HEALED BY HIS WOUNDS Isaiah 53:1-5; I Peter 2:24

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1 1 When Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a martyr, or the blood of one man for another; it was the life of God poured out to redeem the world. 1 Oswald Chambers Diseases often result from sinful living and are ultimately the consequences of original (Adamic) sin. But this was not the case of Jesus. Isaiah, the prophet, put it: Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted (Isa. 53:4). The phrase stricken by God (Isa. 53:4b) typically means that Jesus was stricken with a terrible disease. In Genesis 12:17 it says: But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram s wife Sara. Here Pharaoh was being inflicted with disease because he added Abram s wife to his harem. In II Kings 15:5 we have the account of Zechariah King of Israel afflicted with leprosy because he usurped the priestly function of burning incense on the altar in the temple: The Lord afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, and he lived in a separate house. People, especially in Israel, thought that the Servant was suffering for His own sins. FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY Matthew quotes from this verse 4 in part in Matthew 8:17 with reference to Jesus healing ministry: This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.

2 2 PIERCED BY MAN AND CRUSHED BY GOD Then Isaiah points out that our Lord was pierced and crushed for our sins: But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities (Isa. 53:5a). The sins of the world weighed heavily upon Him. In the anguished prayer of David in Psalm 22 we hear Jesus cry from the cross: Dogs have surrounded Me; a band of evil men has encircled Me, they have pierced My hands and My feet (Ps. 22:16). John points out in his gospel record: The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus side with a spear, bringing sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of His bones will be broken, and as another Scripture says, They will look on the One they have pierced [Zech. 12:10] (Jn. 19:32-37). The piercing of Jesus side was probably to make doubly sure that Jesus was dead although it could also be simply an act of brutality. GOD S PUNISHMENT The phrase, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him (Isa. 53:5a) refers to the fact that justice had to be accomplished before peace was possible. Because God is just, sin had to be punished. And Jesus took the punishment. As a result we can experience peace.

3 3 SPIRITUAL HEALING The phrase and by His wounds we are healed (Isa. 53:5b) emphasizes the suffering Messiah as our Healer. But what kind of Healer? Is the healing referring to physical or spiritual healing? Both are possibilities. In Isaiah 6:10 and I Peter 2:24 it refers to spiritual healing, which is equivalent to being forgiven: Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed (Isa. 6:10). He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed (I Pet. 2:24). Christ, like the sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament, died for our sins, the innocent for the guilty. Peter stresses the bearing of the cross on our sanctification. The phrase that we might die to sins and live for righteousness emphasizes the fact that as a result of Christ s death on the cross, believers are positionally dead to sin so that they may live new lives and present themselves to God as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:11-13). The phrase you have been healed is not generally viewed here as a reference to physical healing, though some believe that such healing was included in the atonement. Therefore Peter probably has spiritual healing in mind here, which is another way of asserting that Christ s death brings salvation to those who trust in Him. PHYSICAL HEALING Jeremiah 30:17 clearly refers to physical healing: But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord, because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares. Similarly, the context of Matthew 8:16,17 makes it clear that the healing is a reference to physical healing: When evening came, many who were demonized were brought to Him, and he drove out

4 the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases (Mt. 8:16,17). This is a direct quote from Isaiah 53:4. Such a vision certainly transcended the prophet s own understanding as he pictured the substitutionary suffering of Christ as if it had already occurred. It was voluntary suffering. Apart from this voluntary character it would have had no atoning value. The context makes it clear that Isaiah is thinking of the Servant s taking the diseases of others upon Himself through His suffering and death for their sin. Matthew points out that the Servant took up our infirmities and carried our diseases. The context is deliverance and physical healing. Matthew uses the word "this" to refer back to such ministry as applying to the atonement of Christ. There is no doubt but that this stresses that physical healing is in the atonement. 4 Healed Because of Jesus Vicarious Suffering Jesus then took our infirmities and diseases by means of His vicarious suffering for sin, which was the root problem of humanity and which dishonored His Father. Thus whenever He saw sickness or distress He experienced Calvary, His own Calvary, His own bitter, vicarious suffering throughout His life on earth, especially on the cross. That is why it was not easy for Him to heal (Mt. 9:5; Mk. 2:9). Healed Because of Jesus Compassion Jesus took our infirmities and diseases by means of His deep sympathy or compassion, thus entering fully and personally into the sorrows of those whom He came to rescue. That Jesus healed because of His compassion is repeated again and again (Mt. 9:36; 14:14; 20:34; Mk. 1:41; 5:19; 6:34; Lk. 7:13). This theme of compassion also is seen in His parables (Mt. 18:27; Lk. 10:33; 15:20-24,31,32). Healed Because of the Power of God s Kingdom: A Foretaste of the Kingdom and the Fruit of Jesus Death Healing and forgiveness are tied together by the fact that the consummated Kingdom, in which there is no sickness, is made possible by Jesus death and the new covenant that His death enacted (Mt. 26:27-29). Thus the healings during Jesus ministry can be understood not only as the foretaste of the Kingdom but also as the fruit of Jesus death. Thus Jesus healing miracles pointed beyond themselves to the Cross.

5 5 The New Testament is clear that the cross is the focus of God's redemptive activity. And since sickness is ultimately a result of the fall, healing finds its focal point in the atonement. Healing, therefore, is part of the work of the atonement carried out by Jesus on the cross. His healing ministry is itself a function of His substitutionary death, by which He lays the foundation for destroying sickness. But does that mean that healing is as automatic as the forgiveness of sin? The fact that healing is in the atonement does not meant it is therefore the automatic benefit to all believers. Even though the Cross is the basis for all benefits that accrue to believers, this does not mean that all such benefits can be secured at the present time on demand, any more than we have the right and power to demand our resurrection bodies. This does not justify healing on demand. Although there is healing in the atonement, the promise of the resurrection body is also in the atonement, even if believers do not inherit it until the return of Christ. Just as God made Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin, so He made Him to be sick for us who knew no sickness. He who entered the mysterious sympathy with our pain which is the fruit of sin, also endured vicariously our diseases as well as our inequities. Just as sanctification is the consummation of Christ s redemptive work for the soul, and the resurrection is the consummation of His redemptive work for the body. As Keith Bailey in his book, Divine Healing The Children s Bread, points out: The benefit of healing in the atonement does not demand that all who exercise faith must have perfect health any more than the benefit of salvation in the atonement demands that all who believe must manifest complete sinlessness. 2 Isaiah affirms that Christ bore our sorrows, that is, bore them on himself in order to remove them. The Servant of God took upon himself the suffering which we had to bear, and deserve to bear, and endured them in his own person, in order to deliver us from them. The prediction had begun to be fulfilled, because already its effects were visible, the Scriptures always representing sorrow as the fruit of sin. The doctrine of healing in the atonement does not say that universal healing is always available, but rather that physical healing is available to believers on the grounds of the blood atonement.

6 Although forgiveness is instant in the present time, the fact that healing is not always granted can be explained in that while we are the new covenant people of God, we still possess our earthly and sinful bodies. 6 We must be careful not to demand blessings that may not be ours till the end of the age. When healing does take place, it is a reminder that as Christians we are a part of a new kingdom, a new creation, and that such healing is a foretaste of what is to come in the eschaton. When healing does not take place, it shows that the new kingdom will not finally arrive until the Second Coming, and that until then, even Christians must face having to live in the domain of the evil one who is "the god of this world" (I Jn. 5:19). Paul & His Lack of Healing Healing is not always God's will in this life. Paul's own body was weak, or sickly (II Cor. 10:10). He confesses that he always carried in his body "the death of Jesus" (II Cor. 4:10,11), and the context makes it clear that he is referring to his physical weaknesses. The frailty of the "clay jar" of Paul's humanity (II Cor. 4:7) is plainly seen in the constant hardships and persecutions with which he is buffeted for the sake of the gospel and through which he shares in Christ's sufferings (II Cor. 1:5; Rom. 8:17; Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24). Outwardly Paul groaned (II Cor. 4:16) as he longed to replace his present "earthly tent" with the "heavenly dwelling" (II Cor. 5:1,2). Many biblical scholars believe Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was malaria (probably Asian Malaria) because it had the effect of the feeling of a "thorn" or "stake" as described by Paul in II Corinthians 12:1-10 and affected the eyes which likely explains why Paul wrote with such large letters (Gal. 6:11). In fact, Paul preached in Galatia as a direct result of illness (Gal. 4:12-15). Whether Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was malaria or not we cannot be sure. But that it was physical is clear. Some claim that the "flesh" here refers to Paul's sinful nature and that "the messenger" that Paul refers to is a "person" (most probably a demon) from Satan who is attacking his sinful tendencies. The context makes such a meaning highly unlikely. Proponents of this view get around difficult passages by making a distinction between "suffering" and "sickness." Suffering is seen as something external and results from following Jesus, and this is what Paul is suffering from in this incident. Sickness and disease, however, are a part of the Fall and the curse, and these have now been overcome by God in Christ.

7 7 Can such a clear distinction be biblically sustained? No! The biblical writers did not make such distinctions as clearly seen in both the Old and New Testaments. In both testaments the most common word for sickness is in fact the word "weakness." This means that frequently only the context tells us what kind of "weakness" is involved. All evil, not just sickness, is the result of the fall. While God can deliver from all evil, He does not always choose to do so. Just as Satan was responsible for Paul's "thorn in the flesh," similarly he was hindered by Satan from returning to Thessalonica (I Thess. 2:18). Yet in neither case is there any indication that he "failed." Therefore sickness is not to be considered some unique part of the Fall that can be exorcised at will. Rather it is part and parcel of the whole of fallenness. Although we are promised healing, yet somehow there is at the same time--in this present age--a place for "a little wine" for one's ailments. APPLICATION When Peter quoted from Isaiah 53:4 he added the words:... so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness (I Pet. 2:24). We are healed by the wounds of Christ for the purpose that we might Die to sins Live for righteousness We are not healed just to enjoy our healing. We are healed that we might live lives that are pleasing to God. By His death on the cross Christ has set us free from the bondage to sin, so that we are dead to sin and alive to God (Rom. 6:2-13; II Cor. 5:15; Gal. 2:20). We appropriate our freedom from the tyranny of sin when we come to God in repentance and faith. And we demonstrate our life in Christ when we obediently submit to God and do His will.

8 8 NOTES 1 Edythe Draper, Draper s Book of Quotations For The Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992), Keith Bailey, Divine Healing: The Children s Bread (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1977), 55.