1 Peter 2:24 - He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you are healed.
There are people who take this Scripture to mean that, when Jesus died on the cross, He not only took our sins upon Himself, but He also took all of our diseases and illnesses too. In other words, if we have enough faith and are not walking in sin we have not repented of, we should never get sick! And when we do, simply praying, repenting of our sins and having more faith should be enough to heal us.
This is FALSE teaching! Tonight we got back to some basics and talked about what Jesus' death on the cross really healed us from......an eternity in hell. His death and resurrection three days later gave us spiritual healing, not physical healing.
To show the kids what Jesus did for us on the cross, we did a little experiment called Cold Fire....involving rubbing alcohol, water, fire, salt, and a lighter. By dipping a paper towel in the alcohol, water and salt mixture, we could set the paper towel on fire without it actually burning up!
Jesus took all of our sins upon Himself when He went to the cross. They were poured out on Him, as was demonstrated by us soaking our "Jesus cloth" in the rubbing alcohol, water, and salt. Then he was hung on the cross. God's wrath was poured out on Him and Christ suffered the most horrific death possible (our lighter). Jesus' Father couldn't even look at Him in the end for all of the sins that were heaped on top of Him as He died....our sins. And though Jesus died there on that cross for our sins, He was raised three days later and ALIVE, ALIVE, ALIVE (our "Jesus cloth" did not burn up)!
During Jesus' lifetime, He did heal many of diseases and sicknesses. He agonized over those who were suffering physically and He sympathized with them....felt bad for them. And God can choose to do miracles of healing even today! There are people who are diagnosed with incurable, terminal cancer who are miraculously healed, with doctors scratching their heads as to how it happened. Impossible? God is the God who can accomplish the impossible.
To prove this, we showed the kids a long-neck bottle and asked them if they thought that the bottle could be cut clean in half without the use of a knife. Then we did it! We used a string soaked in acetone, a lighter, and a bowl of ice water.
Now this is an act of science of course, but it clearly demonstrates something thought to be impossible being accomplished. The bottom half of the bottle could represent us and the top the sin that we are born with....the sin that is a part of us no matter how good we try to be on our own. When we repent of our sins, ask God to forgive us of them, and tie the words found in Scripture around our hearts, God can forgive us of our sins and separate them from us as far as the east is from the west (1 John 1:9 and Psalm 103:12). His holy fire refines us and removes the ugly!
In review, God did not send Jesus to die on the cross so that we would never be sick or suffer from diseases like cancer. He sent Jesus to save us spiritually and literally save us from our sins.
And even when we do suffer from sicknesses or diseases or broken bones or allergies or stuffy noses...and we feel like the floor is being pulled right out from under our feet and we are falling with no one to save us or make us feel better, God is always there and, no matter what, He will be glorified in the end...whether we are healed physically or not! This was a fun experiment! The kids each took turns trying it and it worked for them! They pulled the bottom out from under the toilet paper tube holding the egg and the egg was caught safely by the water below it. We are the egg. Our circumstances may make us feel like the floor is being pulled out from under us, but God is always there to catch us and He is ultimately always glorified in the end....no matter what!
