Pro 4:20  My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Pro 4:21  Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
Pro 4:22  For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.  

The question is what does it mean for the word to be health to our flesh?  What does it mean to be healed by the word?  

There’s a lot of things we can say about our flesh being healed.  

We can talk about it from the perspective of the glorification of our flesh and our flesh being healed from death when our mortal bodies are clothed with immortality on the last day.  

We can talk about our health prospering as our hearts are healed from the fear and stress thats in the world.  3Jn 1:2  says Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.

We can talk about people being miraculously healed from things like cancer and their bodies being healed from injuries and physical ailments through the power of the resurrection as signs, wonders and miracles testifying of the eternal life that is in Jesus.  

I think much of the church world wide primarily defines healing and the healing of the flesh and verses like proverbs 4 and psalms 107 as pertaining to a fever being healed or a cancer being healed or an injury being healed.  Or something of that nature. 

But, is that really the focus of what those verses are talking about.

Yes a cancer or a physical ailment can be healed in a persons body.  And we rejoice over that.  And we lay hands on people and pray for all manner of diseases and sicknesses to be sent away from people.  And we pray from the foundation of knowing God has divorced us from sin and death through Christ Jesus.  

With all that being said should a persons body be healed of a cancer or something like that but they are still filled with hatred and envy and gossiping and backbiting and fornication then their flesh has still not been healed.  If a person has an injury in their body, even should their body be healed of that injury, if they are still filled with laboring and toiling to attain to life then their flesh hasn’t been healed.  

I’m not saying that the flesh being healed cannot also pertain to an ailment or a disease in the sense of what those things mean in our culture but I think the primary meaning of health for the flesh is pertaining to what we see in Adam when the motion of sin was excited in Adams members through his flesh  lusting to be clothed in life.

What does it mean for our flesh to be sick?  What are the scriptures referring to when they talk about a flesh that is sick?

Sickness in the flesh means for the flesh to be taken from rest and excited unto the motion of sin.  And through that for a person to be clothed in the fruit of death or the works of the flesh.  

A flesh that is sick and in need of healing is flesh that is lusting after life.  Its a flesh that wants to gather life unto itself.  Its been excited by the motion of sin to try and gather unto itself peace and love and joy and kindness and all the fruit of the Spirit.  And because of that its taken from rest.  It’s filled with labors and annoyances.  It’s toiling to produce the fruit of the Spirit and in all its toil to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit it is producing the works of the flesh instead.  

Sickly flesh or a flesh that is in need of healing is a flesh that is decorated in hatred and envy and gossiping and backbiting, and fornication on account of having been excited with the motion of sin through its lust to attain to life itself.    

Sickly flesh is a flesh that is not functioning properly.  Its a flesh that is not functioning in a manner that is consistent with its design.  

Our flesh was never meant to labor inorder to attain to life.  It was never meant to be tilled like the ground to be fruitful.  It was never meant to be taken from rest.  It was never meant to bear the fruit of death.  It was never meant for hatred or envy or gossip and murder and stealing to be produced in it.  So it was sick in that the fruit that came forth in us was like thorns and thistles.  

Adams flesh was in need of healing after he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  His flesh was sick and in need of healing even though no diseases or physical ailments had manifested in him yet.  

Adam didn’t have a disease or a fever or one leg that was longer than the other one.  The sickness in Adams flesh was that it was full of labors trying to attain to life by the sweat of his brow.  He wanted to til his body to bring forth the fruit of Gods life and because he worked his body trying to produce the fruit of Gods life his flesh was producing thorns and thistles.  

You know genesis says our bodies were made from the dust of the ground.  Our flesh was made from the same substance as the ground.  In fact if you do a study of the makeup of the body and the makeup of the ground you will find they have the same minerals contained in them.  This is one of the reasons why our bodies respond postively to proper nutrition and vitamins.  They are being replenished with minerals.  

Now in light of that ...... You can have soil that is healthy and rich with nutrients.  Or you can have a soil that is sickly and void of nutrients and unable to bear fruit. 

In my backyard we planted some banana plants and the soil wasn’t good soil and the banana plants grew initially but eventually withered away and never were able to produce fruit.  Listen I worked that ground.  I tilled that ground every way possible so it could be fruitful but it still wouldn’t grow bananas.  Now the weeds that had thorns and thistles didn’t have any problem growing there.  

We can say the ground was not healthy because it was bearing thorns and thistles instead of fruit.  Now what would be health and healing to this soil is if it could be filled with nutrients and bear fruit instead of thorns and thistles.  The soil being healed would look like the thorns and thistles being replaced with fruit;with bananas man!

Psa 16:9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

The psalmist speaking prophetically by inspiration of the Spirit of the Son says my flesh rests in hope.  Now Hope isnt in the worldly sense where we say maybe it will happen.  Biblical hope is a certainty of life and immortality coming to pass. 

This is a prophetic psalm giving us a glimpse into the heart of Jesus while he is on the cross.  The psalm is speaking of Jesus’ flesh being put to rest as he was crucified and taking the sin and death of the world into himself.  Jesus says his flesh was put to rest on the cross by the certainty he would be raised unto eternal life and immortality in his flesh.  Jesus says the word of life; the Fathers promise to raise him from the dead and cloth upon him with life put his flesh to rest.  

Remember in proverbs 4 God said His word is health and healing to all our flesh.  

What word!  The word of life that was manifested in the body of Jesus’ resurrection.  That word of life.  The word of a life that overcomes sin and death.  The certainty of that life coming to pass in me.  The certainty that the corruption in my body will be swallowed with incorruption.  The certainty that my body will be glorified with the immortality of God satisfies my flesh.  It satisfies the longing in my heart.  It puts my flesh to rest.  It makes my sick heart well and acts as a balm on my flesh calming the motion of sin that was excited in my members by death.  

The word of life that manifested in Jesus is health to all my flesh.  The word of life has replaced the fear that was in my heart with the love of God and decorated my flesh with the peace and the love and the joy and the kindness and the patience and the meekness of God.  

A healthy flesh is a flesh that is at rest on account of beholding the certainty of life and immortality in Jesus.  When the scripture talks about Gods word being health to all our flesh and our flesh being healed it’s talking about our hearts being circumcised from trying to attain to life by our working and our lives being healed from the works of the flesh.  

What does rest in the flesh look like?  

We don’t want to interpret rest through the carnal mind and define it as inactivity.  Rest is not about activity or inactivity its about the heart behind it.  

A person can labor more abundantly than them all and yet still be at rest.  And a person can also not labor at all and not be at rest.   We can also experience uncomfortableness in our flesh and still be at rest.  

Any labor we do was always meant to be born from having an abundance of life.  Any labor we undertake was always meant to be born from a heart that says my cup runneth over instead of a heart that says my cup is half empty.  

Any activity that is born from us trying to gather the peace and the love and the joy and the kindness of God unto ourselves is a symptom of a sick flesh that is not at rest.  Any activity or thing we undertake in an attempt to bring ourselves something only God can give us is a symptom of a sick flesh that is taken from rest. 

1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.  

Peter defines the healing he is talking about here when he says “that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.  Thats what Peter calls being healed.  His description of being healed is our bodies being made available for the fruit of the Spirit and no longer made available for the works of the flesh.  

Peter is saying we were sick because we were slaves to sin through death reigning over us.  Sin took our members captive to a life of laboring and toiling through death and brought forth its fruit in our flesh.  But, now because Jesus took our death into his body on the cross, the serpents head has been crushed, and we are dead to the serpents bite and alive to God and His eternal life.  

Where we were once enslaved to sin through death, always bearing about in our bodies the works of the flesh.  We have been healed.  We are now enslaved to righteousness through eternal life, and always bearing about in our bodies the fruit of the Spirit.  The word of Eternal life has put our flesh to rest and is bringing forth its fruit in us.  Where as before our lives were decorated with the works of the flesh and destruction now our lives are decorated with the fruit of the Spirit.  

Peter is saying Mankind was filled with destruction.  Nothing but thorns and thistles were coming out of us towards one another.  We were all our days bearing the works of the flesh. 

We were taken from rest by the serpents bite.  The serpents bite made our flesh sick with death and the works of the flesh.  Peter says we are dead to the serpents bite because we were crucified with Christ.  

In numbers everyone who looked on the bronze serpent that was hung on the pole was healed.  Healed from what?  They were healed from death.  

Death stings our hearts with fear and takes our members captive to laboring to try and attain to life.  This produces the works of the flesh in our bodies.  It makes our flesh the kind of ground that produces thorns and thistles.  It makes our flesh sick.  

Peter says Jesus came and took the death that was stinging us into his body to deliver us from the one who held us in bondage through the fear of death.  Peter is saying Jesus crushed the serpents head by taking the death that was reigning over us into his body on the cross.  And all those who behold their death to death in Jesus on the cross are healed from the motion of sin in their flesh and the works of the flesh.