Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 7/24/2004

Question
Note-- I sent this question to you but did not receive an automated response. I thought it best to send it again just to be sure!

It seems to me that in Jesus' earthly ministry He was healing before He received His stripes (Isaiah 53:5), and forgiving sins before his Crucifixion & Resurrection (Matthew 9:2, Luke 7:48).

These people are NOT given a ticket for later action-- The blind, lame and dead are healed immediately. The forgiveness of sin seems also to be immediate-- "You're sins ARE forgiven," NOT "You're sins WILL BE forgiven after I am sacrificed."

Obviously, Jesus is fully God and can do whatever He wants. Don't you think that Jesus has always had the power to Heal and to Save, and His earthly suffering was less to "earn" this power, and more to fulfill the Levitical Law?


Otherwise, how could He do these works in advance of His suffering?


Answer
blessings and thank you for your question.

Jesus was God, so you are right in saying he could do whatever he wanted.  But there is so much involved in the crucifixion.  Jesus fulfilled the law by making himself the ultimate sacrifice.  The law said that sin could not be forgiven unless there was the shedding of blood.  God said that life was in the blood.  Jesus became the ultimate passover lamb, the ultimate atonement, the ultimate sacrifice for us.  

So did Jesus always have the power to heal and save? Yes, but he had to die on the cross for past, present, and future generations.