The Lord gave these instructions to Moses: “Command the people of Israel to remove from the camp anyone who has a skin disease or a discharge, or who has become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead person. This command applies to men and women alike. Remove them so they will not defile the camp in which I live among them.” So the Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses and removed such people from the camp. [Numbers 5.1-4]
I suppose, when reading the scripture above, one could say God is not very compassionate. I mean, what's it going to hurt for these people to be in God's presence? Excellent question! It will hurt them!
Our defilement, sickness or sin does not hurt God. The only effect our defilement, sickness or sin has on God is broken fellowship. And, the broken fellowship is actually still for our own good because God's presence - His holiness - consumes anything less than perfectly holy.
God does not wish to utterly destroy us, so He forbids our coming into His presence in a condition that His holiness would utterly destroy. We must understand that God's holiness is for real.
Our saving grace, today, is Jesus. Because of Jesus, that veil that divided and separated the presence of God from the general public was torn and rendered ineffective. In Christ, and the faith He taught and promoted, there is nothing to separate us from God.
This is so deep in its meaning that it overwhelms me to consider what to write next!
Somehow I am seeing a correlation between this and Jesus' discussion with his disciples about their question, "who sinned...?" regarding a man who needed healing in the New Testament. The important thing was not who sinned, but that God desires restored fellowship and therefore desires to heal and forgive us (really, one and the same) because He loves us. The Redemption Jesus brought to us on earth and now represents on our behalf in heaven is about restored fellowship. Yes, Jesus taught us to repent - we cannot ignore that - however, the repentance is for our own good. Repentance acknowledges God as God and us as not-God.
Why did Jesus heal on earth and not just forgive? Because both sickness and sin are equally unacceptable in God's presence. Neither sin nor sickness are holy (people who disagree just need to get over it because the scripture passage above cannot be denied).
Regardless whether we as modern believers feel saved or healed, we can know God's will in both matters - that He wants us saved and that He wants us healed. There is a lot of devotion and faith in between.
Father, I am overwhelmed with the thought of Your salvation in Christ. I am amazed at the thought of the mechanics of redemption.
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