COVID-19

The great Prophet Isaiah begins the 53rd chapter of his book by saying, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” In other words, “Who shall believe our report?” or to make it more personal, “Whose report will you believe?”

There are a lot of reports going out there. In the media, the news, social media there is great alarm concerning this epidemic that has literally brought this busy world into a grinding halt. Mighty nations have been brought to their knees. COVID-19 or the coronavirus ushered in 2020 in a way which most of us never saw coming.

Many people have unfortunately died from this disease but also the good news is that many people have also recovered. In fact the recovery rate is currently at 97-99% worldwide and here in Kenya out of over 70,000 people who have been infected, over 1,200 people sadly died making the recovery rate in Kenya be 98.3%. That means that out of all the people who have gotten cover in Kenya an amazing 98.3% have recovered. This is better news than what had earlier been projected.

With all the fear and uncertainty in the air, it is good that we address this issue in line with God’s Word, the Holy Bible. Fear is not a good thing. It is something that we all experience but the believer should not allow it to cripple or rule them. 1 John 4:18 tells that “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear hath torment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.” In other words, if God’s love is in you, then fear has no place in your life. Remember that Romans 5:5 states that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us.” Hallelujah! His perfect love completes us! The Apostle Paul reminded young Timothy that “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.” And so, “We have the mind of Christ,” 1 Corinthians 2:16 says!

We thank God for the medical professionals who have put their lives on the line (and many have died thus far) curing the sick in this pandemic. But now that this disease (as of this writing) has no cure does that mean that it’s the end for us? NO WAY! Keeping reading, I’ll show you why.

Isaiah 53 which has been called the fifth Gospel shows us the clearest picture of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. The text actually begins from Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12. In verses 3 to 6 we are told that, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

This text has largely been used to assure us of our atonement from sin and perfect forgiveness through faith alone in Jesus’ perfect sacrifice on that cross 2000 years ago. That’s perfectly clear. But then again as you read that text it becomes quite clear that it’s not salvation alone that was covered in the atonement. I’m about to say something that will make some people uncomfortable. Divine Healing was paid for in the atonement. THIS IS THE REPORT THAT I BELIEVE.

Twice in the above quoted text, we are told in this text that Jesus bore (literally to carry) our sorrow. The Hebrew word used for “sorrow” is makov which literally means pain (both physical and mental). Notice that is one of the symptoms of the coronavirus (fever and pain). Let’s continue.

The text goes on to say that He bore our “griefs” which is the Hebrew word choli which literally means disease or sickness. This word is used 24 times in the Old Testament of which 20 times it is translated as sickness (13 times) and disease (7 times) and then grief 4 times. That is why Matthew 8:16-17 says that, “That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”” The word illnesses also translated “infirmities” in other translations literally means weaknesses which again is what this virus is causing those afflicted to feel, weak.

This text then says that “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” Who would have ever thought (at least in this generation) that a pandemic caused by disease would bring chaos and disrupt world peace? Right now we need peace and through the punishment Jesus took that we deserved, we can have peace. We can have peace NOW. In the midst of panic. For those who are sick that peace can come through healing because when the pain and symptoms go, peace will flood both body and soul.

The amazing thing in this verse is that the word translated “peace” is the Hebrew word Shalom which literally means to be complete (3 John 1:2), to be made whole. The woman with the issue of flowing of blood (haemorrhage) – Mark 5:25-34, said “If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole.” She did exactly that and she was healed, she was made whole. She found shalom, wholeness in her body from sickness and disease. Jesus told us that those who believe the Gospel i.e. the Good News shall be saved (Mark 16:15). The Greek word translated “saved” is the word sozo which literally means to be made whole. It’s the exact word used by that woman of faith in Mark 5:28: “If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be made whole [sozo].“

“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek [Gentile], for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved [sozo].” – Romans 10:9‭-‬13

Look to Jesus today my friend. Touch the helm of His garment and you shall be made whole. Whosoever (literally anybody whether sinner or saved) calls upon Him shall be saved, made whole. Healed of any manner of sickness, virus or disease.

Finally we are told that “by His stripes we are healed.” A very simple but profound statement. The word used for healed here is the Hebrew word rapha and you may remember that we call God Jehovah-Rapha which means that He is our healer. A common saying we have in the Kenyan church is that “Jehovah has the final say.” The word rapha is also used in the hebrew past tense “Niphal” as “healed” which means that it’s an already finished work. It’s up to us to take what has been given to us freely by faith. If a will is left the heir to it has to take it and access what belong s to them otherwise they would not benefit from it due to ignorance or inaction. “Faith without works [action] is dead” – James 2:26.

This word rapha is the same Hebrew word used in Exodus 15:26 where God promised His people that He would keep them from all plagues and diseases as His covenant people: “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”

A few years ago I read an account of a mighty man of God by the name of John Graham Lake who was an American missionary in South Africa between 1908 and 1913 (you can read about it here). During the deadly bubonic plague in South Africa (the same plague that killed 20 million people in the Byzantine empire in 541-542 A.D. and later wiped out a third of Europe and Asia – 72 to 200 million people in the mid 14th century) people were dying so much that there was no room to bury the dead and they had to bury them in mass graves using blankets. He and his fellow Christians tended to the sick and the dying and this puzzled the British doctors present because they noticed they were unaffected by the virus. At his request the doctors observed the bacteria in his hand under a microscope and noticed that they died when they came in contact with his body. His response was from Romans 8:2 which says that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” He knew that He was under a covenant that was sealed by the blood of Jesus.

Where modern medicine has reached its end, God begins (1 Cor. 1:18-30). In Matthew 10:1 Jesus sent His disciples and “gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” All means ALL. The Greek word used “all” is pas which means “each, every, any, the whole, everyone, all things, everything, some of all types”. Both past, present and future undiagnosed sickness and disease fall in this category. After He rose from the dead Jesus stated that all authority belongs to Him both in Heaven and in earth and it is by that authority that He has sent us to proclaim the Good News to all the earth (Matthew 28:18-20) with miracles, signs and wonders following (Mark 16:15-20).

Let us pray for the divine healing and recovery of those afflicted by this disease. We can “speak the word only, and [they] shall be healed” – Matthew 8:8; John 4:49-50. We can send forth a word of healing. We can send clean, well washed prayer clothes and anointed handkerchiefs to the afflicted (Acts 5:15-16; 19:11-12). The prayers of a righteous man is both powerful and effective (James 5:16). The anointing is not bound by the laws of time, space and matter. Psalm 107:20 says that “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”

Take this message by faith my friend, without which no one can please God – Hebrews 11:6. What is faith? “It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.” – Hebrews 11:1.

The following is an excerpt I read from the journals of John G. Lake: “There is a little keynote in one of Paul’s epistles that gives the real key to successful prayer. In successful prayer there is a divine action, a divine interaction, an interaction just as real as an chemical interaction in any experiment in the world. Your bring two opposite chemicals together, and you realise a little flash or flame, an explosion. There has been an interaction, your chemicals have undergone a change. They are no longer the same properties they were before. For instance, oxygen and hydrogen united is water. So it is in the spiritual realm. Paul said in giving us this key, “The Word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith.” There is a quality and content in the soul of man, a necessary quality. That quality is the POWER OF THE SPIRIT. And when faith and Spirit come together there is an interaction. There is a movement of God. There is a manifestation of the Spirit. There is a divine explosion! FAITH AND GOD UNITED IS DIVINE HEALING.”

Finally, plead the blood of Jesus over your household and take communion at home as a REMINDER of what Jesus did for us. His perfect love displayed on that cross that redeemed us from sin, sickness, pain and disease. The blood of the lamb on the door ensured that the plague did not enter the house of the Israelites because they were covered by it. That’s what atonement means basically, “covering.”

In Hebrews 12:24 we know that the Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God speaks (it’s still speaking eh) better things than the blood of Abel which cried out for revenge. The Blood of Jesus cries out for mercy and as a priest (yes you are a royal priesthood) you can apply it (by faith – Hebrews 11:1) over your home. That Blood will cry out “mercy Father for this household” and the destroyer (who brings the plague) will pass over your house.

The Blood of Jesus also speaks better things, good things. Some have said that God has brought this virus to punish the world. I disagree. Why is it then that Christians have died including many Roman Catholic Priests in Italy? God is not the author of confusion. “God is a good God, the devil is a bad devil,” Oral Roberts said. It is the devil, “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I [Jesus] came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” The Blood of Jesus speaks zoe, LIFE and LIFE more abundantly over God’s covenant people who are born again and have been redeemed through faith in Jesus Christ.

I’ll finish with a benediction from Hebrews 13:20-21,
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

My homework for you would be to set aside time everyday for at least a week to meditate (audibly speak and reflect) on the powerful 91st Psalm. It is a divine promise to the people of God that no matter how bad things get in this world we can be of good courage because Jesus has overcome the world 😃 🙌🏾

If you are not born again, or maybe you are backslidden and you are not sure that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life please read this article. Jesus loves you too much my friend. God bless you 🙂