With Healing in His Wings

by Rolaant McKenzie

In some epic stories, salvation for the people of the world from a catastrophic situation comes in a way unforeseen and through the unlikeliest of people. Stories like this often leave a lasting impression on us, especially if they involve a hero's sacrifice of the kind that reminds us of Jesus' words, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

One such story is Elysium, a 2013 American dystopian science fiction action film set in the year 2154, where two sharply divided classes of people exist. The citizens of Earth live in extreme poverty in a world that is little more than a devastated slum. The wealthy and powerful elite live on Elysium, an orbiting space habitat where the residents live in luxury and comfort, including having ready access to Med-Bays, which are bed-sized medical devices that can heal virtually any disease or injury.

Those on earth work to provide goods and services to the residents of Elysium and are policed by merciless robots of Armadyne Corp, an arms manufacturer that provides weapons for the space station. Shuttles are used by the elite to travel between Earth and Elysium to manage their companies or to receive supplies and equipment. Unauthorized shuttles seeking access to the space habitat, such as those used by desperate sick people trying to reach a Med-Bay to be healed, are destroyed.

Max Da Costa, who lives in the dilapidated urban sprawl of Los Angeles, is an assembly line worker for Armadyne Corp. An accident at the plant exposed him to a lethal dose of radiation, leaving him only five days to live unless he could make use of a Med-Bay. Max seeks help from a smuggler and hacker named Spider, who agrees to smuggle him into Elysium in exchange for acquiring valuable data from John Carlyle, CEO of Armadyne Corp.

Max retrieves the encrypted data, and it is downloaded through an interface into his brain. Spider later analyzes it and finds that it can be altered to make all of Earth's residents citizens of Elysium, since the Med-Bays work only for its citizens. But he also discovered something else. Spider told Max that once the data is decrypted and downloaded from his brain into the space habitat's computer core, he will die. Knowing this, Max realized the great good this would be for the citizens of Earth and decided to sacrifice his life to complete the mission.

Spider and Max arrived at Elysium in an "authorized" shuttle and reached the main data center. Spider attached Max to the computer core and gave him the keyboard to hit the "enter" key. As Max executed the data download, he died. The computer core rebooted and recognized all Earth residents as citizens of Elysium. A fleet of medical ships loaded with Med-Bays was dispatched to Earth. They came as on wings of eagles and landed all around the world. Multitudes of people with eager expectation rushed to them, bringing their sick and dying children, family, and friends, and they were healed.

Witnessing the desperation of many on Earth in Elysium to gain access to healing reserved only for the elite and the hopelessness they felt can elicit heartrending emotions, for we can see some parallels to this in our lives. Many of us have seen advertisements for cancer research hospitals on television featuring children suffering from various forms of cancer and their grief-stricken, yet hopeful, parents. We know family and friends who are struggling with life-threatening illnesses or debilitating diseases. We sympathize and grieve for them. Some of us ourselves may be suffering from an ongoing serious health condition or disability, and it is difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Healing was a vital part of Jesus' earthly ministry when He preached the gospel of the kingdom of God in the cities and villages of Israel, for it revealed His divinity and the love of God for His lost sheep. He saw the distress, despair, and hopelessness of the people, like sheep without a shepherd, and had compassion for them, healing them of every kind of disease and sickness (Matthew 9:35-36, 14:13-14). Just as at the conclusion of Elysium, when large crowds of people came running from all directions to the medical ships to be healed by the Med-Bays, multitudes came from all directions seeking the healing touch of Jesus, who compassionately healed them all (Luke 4:40-41, 6:17-19).

This was a foretaste of what the prophet Malachi wrote about more than 400 years earlier. He was given a glimpse of a time when the kingdom of God would be established, and the Sun of Righteousness would bring healing to all who hope in Him:

"But for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall." (Malachi 4:2)

This Sun of Righteousness is Jesus Christ, who does not restrict or hoard redemption and healing for the rich and powerful but freely grants citizenship in His kingdom to all who repent of their sins and trust solely in Him and His righteousness to stand before God in peace.

More than five centuries after Malachi, Jesus revealed to the apostle John the culmination of the healing for His children He has redeemed by His blood. He showed him and us the light at the end of the tunnel. Jesus showed John the new city in the new country -- the new Jerusalem in the new heaven and earth. In this place God Himself will dwell, and there will be no more pain or suffering of any kind and no more death and separation. The Lord knows all the tears you have shed in life (Psalm 56:8), and He Himself will wipe them away forever (Revelation 21:1-4).

Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross to give us the fruit of the Tree of Life and its healing leaves (Revelation 22:1-5). His resurrection from the dead on the third day demonstrates that His teachings and promises are absolutely sure. In Christ, there is complete forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and something far better than a Med-Bay: healing that lasts forever.

Jesus comes with healing in His wings, and all who trust in Him will "skip about like calves from the stall." Hallelujah!

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." (Philippians 3:20-21)