Jesus our Healer: 10 One in Spirit with our Provider and Healer

‘But he who unites himself to the Lord is one with him in spirit.’

(1 Cor. 6:17)

In Genesis 2:24, God shows us the essential, inward meaning of what it means to be married: ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.’ The man and woman are drawn together into a bond in which they become ‘one flesh’ together, i.e. they are bonded together in a deep and intimate, loving union in which they become one in spirit with each other. This bond is not simply physical. A deep, inward spiritual bond is formed between them. This understanding of marriage as a committed, spiritual covenant union in which two people become one is emphasized by both Jesus (Matt. 19:4-6) and the apostle Paul (Eph. 5:22-32).

In the Mosaic covenant, God gave himself to his people Israel and they likewise gave themselves to him. In giving himself to his people in such a covenant relationship, God was drawing Israel into a deep, committed and intimate relationship with himself which mirrored the marital relationship. So they were intended to be one in spirit with him:

‘For your Maker is your husband – the LORD Almighty is his name…’ (Isa. 54:5)

‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD…’ (Jer. 2:2-3)

So the Israelites were married to their God, Yahweh. Within this covenant relationship, God gave his spouse Israel many promises, including the promises of provision, well-being and healing. They were married to their Provider, Jehovah Jireh; to their Healer, Jehovah Rapha; to their Well-being and Peace, Jehovah Shalom, and to their Righteousness, Jehovah Tsidkenu (Gen. 22:14, Ex. 15:26, Judg. 6:24, Jer. 23:6), etc. In particular, he made his promise of healing explicit to them:

‘Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.’ (Ex. 23:25-26)

If they lived in obedience to God’s commandments, loved him and walked with him wholeheartedly (Deut. 6:1-8), he would meet all their needs. Provision, well-being and health should not have been a problem to the Israelites. They were married to (and therefore called to live in close, intimate relationship with) the very One who would provide for them as a faithful husband, to the One who would heal them and give them good health, and who would provide for their well-being.

However, just how many Israelites actually experienced the fulfilment of God’s covenanted intentions for them, no one really knows. As we know from the narrative, the Israelites were generally unfaithful to this covenant, generation after generation, although there were many notable exceptions among them. The prophet Hosea shows us how God saw them as an unfaithful spouse who was committing adultery against him, and yet towards whom he would ultimately remain faithful (Hosea chs. 1-3). The narrative tells us that God was forced to separate the Israelites of the northern kingdom from himself and send them away from their land into exile. Those of the southern kingdom imitated their evil ways, but God in love and faithfulness repeatedly called them back to himself:

‘I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries… “Return faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband.”’ (Jer. 3:8,14)

‘The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit.’ (Isa. 54:6)

The problem with this old covenant was the lack of inward, personal, spiritual empowerment that would cause the Israelites to be able to remain faithful to their God (Heb. 8:8-12). So God promised them a new covenant in which his Spirit would come and dwell within them to empower them as his people:

‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.’ (Ezek. 36:26-27)

In this new covenant, our relationship with God through faith in Christ is grounded in the power of God’s own life within us (John 1:4, Col. 3:4). Our spirit is regenerated by the power of God (Eph. 2:4-5) and is united with the divine life of God himself through the Holy Spirit who is the seal of this new covenant and comes to abide within us (John 14:17). We are in Christ, and Christ is in us (Col. 1:27). To be a true Christian and to live consistently filled with the Holy Spirit is to be living in empowered, inner, spiritual union with God himself, as we are one in spirit with him (1 Cor. 6:17). A Spirit-filled believer is indwelt by God. We become the hosts and objects of the dynamic, active power of his divine life within us.

In the sense that we are drawn into covenant relationship with God, God’s essential purpose for us remains the same as in the old covenant. However, in this empowered new covenant we are now seen as the Bride of Christ, betrothed to him, united with and one in spirit with him, and living in a deep and intimate covenant relationship with him, which is empowered by his own divine life within us. Christ was sown in death on the cross, so that his Bride might come into being and be joined in union with him through his resurrection, of which the creation of Eve was a prophetic type (cf. Gen. 2:21-24).

‘Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should

bring forth fruit unto God.’ (Rom. 7:4 AV)

‘I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.’ (2 Cor. 11:2)

‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…’ (Eph. 5:25)

‘For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.’ (Rev. 19:7)

In this new covenant, we become children and therefore heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ who himself as our new Head has been appointed by the Father as the heir of all things (Heb. 1:2, Rom. 8:14-17). So our inheritance in this new covenant in Christ is unlimited, and therefore includes his promises of provision and healing just as in the old covenant:

‘For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.’ (2 Cor. 1:20)

So in Christ we have been drawn into a deep, inner union and committed covenant bond with God himself who dwells within us. Again, we are married to the One who is our Provider, who is our Healer, and who is our Well-being and Peace. However, the difference now is that our Provider and our Healer actually lives within us. We are one in spirit within ourselves with our Provider and Healer.

Just as in any marital relationship, it is giving ourselves unreservedly to God as our spouse, and learning to live and walk in committed and consistent intimacy together with him which empowers and releases his life within us. As A.B. Simpson emphasised, the practical value to us of this covenant relationship with God in terms of experiencing his provision and healing, depends upon our willingness to develop and grow in the reality of the intimacy of our spiritual union with him.[1] We are to live out of the heart-warming love and power of this spiritual union within ourselves: ‘My beloved is mine and I am his.’ (Song 2:16). The power of this life then animates, permeates and affects our entire being for good (Rom. 8:2-11) – spirit, soul and body – and can also minister to others through us.

However, the exhortations and statements of many verses in the New Testament show us that, for one reason or another, not all Christians grow and mature spiritually as they should. They do not learn to walk in the loving intimacy of their spiritual union with God and, as a consequence, they do not discover in experience the potential and the power of this truth. For example:

‘Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity [with] God? Whoever therefore shall be minded to be a friend of the world, is constituted an enemy of God. Or do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, “The Spirit that He placed in us jealously desireth us for his own?”’ (Jas. 4:4-5 Alford)

‘Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’ (1 John 3:15)

‘You have forsaken your first love… Repent and do the things you did at first…’ (Rev. 2:4-5)

But it is clear from the above that, as we learn to walk closely and intimately with God in surrender, love, obedience and faith, understanding his intentions and the promises of his word to us, then receiving his provision, healing and well-being should not be a problem. They are his committed and covenanted desire for us as our divine spouse.

[1] Lindsay, G. (Ed.), The John G. Lake Sermons On Dominion over Demons, Disease and Death, Chapter III, “The Value of a Covenant with God”, p.30, no date.

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Jesus our Healer

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10 One in Spirit with our Provider and Healer

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