Healing and the cross.

In a previous post I suggested that the verse, "by his stripes we are healed." should not be used to guarantee present day healing through faith in Christ. Further to that C. Samuel Storms has some very insightful things to say about the role of the cross in healing. He writes.

"May we conclude that there is healing in the atonement. Of course!.. The redemptive suffering of Jesus Christ at Calvary is the foundation and source of every blessing, whether spiritual or physical... Everything we Christians receive from God finds its ultimate source in what Christ did for us on the cross. Therefore, the question is not whether our bodies receive healing because of the atonement, but when. We are forgiven of our sins now because of Christ's atoning death, but we await the consummation of our deliverance from the presence of sin when Christ returns. We experience fellowship with God now because of Christ's atoning death, but we await the consummation of that blessed relationship when Christ returns.... In other words it is a serious mistake for us to think that every blessing Christ secured through his redemptive suffering will be ours now in its consummate form.
Life for the believer in this present age is a life of tension between the "already" and the "not yet." ... Paul tells us in Romans 8:18 - 25 that the consummation of our adoption as God's children, which he defines as the redemption of our bodies, is something we eagerly and anxiously await; it is a future experience for which we in the present groan.