Healed By His Stripes - Isaiah 53:5

A.C.Pike

Introduction

This is a Scripture that is used by Charistmatic Christians when performing so-called miraculous sign gifts. * They say that this text of Scripture is about the physical healing of a person who is prayed over by a Charismatic Healing Ministry. But is it? In this article, I will show that Isaiah 53:5 is not about the physical healing of a person from illness, but a spiritual healing from sin.

Healed By His Stripes (Isaiah 53:1-10)

1) "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2) For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5) 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. 6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7) He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8) He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9) And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10) Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." (Isaiah 53:1-10 AV/KJV).

The Text's Context

The report that is given is about the coming of the "arm of the LORD (Jehovah)" (v1). Jehovah God's arms is the Lord Jesus Christ. He grows up like a "tender plant" (v2). He is both "despised and rejected" by mankind (v3). The weight of the world is upon his shoulders as he bears our grief and sorrows (v4). He has been wounded for "our transgressions" and "bruised for our iniquities", it is by his "stripes" we are healed (v5). We are wayward sheep that have gone astray in sin, and because of this, he (Jehovah) has "laid on him (Jesus)" all of our iniquities (v6). He was oppressed (by the Leaders of the day). They inflicted him. He was a sheep that was "as a lamb to the slaughter" (V7). He was killed for the sins and transgressions of the people (v8),  A righteous man had to die and be laid to rest with sinners (v9). Death was punishment on mankind for the sins that they inherited from Adam and the sins that they have committed. Jesus Christ was sinless and committed no sin, but died like a sinner, taking away the sin of the elect, and having it placed upon himself. It pleased God to lay the punishment that we deserve upon him, because in doing so, it would forgive us and take away our sins.

Conclusion

As we can see, Isaiah 53:5 is not about physical healing from illness, but a spiritual healing from our sin. It is in verses four and five that we read that Jesus Christ, as the sacrificial lamb of God, bore our sins and transgressions on the cross. It is because of the stripes that Jesus bore on the cross that we are healed from our sins.

Notes

* I do not believe that the sign gists are for today. I believe that they ended in the First Century with the passing away of the Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists.