03 - The Cross Heals (Your Healer)

Text: “Do not become wise in your own eyes. Instead, reverence Yahweh and turn from evil. This will heal your core – restoring your insides like medicine – and refresh your body” (Prov. 3:7-8, Inspiration Translation).

Theme: God’s wisdom seen on the cross heals your spirit, soul and body.

Intro: The book of Proverbs teaches us that wisdom brings healing and health. Modern medicine divorces the teaching of Biblical wisdom from healing. You don’t go to the doctor and get prescribed the medicine of fearing God and turning from evil. As Christians, we are still thankful for every good thing modern medicine has given us. Yet the Bible sheds more light on healing. The ancient Jewish mindset (that wrote Scripture) saw wisdom and health as one. Embracing God’s wisdom meant deep healing – healing for your spirit, soul and body – a restoration that went into the very skeletal structure of our being. Today, we will continue our journey on healing by first looking at Proverbs.

1) Wisdom heals (Prov. 3:7-8).

Listen to the context of Proverbs 3:7-8, our opening verses.

“My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and peace [shalom] they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. It will be healing [RIph’ut, from rapha] to your body and refreshment to your bones (Prov. 3:1-8, NASB).

Notice the deep connection between the heart – your spirit and soul – and your body.

Honouring a good father’s teaching and commandments brings length of days, years of life and shalom – wholeness and completeness.

This implies that you are being taught Scripture and trusting Yahweh.

Honouring your father and mother is the first commandment with a promise (Exo. 20:12).

The promise is long life.

Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 6:1-3.

Jesus taught that honouring your father and mother was not just about the ‘kiddies.’ Adults are meant to honour their father and mother too. And this applies to both our physical parents and those who spiritually care for us (Matt. 15:1-9).

For an adult, honouring your father and mother does not mean they control your life, but it does mean you carefully weigh up what they say, and you respect them from the heart. This will mean praying for them and helping them.

Proverbs 3:7-8 gives us three points of wisdom that are like medicine.

First, “Do not be wise in our own eyes.”

Wisdom teaches us to be humble, teachable, and not be a ‘know-it-all.’

We need the Father’s eyes, his perspective on everything.

This means doing what is right in his eyes (Exo. 15:26).

What your eyes see and focus on is important.

For me, when I was getting sick in 2019, the Father spoke to me to slow down and keep pace with him.

I knew this would be costly because people would get upset with me.

But the Father gave me the grace to do what he wanted me to do, especially to pray, preach, and teach.

You need the Father’s wisdom rather than your wisdom to receive his healing.

Second, “Fear the Lord” or “Reverence Yahweh.”

Fearing the Lord can be summed up in three words: 1) Reverence, 2) Awe and 3) Wonder.

It’s living your life in submission and obedience to God––it’s obedience to God that comes from a heart of reverencing God, and standing in awe wonder of him and all he has done and is doing.

This is why true worship from the heart is healing.

A word of warning (and I’ve set it a few times in this series): being sick does not mean you’ve committed sin. There are many reasons why you can get sick. But receiving God’s grace and obedience to God is the only way forward to healing.

See sickness as an opportunity to draw closer to God and lean on him more.

Some of my most significant revelations of God have come when I have been weak and sick.

Third, which is one with the first two exhortations, “Turn from evil.”

Look at the pattern in John 5:13-17.

Jesus heals the paralyzed man by grace.

Then he says, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you” (John 5:14).

It’s foundational that we have a healthy view of grace (Titus 2:11-14).

“For God’s grace has shone, revealing salvation to all people. This grace trains us to deny a lazy life without devotion to God. Like a father with his child, grace raises us to reject worldly lusts—to act with self-control and common sense. Grace guides us to do what is right, living devoted to God here and now. Grace also moves us to look forward to our joyful hope: the glorious, light-infused manifestation of the great God and our Savior, Jesus the Messiah. Jesus has purposely given himself for us to set us free from all sin—making us pure—a people that are his very own, zealous to do good works” (Titus 2:11-14, Inspiration Translation).

Sin is always our enemy because it brings sickness and death in its train.

2) The greatest wisdom is found on the cross (Num. 21:4-9).

Since the greatest wisdom is found on the cross, the greatest healing is experienced through the cross.

In Numbers 21:4-9, Israel gets impatient with their journey, so they speak against God and Moses.

It wasn’t true, but they said they had no food or water. They didn’t value what God had given them, and they resented both God and their spiritual father, Moses.

Consequently, Yahweh sent them fiery, venomous serpents that bit the people, causing many to die.

This was a wake-up call, moving the people to repent.

Moses interceded for the people and Yahweh gave him a strange solution: make one of these fiery serpents and raise it on a pole. All who look at the bronze serpent will be healed, restored back to life.

Interestingly, this sign and symbol are used as the logo for the medical community.

More than that, Jesus refers to himself as the fulfillment of the bronze serpent on the pole.

Listen to his own words, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (John 3:14-15, NASB).

So what does the sign of the serpent on the standard mean?

First, the Hebrew word for serpent is nechash נְחַ֣שׁ.

It’s the same word used for the serpent in the garden.

As we know, it’s the serpent in Genesis 3 that tempted Adam and Eve to sin and introduced death and disease into the world.

In ancient times, when someone put something on a standard, a pole, it meant they overcome and conquered.

I apologize that this is graphic, but ancient armies would put heads on a pole to show they conquered their enemy.

David raised up Goliath's head to show his victory.

So the serpent on the pole had a clear meaning: Yahweh had conquered the serpent. Yahweh had overcome the serpent that had caused all the havoc in the world, reminding us of Genesis 3:15.

Second, Jesus became like the cursed serpent on the cross so that he could free us from the curse of sin, sickness and death (John 3:14-16).

Notice that it was a bronze serpent. Bronze sounds like ‘serpent’ in Hebrew: nechoshet נְחֹ֔שֶׁת

The two words combined: nechash nechoshet.

It was bronze that overlaid the sacrificial altar in the tabernacle.

Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice.

Listen to Isaiah 52:13-53:6.

This brings us back to one of our last infographic translations: Isaiah 53:4-6.

3) Behold the cross to receive healing (Num. 21:9).

Pray that the Father opens your eyes to the cross because there you will find true healing for your spirit, soul and body.

And the greatest healing of all is eternal life which flows from the cross.

Conclusion: First, we learned that wisdom heals. Then, we discovered the greatest wisdom is found on the cross. Lastly, we saw that by beholding the cross, you receive healing.

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