Previously we talked about how we are saved by the blood of Jesus and how that He was wounded for every thing, large and small, that we have done wrong, taking on Himself the beatings that should rightly have been ours. In this study I want you to learn two things; first that at the same time that Jesus went to the cross He also paid the price for your healing, and second the fact that He took upon Himself those stripes in our place that we might be healed.

In Isaiah 53:5 it says, “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.” There are four things mentioned here; 1) being wounded, 2) being bruised, 3) being chastised, and 4) being whipped (receiving stripes). We are looking at the fourth, because the last study covers the first three, at least it touches on them. I want you to notice the finality of what is being said, “by his stripes we are healed.” Not might be, not partially, not but what if? We ARE healed. In I Peter 2:24 the apostle quotes Isaiah and changes the tense. This is what he writes, “²Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” Peter says, not that we ARE healed, but that we WERE healed. This is important, and it is not a misquote. Isaiah was looking forward to the cross of Christ, and in looking forward he had that hope of God that we were ALREADY healed by what Jesus would bear for us on that day. When Peter writes his letter he is looking BACK to the cross, seeing that such payment has ALREADY been made on the cross.

There are some who say that this does not mean physical healing, but spiritual healing. I am not sure where I stand on that. It is linked with the other aspects of salvation, so it may well be that God is saying that we were healed of our sin through the stripes Jesus bore for us. It makes sense. Yet I like to believe that the reason it says, “healed” is so that we understand that while, yes we are healed of sin, and we are also healed in our bodies. Perhaps I’m wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time. This gives me the chance to say check me out. Don’t believe everything you read or hear, just because someone claims to be teaching the truth. Go to God’s Word and find out what He says on the matter.

The second thing we should take note of is that WE were the cause of those stripes, those wounds, which Jesus bore. WE were the cause of His death. For if we had no sin in our lives Jesus would not have had to die. Therefore Jesus took upon His body our sins, and the law that condemned us, and “nailed it to the cross” as Paul says in Colossians 2:14 that in Jesus, God blotted, “out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross”. This is a marvelous thing, and yet it should humble us, for the God of all Creation did so humble Himself, taking upon Him the form of sinful man that He, in His perfection, might put to death that which was laid against us in judgment. Think about that! God required DEATH as the penalty for sin, and then HE paid that requirement HIMSELF! Is there ANYTHING greater than this? As it says in Romans 5:8, “For God commendeth His love towards us in this, in that while ye were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Not when we cleaned up our act, but just as we were. God, the only truly holy and perfect being in all that exists, became man that He might live a perfect life as a man, and give Himself up as a sacrifice for us, that we might have the forgiveness of sin. In this there should be great rejoicing. Truly there is. For Jesus said "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." (Luke 15:10) If all of heaven is rejoicing over you, and me then what are we so grumpy about, why are we depressed? It is because we have not allowed the full truth of the Cross to take root in our hearts.

If there can be a discussion over what kind of healing Jesus bore our stripes I offer this, that while it may have been for the spiritual healing of mankind, the joy that God gives us should be such that our physical bodies would likewise begin to heal. That is a whole other study.