Daily Bread

Romans 9:10 "But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."

When Adam sinned, one of the judgments that came upon him was that his body - which was made from the dust of the earth - would return to the dust. This process of corruption made the body the host of disease and sickness. When the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is being preached it targets as its number two enemy: sickness and disease. When Jesus was anointed of God to preach, His mission was to go about healing all those who were oppressed of the devil. He was manifested to destroy the works of the devil - which are not only the activities of sin but also the activities of sickness. When Jesus anointed His disciples He sent them to do the same thing: to cast out devils and to heal every kind of sickness and disease (the same is true of the seventy others also and of us today). In fact the anointing of this Gospel was so strong upon the Apostle Paul's life that handkerchiefs and aprons were taken from his body and placed upon the sick and the demon possessed; as a result, the diseases and the devils would depart out of their bodies (Acts 19:12). The Spirit is life because of righteousness must be understood as the remedy for the body that is under the death sentence because of sin. In the next verse we learn that if the Spirit of God dwells in you then He will make alive your mortal body. This may certainly be applied to the resurrection of the body from the dead but it also includes healing from sickness and disease. Paul said to the church at Galatia, "If you sow to the flesh you shall of the flesh reap corruption, but if you sow to the Spirit you shall reap everlasting life," (Galatians 6). Everlasting life is not only a duration of time but also a quality of life. The Lord Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly. It is a verified biblical fact that a person living in a natural body can live without corruption for 2600 years. Elijah was taken up into the presence of God with an earthly body where he stands at this very time awaiting the time that he will return to the earth as one of the two witnesses in the last days. Peter also spoke of the fact that the divine nature which we have received has resulted in having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4). In fact, what we may understand from these passages of scripture is that walking in righteousness and sowing to the Spirit results in the benefits of divine health. Even in the Old Testament God blessed the people of Israel with protection against "these diseases" (Ex 15:26; Deut 7:15; 28:60). The Psalmist reminds us that we should not forget all of His benefits; for He cleanses all of our iniquities and heals all of our diseases (Psalms 103:3).

Blessings

Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org