Length: 7 minutes

If you’ve been around some good teaching about healing, you’ve likely heard 1 Peter 2:24 quoted. It says that by Jesus’ stripes you “were” healed (past tense). This is a powerful truth, but I don’t believe most people understand what it means to have been healed in the past, even when their body is still sick or hurting.

1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV) …who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

Even if you are still experiencing sickness or hurt at the moment, you were healed. You’re not going to be healed. You were healed. Why is the past tense used?

Most people would just say this is a “faith confession” (as it’s called). When they say they “were” healed, even before seeing it in their body, they think they’re speaking something into existence or believing something before it happens. That is simply not so. You truly, verifiably were healed in the past tense, even before you see it in your body.

How can it be true that you were healed in the past and yet don’t see it in your body yet? That’s because, when Peter says that you were healed, he’s saying that you were healed on God’s end. Notice, when Peter says you were healed, he refers to Jesus’ stripes. All of us know that Jesus is not taking stripes today, right? That’s in the past. Peter is saying that on God’s end, He has already done what’s necessary for your healing because He sent Jesus to take stripes, wounds, and sickness for you (Isaiah 53:3-5 LSV or YLT). So, your healing is already complete on God’s end. 

God has already accomplished your healing. He has already paid for your healing. He has already provided your healing. Your healing is finished by God. The work is complete. When you say, “By Jesus’ stripes, I was healed,” you’re not speaking something into existence. It already exists. You’re not speaking something before it happens. It already happened. On God’s end, He healed you.

The healing you need was already paid for and provided when Jesus died for you. All that’s necessary now is, if you’re not saved, that you receive that healing to live on the inside of you, in the form of God’s Holy Spirit. And if you are saved, all that’s necessary is for you to believe that “by Jesus’ stripes you were healed” and that healing will make its way throughout your body, healing everything in its path!

The Doctor

Here is an analogy that will help you to understand it further:

Cured In The Lab

Imagine a person is sick with Leukemia. A doctor begins working on a cure in his lab. When he finishes the cocktail, he yells “I’ve cured Leukemia.” 

Does that mean the person drank that cure yet? No. Does that mean the person is seeing the cure work in their body yet? No. They could still be ill in their body, but the leukemia that person contracted has already been cured in the lab. 

That’s what the cross is like. When 1 Peter 2:24 says “by Jesus’ stripes you were healed,”  the cross was Jesus’ lab. He did a good work and took your sickness, providing you the cure. That doesn’t mean you received it yet or have seen the results working in your body yet, but on His end, on the cross, He provided the cure. It’s yours!

Cured In The Belly

Now, suppose the doctor runs in to the patient and says, “I’ve cured your leukemia! Drink this!” And the person drinks it. 

Has the person seen all the results in their body yet? No. But now, not only has the doctor finished the cure, but she drank it in. Now it’s in her belly! 

This is why we can also say “We are healed today, as believers.” Because not only were we healed on the cross (meaning Jesus provided it). Now, we have actually received the cure into our body by the Holy Spirit He’s given us. 

We are healed people. That doesn’t mean we see it working completely in our body yet, having destroyed all sickness, disease, and hurt yet. It means we truly have the healing now. It’s in our belly (John 7:38)! This is why Ephesians 1:3, 18 says that we have every spiritual blessing and our inheritance is inside of us right now! That includes healing!

Cured In The Body

Lastly, imagine that after the woman drinks in the cure, she begins to see the effects in her body, and voilà, no more leukemia!

That’s what it’s like when the healing power of God within you manifests to your body. If you’ll learn what Jesus already did, the healing power of God in you makes its way to the broken places of your body. Power goes out from you (Luke 8:46).

1. It was already finished at the cross, by our doctor Jesus. You WERE (past tense) healed. 
2. Then you drank in that healing by the Holy Spirit who came to live within you. You ARE healed!
3. Finally, as you believe what has taken place through the cross, it makes its way into your body. You have MANIFESTED healing!

You see? This is not about speaking something into existence. When you say that you were healed or that you are healed, you’re just speaking the truth as a believer.

I understand that every person wants to manifest healing into their body. But healing does not come because you focus on what has manifested in your body thus far. Healing comes when you realize that you WERE healed at the cross and ARE healed because that cure came to live inside of you.

Healing doesn’t manifest because you focus on your body. It comes when you stop focusing on your body and think like someone who already WAS healed. It manifests when you’re focused on the cross! It was prophesied in the Old Testament that anyone that looks at the cross lives, with specific application to physical healing (Numbers 21:9, John 3:14).

The Bible says we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). That means we can’t go by what we see. We need to go by what we know about Jesus! And Jesus already healed you. You were healed. It’s a done deal. It couldn’t be more done. Start thinking like someone who already was healed, because you were! Start speaking like someone who already was healed. No longer tolerate or entertain thoughts that wonder if you’re going to get healed. As frequently as they come is as frequently as you reply, “Too late! I already was healed. It’s finished.” Do that all day long if you have to, just celebrating the assurance you have that you were healed! It’s done. That, right there, is walking by faith not by sight. You’re not allowing what you see to tell you if you’re healed. You’re allowing your understanding of the cross to tell you if you’re healed! 

Remember, you’re not saying things that aren’t true yet, just to encourage yourself. You’re saying things that are absolutely, verifiably true. Jesus already took stripes. Isaiah 53:3-5 (read it in the LSV or YLT) says that Jesus became “A Man of pains, and acquainted with sickness.” That was your pain. That was your sickness He felt. He carried it at the cross so you wouldn’t have to anymore. 

For those who would debate whether that is an accurate translation of Isaiah 53, this is confirmed, because Matthew quotes Isaiah 53 as pertaining to physical healing (see Matthew 8:14-17). Be assured, Jesus took your sickness, disease, and pain already. It’s done. To believe that you were healed in the past is a fact-based statement. Boldly, confidently, and stubbornly believe that.

Graduate from a person who hopes to be healed one day, to a person that knows they were healed, and won’t tolerate any belief that contradicts that. When you do that, the cure that Dr. Jesus provided, which you drank down into your belly, will begin making its way to every part of your body. You can count on it. Just believe it.

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