone else who is involved in our life. In the final picture, Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death(Rev. 12:10-11). The God of peace will crush satan under our feet (Rom. 16:20).