I recently read this book for a course I’m taking. It was my least anticipated book of the 4 required books. I actually dreaded tackling it. I didn’t particularly care for the anticipated confidence most authors have when teaching on healing. I didn’t particularly care for the expected possibility of more unanswered questions. I didn’t particularly care to read the book. But, I had to. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be a gross understatement. I was thoroughly challenged and inspired by the book. It definitely solidified my growing conviction that healing is God’s will by causing me to take another, deeper look at various familiar scriptures. The author solidified that in 2 ways: explaining already familiar verses that I had failed to study in detail and comparing Christ’s sacrifice with the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which we all know, point to His ultimate sacrifice.
Isaiah 53. A well-known Messianic prophecy. I’ll just focus on several verses that speak of healing.
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed.” Is. 53:4-5
Let’s examine some of the words in these verses. The first word I want to look at is ‘griefs’. It is translated as weaknesses, pain and illnesses in several other translations. The Hebrew word is kholee which means malady, anxiety, or calamity. It comes from the root word chalah which means weak, sick, afflicted. It is used 22 times in the OT and in every place it occurs, except this one and Jeremiah, it is translated either sickness or disease. The word ‘sorrows’ is the Hebrew word, makob, which means anguish or affliction. It comes from the root word ka’ab, which means to feel pain. Therefore, verse 4 could easily be translated, “Surely he hath borne our sicknesses and carried our pain.”
Now, let’s look at some verbs. The word ‘borne’ is the Hebrew word nasa. It is used 590 times in the OT and is used both figuratively and literally. It is the word used when Cain says that his punishment is more than he can bear. In Leviticus 5, “If a soul sin, he shall bear his iniquity.” It is the same word used in verse 12 of Isaiah 53, saying he bore the sin of many. This means that in the same way Jesus bore your sins, He bore your sicknesses.
The other verb in the passage is sabal, translated ‘carried’. It means ‘to carry’, ‘to be burdensome’. You find this word used in similar passages as nasa. It is also used in verse 11 of Isaiah 53, “He shall bear their iniquities. Again, the same word used to describe the work of Christ on the cross concerning our sins is the same word used to describe His work concerning our sickness. According to the prophet Isaiah, we find that to the same extent that the Messiah would take our sin, He would take our sickness and pain. Matthew did not miss this prophecy. He referred to it in his gospel:
“That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our illnesses and bore our sicknesses.'” Matt. 8:16-17
The sacrifices in the OT were symbolic of the sacrifice of Christ. They were a type of atonement that symbolize the atonement Christ purchased on the Cross. But as we study them, we see to glaring differences. The OT sacrificial lamb needed to be free of spot or blemish(Ex. 12:5) Until the moment the lamb was slain, it was without any mark or blemish of any kind. But, that is not the picture we see of Christ. While He was morally spotless, His exterior features did not match the picture of the Passover lamb of the OT. He was mutilated before His death more than any other man. In fact, we are told in Isaiah 52, “his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.”He was so marred, he was unrecognizable!
When a lamb was offered as a sacrifice, it was done in the most humane manner possible. It’s throat was slit so the blood could be collected in a basin. The lamb lost consciousness and died without trauma. As we know, this also does not match the picture of Jesus’ experience.
Why these deviations? The truth is that Jesus could have died a humane death and still taken the punishment for our sins. All that was required was His death as a substitution for ours. He could have fulfilled the type and shadow of the sacrifices without suffering. He could have died humanely, and still have won eternal life for us. But He didn’t. He was wounded so that we could be healed. It was not His suffering that brought us eternal life. His death did that. His suffering brought us healing.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on a tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
Peter is quite clear here: he died so we might live; He was wounded so we might be healed.
This realization completely undid me. It created a deep anguish and sorrow in my spirit that I would ever question whether or not healing is God’s will based on my experience. Every lash His son received was for the sole purpose of purchasing my healing! Every wound on His body bought healing. When He hung on the cross, it was not just the weight of my sin that was placed upon Him, but also the weight of my sicknesses and pain. He carried it all to the cross and dealt with it once and for all!
I don’t think this picture comes close to portray what He looked like….what the torture did to His body. Yet, it still sends the message deep into my soul that every mark on His body was God’s declaration of His will concerning healing. “with His stripes we are healed.” My experience tells me it cannot be His will to heal because I don’t see it every time I pray for it. But, this picture tells me something different. “His blood speaks a better word than all the empty claims I’ve heard upon this earth.” I’ll trust His word and the message of His blood more than my experience. Now, I’ve heard of times when God told a person who was praying for healing, that He wasn’t going to heal this time. So, I believe that is a possibility. But, unless I hear His unmistakeable voice saying otherwise, I will always pray for healing, believing it to be His will.
Just because we don’t see always experience it or see it, doesn’t mean it’s not His will.
Just because it’s a part of life, doesn’t mean it’s His will.
Just because the Bible tells us to expect it, doesn’t mean it’s His will.
Just because He can work powerfully through it, doesn’t mean it’s His will!
Jesus did not just die that you might live….He was also wounded that you might be healed.