Fear No Fear

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever! Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings.
Hebrews 13:8-9 (emphasis added)

Why did Jesus come? That’s the question, isn’t it? What was He here to DO? The Word tells us clearly. “Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to tell them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled even as you heard it being read”” (Luke 4:16-21).

That is the scope of His mission. That is what Jesus came to earth for. He did not come for judgment or condemnation (John 3:17), but for freeing us from sin. The only way He could do that was to pay the price of sin (Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23). He didn’t do this on a whim. Spiritually, this was already accomplished. and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed (Revelation 13:8). Before creation was begun, the Father, Son, and Spirit had already formed the plan they would follow and enacted it on the Spiritual level. From then until Jesus manifested it physically, God used His FAITH in that spiritual slaying to heal and redeem His people. The point of contact for God’s faith was the sacrificial system of the Mosaic Covenant. The blood of animals was the SYMBOL of Jesus’ blood which had been spiritually slain at the foundation of the world.

When Jesus came, He had to follow through and endure the physical manifestation of that spiritual slaying. He had to be separate from His Father and have all that wrath, sin, and sickness poured on Him (Isaiah 53:6). He suffered and died for us (Galatians 1:4). Then the Father resurrected Him to life again (Romans 6:4; Acts 2:32). That healing power (that healed all sin’s effects) was sent out to ALL of time in ALL of EVERYWHERE (Romans 6:8-11). Backwards and forwards. Then the Father gave us HIS faith so WE could do what HE did – IN, THROUGH, and BY JESUS (Mark 11:22).

This healing was DEFINITELY of a spiritual level, but it also was of a PHYSICAL level. We know this AND we know that Jesus was using the Father’s faith in what was going to happen to enact healing because of the miracle of the crippled man. “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Then the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this man who is uttering blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” When Jesus perceived their hostile thoughts, he said to them, “Why are you raising objections within yourselves? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralyzed man—“I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher and go home.” Immediately he stood up before them, picked up the stretcher he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God” (Luke 5:20-25).

Jesus was healing through God’s power (the Holy Spirit dwelling in Him) BEFORE the cross. It was God’s faith that as Jesus was slain spiritually before the foundation of the world He would also be obedient and be slain physically – joyful in spirit even as He was tortured in body (Hebrews 12:2). Physical healing and spiritual healing (cleansing) are the healings that Jesus did, does, and will continue to do. We see that in Isaiah and Matthew as firmly as anything else in scripture.

Isaiah talks about the suffering servant in Chapter 53. ‘Jewish Talmudist, Rachmiel Frydland, recounts: Our ancient commentators with one accord noted that the context clearly speaks of God’s Anointed One, the Messiah. The Aramaic translation of this chapter, ascribed to Rabbi Jonathan ben Uzziel, a disciple of Hillel who lived early in the second century c.e., begins with the simple and worthy words: Behold my servant Messiah shall prosper; he shall be high, and increase, and be exceeding strong: as the house of Israel looked to him through many days, because their countenance was darkened among the peoples, and their complexion beyond the sons of men (Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 53, ad locum).’ (https://jewsforjesus.org/learn/whos-the-subject-of-isaiah-53). From the Babylonian Talmud to Midrash Rabbah to Zohar (a great Jewish scholar) all agreed. Right up until the Middle Ages, Jewish scholars were almost unanimous in their interpretation of Isaiah 53. That changed and they started viewing the suffering servant NOT as Messiah, but as a symbol of the suffering nation of Israel. But the Gospels agree with the earlier interpretations.

When it was evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to him. He drove out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. In this way what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled: “He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases” (Matthew 8:16-17). This was a direct quote from Isaiah 53 and it related to PHYSICAL healing. So although Isaiah DOES deal with our spiritual healing and restoration (which 1 Peter 2:24 agrees with), it ALSO directly deals with physical healing. The stripes, bruises, and wounds (depending on your translation) of Jesus provided our healing. He had HIS body twisted under the weight of sickness and disease which springs from sin to the point that Jesus was barely recognisable as HUMAN (Isaiah 52:14).
This was BEFORE the cross. This was DURING Jesus’ earthly ministry. More than anything else, these three verses show us God is VERY SERIOUS about healing – spiritual AND physical. Isaiah 53 talks about what WILL BE, Matthew 8 talks about what was CURRENT, and 1 Peter talks about what HAS HAPPENED. As Yahweh said about His own name (Exodus 3:10-15), He IS present with us and WILL BE present with us. Past, present, and future. Same as with healing. What Jesus did on the cross WAS done before the foundation of the world, WAS done when Jesus was on earth and suffered for us, and WAS done for all of us from that point forward as well. God is present with us and HEALING is present with us.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Genesis 3:15

“And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Jesus was born of a woman. He was the seed of a WOMAN, not the seed of man. Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18). The Holy Spirit (once again affirming that God chooses to identify as male) overshadowed Mary and supernaturally added Yahweh’s DNA to Mary’s DNA and Jesus was conceived. But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights (Galatians 4:4-5). No other child in the history of the world was conceived this way. This is NOT the same as any other story in any other mythology that has ever been taken down by human kind from their thoughts and ideas. This is GOD who is choosing to become human to fulfil the penalty of sin that WE incurred on ourselves when we rebelled against God. Adam was made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), but WE were made in Adam’s image – fallen Adam (Genesis 5:3). God came to redeem us. To pay the penalty of death incurred by us when Adam ate of the tree in direct violation of God’s command (Genesis 2:17). He didn’t HAVE to, but He did. The ONLY way it could happen is if He was born of a woman because the seed (offspring) of the woman would be the one to strike the devil down. That offspring would crush the devil’s head (a fatal wound to body, authority, and personality – the whole package), but the devil would only strike the offspring’s heel (NOT a mortal wound). Jesus – and NONE OTHER – fulfilled this prophecy. Jesus (Yeshua) IS the promised offspring of woman – Messiah, the Anointed One.

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b