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NASB | 2 Corinthians 1:4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Corinthians 1:4 who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. |
Bible Question: Why is there such opposition God wanting to heal His people? I'm baffeled at the number of people who believe this. |
Bible Answer: (Con't Pt. 2) The Healing Nature of God. With the above definition of physical healing in mind, I propose that it is God’s nature to perform such miraculous acts for his people. To appreciate the evidence that I will provide for this claim, you must first understand how we may discover information concerning God’s nature. God mainly reveals information about himself through the Scriptures. Through the Bible, we discover at least four things about God that will make clear his nature and dispositions to us. They are his names, actions, speech, and Scriptural descriptions concerning him. God’s names as recorded in the Scriptures contain various meanings that reveal different aspects of his nature. For example, he revealed his name to Moses in Exodus 3:14 as "I AM," saying, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" This name reveals his self-existence and timelessness. In a certain sense, no temporal being may say, "I am who I am," since as he says it, he has already changed – thus, what was intended as "I am" has become an "I was." Therefore, any being that is temporal and in a state of flex may not literally say, "I am who I am," but one who exists outside of time, where there is no before and after, and who is immutable, can make such a claim. Further, this name reveals God’s nature of existence, that he has the power of self-existence, that he is an independent being. No one may make this claim besides one who exists before all else, and who does not depend on any other being or object for his being and perpetual existence. In addition, one who has the power of self-existence, whose essence is existence itself, gives the gift of existence to all that exists. As Jesus said, "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself" (John 5:26). We do not have the power of self-existence in that our being has a definite point of origin in time and space, and even now, our perpetual existence depends on other things, and ultimately on the first cause of all existing matter, who is God: "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). Although the meaning of the name itself may reveal God’s transcendent nature, the way it is used in the Old Testament Scripture indicates that this God is also personal; he is eager to be involved in the lives of human beings. This name, "I am who I am," reveals abundant and profound information on the nature of God. It is a concise way of stating one aspect of God’s nature. We can see, then, how God may reveal information to us on what he is like by telling us his names. The name that we are interested in studying is revealed to us in Exodus, where God tells the people of Israel that he is "the LORD who heals you" (Jehovah-Rophi, or Jehovah-Rapha; Exodus 15:26). Each of God’s names does not merely consist in a sound, nor is it only a device for convenient designation, but contains rich information concerning him. The names of God reveal his very essence and his nature, and not arbitrary or peripheral information. Thus, when God reveals one of his names as "The Lord who heals you," he is telling his people that it is his nature to heal, that it is his disposition to restore the health of those who follow him. (con't) |