246. Health and Cure
Jeremiah 33:6a Behold,I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them….
The Lord had just said in verse 5 that He “has hidden his face from this city because of all their evil.” Then He says here that He would bring to the city health and healing, and He would heal them. Sin causes the Lord to hide His face, or withdraw His Presence, from the people of God. Or, taken personally, my sin grieves the Holy Spirit, and my sin makes the Spirit withdraw His presence of blessing. Sin, while forgiven (and the Spirit doesn’t actually leave), does have consequences. We experience the unpleasantness of the consequences of sin, but we return to the Lord in repentance and faith. The Spirit is “ungrieved” and blesses with his active presence when we hear and believe the Gospel. Instead of hiding, the Lord reveals.
The sin and evil is removed by the blood of Jesus, the Spirit is activated, and the Lord promises health and healing. The broken heart, shattered by our own sin and evil, is repaired and made whole again while the Spirit applies the loving healing of God. The contrite spirit is not despised, and the Spirit renews with joy, revives with hope, and repairs with peace. God’s health and healing makes us whole again.
We live in a godless world with a sinful flesh, suffering the fierce attacks of the Evil One. Alongside that world and next to our flesh the Holy Spirit dwells and the blessed presence of God. God promises spiritual health for the soul and spiritual healing for the spirit. This inner working on the invisible parts of the person affects the visible parts of the body and aids physical healing. Jesus is the one who cures and the Spirit applies the promise “I will cure them.”
God may use science, nutrition and medicine to heal the body, or He may choose to use miracles, but to heal the soul He will always use forgiveness, grace, mercy and love through the Gospel to apply the life-giving power. But always, we may receive and believe the promise: “I will heal them.”