6 Bible Verses about Powerful Healing

1. 2 Kings 5:8-15 – Healing of Soul and Body

“Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, ‘Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed’” (2 Kings 5:10).

In this passage, Naaman, a commander of the army in Aram, learned about a prophet in Israel who could cure his leprosy. He traveled there and inquired of Elisha, but received instructions he did not appreciate. Washing in the Jordan was offensive to him since he thought the prophet should do a grand act on his behalf.

However, his servants convinced him to wash in the river as the prophet had instructed. He dipped in the water “seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy” (2 Kings 5:14). By the power of the Lord, he was healed of leprosy.

This act of healing prompted Naaman to praise the Lord and acknowledge Him as the only true God (2 Kings 5:15). A foreign commander was cured not only of a physical affliction but came to know the living God. He was healed in soul as well as body.

Our Lord is always at work bringing people to Himself. He does so in several ways, including through physical healing. When He chooses to do this, we can give thanks.

There are times, though, when we or our loved ones will suffer from an ongoing illness without relief. We can still worship the Lord during these seasons and acknowledge Him as holy and good.

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2. Isaiah 53:5 – Healed by His Wounds

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

The brokenness in our world is more than surface deep. It affects all of life and our inner nature. The prophet Isaiah tells us that we all like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). Every human has a sinful nature that makes them inclined to disobey the Lord and turn away from Him. We also willingly choose to do so (Romans 3:23).

When Jesus, the Suffering Servant that Isaiah prophesied about, entered our world, He did so to set us free from our bondage to sin. When we place faith in Christ, trusting in His death and resurrection, we receive healing from our sins. We are washed by the renewing work of the Holy Spirit and made new (Titus 3:5). No longer are we slaves to sin but set free to live holy lives for the glory of our Savior (Romans 6:18).

Jesus’ wounds heal us by making us whole. Through His redemptive work, He brings restoration to our relationship with the Father and with other people (Colossians 1:19-20). One day, His nail-scarred hands will also bring healing to creation, making all things new. We will live forever in resurrected bodies on a renewed earth in eternal fellowship with the Lord. On that day, we will sing praises to the One who healed us by His wounds.

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3. Matthew 15:29-31 – A Preview of What Is to Come

“Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them” (Matthew 15:30).

After Jesus healed the demon-possessed daughter of a Canaanite woman, he went to a mountainside and sat down. The multitudes followed Him, as they regularly did, and brought the sick, blind, and crippled people to Him. Scripture says that they laid these individuals at His feet, and He healed them. He did so freely and lovingly, allowing any who came to Him to receive health and wholeness.

As a result of the healing, “The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel” (Matthew 15:31). All these miracles were clear signs that Jesus is the Messiah. The Lord related similar healings when He reassured John the Baptist about His identity (Matthew 11:3-5).

Through these miraculous acts, Jesus provided us with a foretaste of the Messianic Kingdom. The blind receiving sight and the lame walking all pointed to our Lord’s coming Kingdom where people will live longer without disease or ailment (see Isaiah 65:20-22). Then, in eternity, we will see all creation made new so that death and sin will no longer exist (Revelation 21:1-5).

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4. Luke 5:17-26 – The Source of All Healing

“Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So he said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God” (Luke 5:23-25).

In this passage, Luke emphasized Jesus’ divinity and power. The Lord was teaching in a house, and the various teachers of the law and Pharisees were present. Based on the description in Luke’s Gospel, many people had traveled to listen to Christ and the house was overcrowded (Luke 5:17).

A group of men also traveled there, but for a different reason. They had carried their friend, a paralyzed man, on a mat with the hope of bringing him before the Lord. When they could not get into the house because of the crowd, they climbed to the roof and lowered him down to Jesus (Luke 5:18-19). The measures they went to demonstrated that these men had faith in Jesus’ ability to heal.

Jesus saw their faith and forgave them of their sins (Luke 5:20). However, the religious leaders did not like this since only God can forgive sins (Luke 5:21). They failed to recognize the identity of Christ; He is God. Jesus, therefore, demonstrated His divine nature by forgiving sins and by healing the paralyzed man (Luke 5:21-24). The evidence was in a man who had once been unable to move but now walked away carrying his mat.

The source of all healing is God. This is why the combination of forgiveness of sins and healing was so surprising to the crowd – Jesus showed that He is the divine Son of Man. To Him, we can give thanks whenever we receive relief from suffering or a reminder of our hope in Him.

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5. Luke 8:43-48 – God Sees Your Need

“Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace’” (Luke 8:47-48).

A woman who had suffered from an issue of blood for twelve years needed help. She had spent all she had trying to find a solution through doctors, but nothing had relieved her illness (Luke 8:43). But she had heard of Jesus and believed that if only she could touch a part of his garment, she would be healed.

Scripture tells us that she “came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped” (Luke 8:44). She was healed of a disease that had caused years of suffering and pain.

Even though she had only touched the edge of his garment, Jesus knew that power had gone out from Him. The Lord did not ignore the woman or dismiss her as merely another face in the crowd. He sought her, and she fell before Him in fear to confess what had happened (Luke 8:47). Jesus did not rebuke her or declare her unclean, though others would have since her bleeding problem made her unclean according to Jewish law (Leviticus 15:25-30). Instead, He spoke tenderly to her, saying that her faith had healed her. He called her “daughter” and told her to go in peace (Luke 8:48).

In times of sickness or when we are struggling with a chronic disease, we can also long to touch the Lord and receive instant relief. Even if we do not receive healing until heaven, we can still find comfort in knowing that our Lord sees and loves us, just as He did the woman who suffered from the illness of blood.

He looks beyond the uncomfortable symptoms and sees us in our brokenness. He offers us His healing love and treats us with gentleness.

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6. Revelation 22:2 – Healing for All

“Down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2).

In the glimpse that the Bible gives us of our eternal home on a restored earth, we find a description of the tree of life, which will yield fruit each month. The leaves of the tree are also significant since they will be used “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2).

Some translations go as far as to render the word “healing” as “medicine” (see NLT and CEV). However, death, sin, and illness will no longer exist in the new heaven and new earth. We will not need medicine or specialized treatments since no one will suffer from diseases. Though scholars and commentators offer varying interpretations of what purpose these healing leaves will serve, most agree that the Greek word refers to well-being. As John Walvoord stated in his section on Revelation in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, “The word ‘healing’ (therapeian) can be understood as ‘health-giving.’ The English ‘therapeutic’ is derived from this Greek word.”

The scope of the tree’s healing will not just be for a few individuals but for all the nations, which makes it even more powerful. No longer will our lives be affected by the curse of sin. Instead, we will live in everlasting wellness while serving the Lord (Revelation 22:3).

Our eternal home promises us the hope that many of us long for – the end of all illness, death, pain, and mental anguish. Finally, the world and everything in it will be healed from the destructive disease of sin.

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