How Could Jesus Heal the Sick Based on His Future Atonement?

Matthew 8:17 shows us that Jesus healed the sick based on His future atonement.  I realize that on the surface Matthew didn’t come out and say that, but it’s still the only correct way to interpret that verse.  Matthew’s use of the Greek Aorist subjunctive is a good hint (though not ironclad proof in itself) that the fulfillment was a one-time event, not an ongoing one, and so could not have applied to Jesus’ healing ministry, which went on for quite a while.  (I cover this in much more depth in my answer to the common objection offered by many denominational writers that Isaiah 53:4 was fulfilled in Capernaum and not at Calvary.)

It can trip people up to think that Jesus could have healed people BEFORE He atoned for their sins and bore their sicknesses and pains.

First, God’s timetable from HIS perspective says that Jesus was “slain before the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).  So this timing issue doesn’t bother God.

Second, Jesus forgave sins based on His future atonement.  He had not yet paid for people’s sins, but He still forgave them.  I don’t know anyone who proposes that Jesus’ forgiveness of sins before Calvary was wrong.  But sin and sickness were both dealt with when Jesus was punished in our place.  If sin could be dealt with in advance, surely sickness could also be dealt with in advance.  The people were forgiven and healed on credit, and Jesus’ credit was good.

Third, consider the Old Testament symbols of Jesus that produced healing.  The mere SYMBOL of Jesus in the Passover caused a mass healing where no one in Israel’s tribes was feeble (Psalm 105:37).   When a tree (a mere SYMBOL of Calvary) was thrown into bad water, the water was healed (Exodus 15:23-25). The mere SYMBOL of Jesus on a pole (Numbers 21:5-9) that symbolized the cross – John 3:14) provided not only forgiveness but also healing for anyone who beheld it.  The mere SYMBOL of Jesus in the Passover in Nehemiah’s day resulted in the physical healing of the people (2 Chronicles 30:18-20).  So if it was legal for a pre-Calvary SYMBOL of Jesus to produce healing, surely the actual Man Himself should have been able to produce it before the cross.  If other things symbolized what He would do and produced healing for the people, surely Jesus could symbolize what He Himself would do and produce healing for the people!  Jesus was the ultimate symbol of Himself!