Galatians 3:13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’’),
14. that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
In the first part of this lesson we talked about the curse of the law and specifically what it is. Refer to Deuteronomy the 28th chapter, and we see specifically that the curse of the law was many fold, and included disease of every kind, financial ruin, destruction of your family, lack of peace or mental illness, we can see clearly that the curse of the law included every disease known and every disease that there was, whether recorded in the Book or not, from verse 61. "Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed.” By reading this scripture as well as others in the Old Covenant we would conclude that God brought these things upon people, yet according to Dr. Robert Young, a renowned Greek and Hebrew Bible scholar, the verb was written in the causative tense in the original language rather than the permissive tense. But because the English of the day when the King James was written, had no permissive tense the translators translated it in the causative tense. I said this just to point out that God is not evil, the Word says, the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever. Lets not mix up good and evil, the Lord is good not evil.
Psalms 100:5. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
It is important that we see and understand the truth. God is good not evil and His desire for mankind is to demonstrate that goodness toward us.
Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
When we understand this, we won’t be confused where the evil is coming from, and it becomes easier for us to receive God’s blessings. vs. 14 of our text says,
that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
We have been redeemed from the curse of the law, yet we must also realize that we have been redeemed out of something, into something. It doesn’t just end with us being redeemed from the curse, praise God we have, but we have been redeemed from the curse that, or we might say so that we might receive. Receive what, receive the Holy Spirit. Redemption is not just so we can go to heaven someday, although that is certainly true, thank God. We just read Jeremiah; God wants us to have a future with hope, and I might add, while we are here on this earth. We have been redeemed into blessings. We now have the blessing of Abraham, that is the promise of the spirit through faith.
The blessing of Abraham provided healing in the Old Covenant, how much more in the New Covenant. If the New Covenant doesn’t provide for healing, then we are not in a better Covenant, are we?
Hebrews 8:6. But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Many Christians believe God puts sickness on people to teach them a lesson, or to draw them closer to Him, yet that is not what we see in the Word of God, as a matter of fact just the opposite. We’re in a better Covenant with better promises, praise God. What kind of a loving parent would want their children to be sick? If you made Jesus the Lord of your life, then you are God’s child. In the Old Covenant the children of Israel were called God’s servants, we are called His children. If you were a parent, would you make your child sick to keep them closer to you? NO, that is twisted and perverted even in the natural, This is religion speaking, not God’s Word. God wants his children to be whole, healthy and prosperous, not maimed, sick, and poverty stricken. Man has failed in his attempt to properly discern the Word of God, so instead of admitting that they blew it, they just made a doctrine out of unbelief, after all, it is much easier to blame God than admit we are wrong isn’t it? Lets get our thinking straight, God is not the author of sickness and disease, Satan is. Do you remember what Jesus said in the gospel of Luke?
Luke 13:16 "So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound think of it for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?’’
Jesus first pointed out that this woman is a daughter of Abraham, this is signifying, that she was a Covenant daughter of Abraham, that wasn’t just a term of endearment, it meant something. Secondly he said Satan bound this woman, not God. Satan bound her and Jesus set her free. That’s the way it went all through the New Testament. Satan did the binding and Jesus did the loosing.
1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, not to give him a hand in destroying mankind. Satan is the destroyer, Jesus is the healer. Jesus said so Himself in John’s Gospel.
John 10:10. "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Acts 10:38. "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
According to Acts, the devil was the oppressor, and Jesus was doing good when he healed, so lets get our thinking straight. We also know by the Scripture, that Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) He has not changed, aren’t you glad?
His attitude toward sickness and disease are the same now as they were when He was walking the shores of Galilee. My question is why aren’t we walking in it if it is true? And it is true. I’m not going to blame God if I miss it, so I’ve got to go to the Word of God to find the answer to the truth. Let’s look at our text.
Galatians 3:13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’’),
14. that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
It says in vs. 14. We receive the promise by faith. We have to receive it, its not just going to drop out of the sky and hit us in the head like chicken little. We have an active part to play in this. Let’s do our part and receive the promises of God, and prove God’s Word true, because it is! Amen.
