Faith Appropriates Healing

Faith Appropriates Healing

And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; - Matt 9:20

In some translations, it says that the woman touched 'the hem of His garment.'

In the Greek, the word 'fringe' or 'hem' means 'tassel.' Tassels were made on the corners of the garment/cloak (known as 'Tallit') in the days of Jesus. Blue thread was woven in the tassels at the four corners. The tassels represent all the commandments of the Lord. (Num 15:37-40)

In the Hebrew, the tassel can also mean 'wing-like' projection. Some preachers assume that it can be translated as 'wing' and thus, they use Mal 4:2 to justify that when the woman touched the tassel of Jesus, she was touching 'the Sun of righteousness with healing in its wings.'

In my personal view, it is better to keep it simple within the explicit context of the Scriptures.

In the Old Covenant, if anyone obeys ALL the commandments of the Lord, the Lord will be his Healer. (Exo 15:26)

No one had ever fulfilled all the commandments of the Lord, except one Person. He is none other than Jesus. Jesus was the only High Priest wearing the Tallit and tassels, who completely obeyed ALL the commandments. In other words, Jehovah Rapha was with Him (Exo 15:26). He was the Man of God who had the God of Man living IN Him and through Him.

When the woman touched the tassel of Jesus' Tallit, she was literally touching the promise of God ---- healing, because of Jesus' fulfilled commandments. She had access to healing because Jesus had access to heaven (the promises of God) through His total obedience to the Law.

What's interesting is this... Jesus was not even ministering to her. Yet she was healed because of her faith in Him to heal her (Matt 9:20-21).

Her faith was placed on the Man of God who is also the God of Man.

In the New Covenant, the Man of God is no longer one but many (John 12:24) ---- that includes every single believer. The God of Man now lives IN every man of God, because of one Perfect Man's complete obedience to the Law (Matt 5:17; Rom 5:19). Every believer is 'wearing' the tassels of the Tallit within us, because of Christ's finished works on the Cross.

In other words, a person can be healed by placing his faith in the Man of God (us) who has the God of Man in him. Because faith appropriates healing. The sick can touch you and be healed because Jehovah Rapha lives in you.

This is why when someone is healed, it may not necessary be the minister who believes. It can be the sick who believes. Because faith appropriates healing. This keeps us humble because without Jesus, none of this can ever happen.

Disclaimer: Anyone can go straight to Jesus for healing. But God, in His grace, allows the Man of God who has the God of Man to represent Him for the sake of those who don't know how to approach Him directly. It is then important for the Man of God to point people to the God of Man so that they, too, become Men of God.