Listen on SoundCloud!

Transcript/ notes from Session 3, “He Heals All My Diseases”

Introduction

Welcome to, Session 3 of the Benefits of the Cross series. This session is entitled, “He Heals All My Diseases.”

This week I kept thinking of a certain portion of Frances Ridley Havergal’s letter which I read to you last time. She wrote:

“Have we been limiting 1 John 1:7 by practically making it refer only to remission of sins that are past? Instead of taking the grand simplicity of ‘cleanses us from all sin’? All is ALL, and as we trust Him to cleanse us from the stain of past sins so we may trust Him to cleanse us from all present defilement. Yes, ALL! If not, we take away from this most precious promise, and by refusing to take it in its fullness, lose the fullness of its application and power.  Then we limit God’s power to keep. We look at our frailty more than His omnipotence.” (Frances Ridley Havergal, December 2, 1873)

The reason I kept thinking of this is because I kept interchanging the word “cleanses” with “heals.” I rewrote that part with what was on my heart: 

“Have we been limiting Psalm 103:3 by practically making it refer only to the healing of diseases here and there, every once in a while? Instead of taking the grand simplicity of ‘heals ALL my diseases’? All is ALL, and as we look to His stripes, we trust Him to heal us today of all diseases. Yes, ALL! If not, we take away from this most precious promise, and by refusing to take it in its fullness, lose the fullness of its application and power.  Then we limit God’s power to heal. We look at our sickness and even our faith more than His omnipotence.”

The first benefit is “He forgives all my sins.” The second is “He heals all my diseases.” Jesus paid for both.

Today I want to present this message as objectively as I can. Of all the topics we can discuss, healing is perhaps the one that is the most difficult to look at objectively.

So I want to look at it in a such a way that we can put aside past experiences where someone we prayed for did not get healed, and put aside that awful condemnation that the enemy tries to put on us that says we didn’t have enough faith, or that our sin got in the way. Even if we have sinned, the blood of Jesus has washed that sin away.

So what is the only way that we can truly be objective when it comes to the topic of healing? The only way is to put our eyes solely on Jesus. So that’s what I am going to attempt to do today. 

I believe the most important spiritual discipline we can have is keeping our eyes on Jesus, setting our minds on things above, and standing firmly on the word of God. And Jesus is the Word! No matter what happens around us, we have Him as our anchor, and we always go back to what we know to be true: HIS WORD.  Jesus Christ is our true north!

This message is not an exhaustive teaching on healing. That would be a series of messages. Today I want to look specifically at the price that Jesus paid. I will share some details about the scourging that He took for us before He went to the cross because “by His stripes we were healed.”

And we’ll look into the Scriptures that I believe are proof positive that healing was provided through the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus. Jesus should get what He paid for.

Psalm 103 – forgiveness and healing coupled

In Psalm 103, David lists forgiveness of sins as the first benefit. It is the Greatest Blessing of all! Because of what Jesus has done by bearing all of our sin on the cross, God’s holiness and righteousness demand our full, complete, and unconditional pardon for sin!

To question that is to question the preciousness of the blood of Jesus and the very righteousness of God who is righteous in making the sinner righteous who comes to Him through Jesus. David said – 

Psalm 103:2-3 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases…

The second benefit that David lists is healing. This makes perfect sense to me because once we are born again, God doesn’t beam us up to heaven. He leaves us here.

As long as we are here, it is for a purpose. So health and healing are a benefit we need so that we will fulfill the purpose of spreading the good news about Jesus, making disciples, healing the sick, and being light in the world and witnesses of God’s love so that more and more will receive His grace and come into the kingdom. God prepared good works before we were even born that we should walk in them! We need to walk in health to do those good works!

Forgiveness, the first benefit, and healing, the second, are coupled together in the scriptures.

When David called upon himself to bless the Lord and remember His benefits – the forgiveness of all our sins and the healing of all our diseases – he was referring to the two things that bear witness to death’s claim over mankind: sin in the soul and sickness in the body.

But Jesus has redeemed us from both! He accomplished both forgiveness and healing at the cross. Jesus, who took upon Himself the soul-life and the body of man, delivered both from the results of sin.

This truth is nowhere more evident or better demonstrated than in the account of the paralyzed man lowered through the roof: 

Mark 2:9-11 – [Jesus said] “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

The people wouldn’t believe that Jesus had power to forgive this man’s sin, so Jesus says to them, in effect, “I will now prove to you that I have the power to forgive sins by healing this man of paralysis, which is one of the consequences of sin. When you see that I can take away a sin-produced disease, then you’ll know for sure that I can also take away sin itself.”

Everywhere He went, He healed sick bodies

Just as forgiveness of sins reveals the unconditional love of God for us, healing is a grace from heaven, brought by Jesus to make known the extravagant love of God for us.

Neither the scriptures nor Jesus Himself ever speaks of sickness as a blessing or as proof of God’s love. It is never a good thing. When Jesus spoke of the suffering which is promised for His disciples, He did not include sickness in the list. He only spoke of sickness as an evil caused by sin and satan. Period. 

1 John 3:8 – For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Acts 10:38, NASB – You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Everywhere Jesus went, He healed sick bodies, and He forgave sins. By His own actions and by the commands which He gave His disciples, Jesus showed us clearly that the preaching of the Gospel and the healing of the sick go hand in hand in the redemption which He came to bring. Both were proof of His mission. 

Jesus, the Son of God, brought heaven to earth. He lived in the finished work even as He moved towards the cross as the Son of Man. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world was now in the world.

And Jesus came spending heaven’s currency – healing all! He was on a spending spree – mounting up the debt on heaven’s credit card – knowing that all would soon be paid for at the cross. Today all of the benefits of heaven are ours! Everything we receive has already been paid for!

Think about this: every time Jesus healed someone of paralysis, fever, or epilepsy – every time He made the maimed whole, He knew without question He would bear every single one of these issues in His own body on the cross. It was as good as paid for.

Mark 1:15 – [When He began His earthly ministry, He said – ] “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Matthew 11:5 – “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”

This is the demonstration of the kingdom of God coming to earth: the preaching of the gospel – forgiveness of sins – and the healing of sick bodies and minds!

Matthew 4:23-24, NASB – Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, [and demonstrating the gospel how?] and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. 24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

Everything listed there He would soon suffer a brutal scourging for!

Matthew 12:15 – Great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.

Matthew 15:30-31, NASB – Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

Why should we believe that Jesus is still the same Healer of our bodies today as He was back then? Because God is an unchanging God.

Malachi 3:6 – “For I am the Lord, I do not change…” [He was Jehovah Rafah then, and He is still Jehovah Rafah!]

Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The Greek expression for “the same” is “ho autos,” and means the very same identical person in every respect. He is still the Healer TODAY.

Jesus performed literally thousands upon thousands of healings and miracles – going into cities and healing all the people. Multitudes! But there are many more miracles and healings that we have never heard of. Why? Because it wasn’t all written down!

John 21:25 – And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.

John 20:30-31 – And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is [the Anointed One] the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name

Life is the Greek word “zōē” – God life! All of the accounts of Jesus healing people in the Bible are there for us to read so that we can believe He is the Christ anointed to be our Messiah, and we can experience His abundant life.

When we read about Jesus healing people, we are looking at the will of God in action. It is impossible to see Jesus healing all those people and still wonder what the will of God is. 

The body of Jesus

So what is the means by which God delivers healing to us? It is through the body of Jesus Christ – His own body. When He became the Lamb of God, it was not only so that His blood could wash away our sins, [the first benefit] but also so that His body would be broken for our healing. [the second benefit]

This is why He had to put on human flesh. Again – 

Hebrews 2:14, NLT – Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.

John 1:14 – And the Word [Jesus] became flesh and dwelt among us.

Colossians 2:9 – For in Him [Jesus] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Jesus having risen from the dead with a body as free from sin as His spirit and His soul, shares with us the virtue and power of His glorified body. And in the Lord’s Supper, we partake of it.

1 Corinthians 10:16 – The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion [the sharing] of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion [the sharing] of the body of Christ?

The Lord’s Supper is our reminder to take possession of everything that the death and resurrection of Jesus has obtained for us. Listen to that verse in The Message paraphrase:

1 Corinthians 10:16, The Message – When we drink the cup of blessing, aren’t we taking into ourselves the blood, the very life, of Christ? And isn’t it the same with the loaf of bread we break and eat? Don’t we take into ourselves the body, the very life, of Christ?

It’s not only in our spirit and in our soul that the life of the risen Jesus manifests His presence and His power, but also in our bodies. 

1 Corinthians 6:15, 19-20 – Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?… 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought [redeemed – agorazō] at a price…

You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body. Our spirit is 100% redeemed. As Jesus is so are you in this world. We are a new creation in Christ, reborn from heaven. But the soul and the body continually need renewal, restoration, and healing just from living in this world and being exposed to the effects of sin and satan.

The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and gives resurrection life – “zōē” God life. Through our union with Jesus in the Spirit, His resurrection life penetrates throughout our emotions and our minds and our bodies.

For the believer, healing is from the inside out. For the unbeliever, healing is poured out from heaven or from the overflow of His presence and power from the body of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:7 – But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves

Romans 8:11 – But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Jesus suffered not only for our spirit to be redeemed, but also for our souls and our bodies to be healed and restored for as long as we are in these earthen vessels!

Passover Lamb

And again, He provided for these earthen vessels of ours by putting on an earthen vessel Himself – 

Hebrews 10:5 – [The Son says to the Father] “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.”

So let’s talk about exactly what happened in the body of Jesus to purchase our healing. He became our Passover Lamb.

As you know, in Exodus 12 the Passover Lamb is a picture of Jesus. God instructed each Israelite family to take the best male lamb from their flock – a lamb without blemish – and keep it in their homes for 4 days. They would feed the lamb, and he would be cared for by the family.

I’m sure they would get attached to the little lamb. Who wouldn’t?! But then the lamb would have to be sacrificed on what would become the first Passover. God instructed – 

Exodus 12:7-8, 13 – “And they shall take some of the blood [of the lamb without blemish] and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire,.… 13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you…”

And you know the meaning: it wasn’t about the perfection people on the other side of the door on the inside of the house, it was the blood of the spotless lamb on the doorpost that protected them. In other words, it is the blood of Jesus that has saved us from our sins. It’s not about what we have done, it’s about what He has done. It’s not about what we do, it’s about what He has done. It’s not about what we will do, it’s about what He has done. 

Now, think about this: after they painted the blood on the doorposts, they were instructed to eat the flesh of the lamb. Why? Because his flesh would nourish them for their journey to freedom which lay ahead through the Red Sea. Their last meal was the roasted flesh of the Passover lamb.  

In the same way, the body of Jesus was broken for our physical benefit. When we take the bread of communion, we are partaking of the physical benefits purchased for us in the broken body of Jesus.

And now I want to point out a difference between the Passover lamb of Exodus 12 and Jesus as our Passover Lamb. The Passover lamb in Exodus 12 never suffered before he was slaughtered. He was to be cared for.  Therefore, He was never tortured.

Why? Because when an animal is stressed, beaten, and traumatized before the slaughter, the meat will be bad. Chemicals are released which makes the meat inedible, poisoned, and diseased. 

As our Lamb of God, Jesus was tortured before the slaughter. He bore the stress, the trauma, the beatings, the disease, the sickness, the pain with every scourging and with every taunt.  With every cut and bruise and laceration and piercing and abrasion, His flesh was poisoned so that ours would be healed.

This most perfect of all humans had no sickness in His body because there was no trace of sin, no nature of sin, no committing of sin, no knowledge of sin in Him. He who knew no sin became sin for us. We were born in sin, conceived in iniquity, but not so with Jesus. 

How did sickness enter the world? Our answer is found in Romans 5:12. It came through sin, Adam’s sin.

Romans 5:12, 19 – Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… 19 For as by one man’s disobedience [Adam] many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience [Jesus’s obedience] many will be made righteous.

Physical death and all that produces it are the direct result of sin. But how did sin enter? Satan. The devil tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God, thus bringing in sin, sickness, and death. The devil, not God, is the author of sin, sickness, and death.

So Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin was born without any blemish, deformities, or disease. Imagine how beautiful He was! But how do we explain Isaiah 53 which says He had no beauty? 

Isaiah 53:2-3 – He has no form or comeliness; [He had no splendor, honor, majesty, glory] And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  [We’ll get back to those words “sorrows” and “grief” in a minute, but they actually mean “pains and sickness.” Jesus was acquainted with our pains and sickness.] And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Why did they hide their faces from Him? Not because He was ugly, but because He was beaten beyond recognition! 

Isaiah 52:14, NASB – His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. [He didn’t even look human!]

This is talking about the suffering of Jesus! He looked so horrible that people turned their faces away!

In the Garden of Gethsemane, after they arrested Jesus,

Matthew 26:56, 67 – Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled [That’s very painful isn’t it? When all your friends leave you, it’s traumatic. Jesus experienced that mental pain so that we would know we are never alone. He will never leave us nor forsake us.]… 67 [at the trial the officers] Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands… [In Mark’s account, they blindfolded Jesus – making the torture even worse. (Mark 14:65)]

Matthew 27:28-30 – [In the next chapter of Matthew – ] And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.

Imagine – first they put the crown of thorns on His scalp, then they struck Him on the head, beating the thorns into His skull. It was torture! Thorns in – “messengers of satan sent to buffet me – to beat me” says Paul. Those thorns represent demonic attacks on the mind. But Jesus bore all of our mental anguish.

Isaiah 50:5-8 – [Isaiah records the words of the Messiah -] “And I was not disobedient nor did I turn back. 6 I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. 7 For the Lord God helps Me, therefore, I am not disgraced; therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed. 8 He who vindicates Me is near; Who will contend with Me?”

Isaiah 53

Why should we believe that Jesus is the Healer of our bodies? Because Jesus bore and took away our sicknesses as well as our sins.

Isaiah is our witness to this great truth in chapter 53 – which is often called the 5th gospel even though it’s in the Old Testament because it so beautifully and gloriously describes the Great Exchange of Jesus at the cross. In Isaiah 53:4 we read – 

Isaiah 53:4 – Surely [Not maybe! SURELY] He [Jesus] has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

Let me read that verse in the Amplified Bible which is a very good expanded translation of this verse:

Isaiah 53:4, AMPC – Surely  He [Jesus] has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him [Jesus] stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. [Leprosy in the Bible is a picture of sin]

So we’re going to look at four words in that verse: 2 nouns and 2 verbs. Are you ready for a grammar lesson that will prove to you that we can say as David did, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within in me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases” ? (“Psalm 103:2-3)

We’re going to look at the words “griefs,” “sorrows,” “borne” (past tense of to bear), and “carried.” First we’ll look at the nouns, “griefs” and “sorrows.”

Griefs (choli) and sorrows (makob)

“Surely Jesus has borne our griefs.” Griefs is the Hebrew word “choli,” from “chalah” which means to be weak, sick, or afflicted. “Choli” always means sickness in Hebrew. So it is very unfortunate that some Bible versions translate “choli” here as “griefs.” A couple of other examples of “choli”- 

Deuteronomy 7:15 – And the Lord will take away from you all sickness [Choli]…

Deuteronomy 28:61 – [part of the curse of the Law was – ] …every sickness [Choli] and every plague…

But what do we know about the curse of the law? 

Galatians 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)

Jesus took every “choli”  – every sickness and disease – on Himself for us.  The full force of the entire curse fell on Jesus. That’s why we are redeemed from it.

Next, let’s look at the word “sorrows.” “Jesus has carried our sorrows.”

The word “sorrows” is the Hebrew word “maḵ’ōḇ,” and it means “pains” – both physical and mental.

Young’s literal translation says it like this:

Isaiah 53:4 (YLT) – Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains [both physical and mental] — he hath carried them.

Borne – nāśā

Now let’s look at the verbs: “borne” and “carried.” “Jesus has borne our “choli” – our sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses.”

That word “borne” is the Hebrew word “nāśā’,” and it means to bear in the sense of “suffering punishment for something.”

In Isaiah 53, the expression “to bear” occurs twice, but regarding two different things. Here in verse 4, Jesus bore our sicknesses. But it also occurs in verse 12:

Isaiah 53:12 – He bore [nāśā’] the sin of many, [“sin” – chet’ – offense, fault] and made intercession for the transgressors.

Nāśā – “to bear” – was a word that had to accompany sin – the sinner or the substitute would have to bear the sin. The sin would have to be laid on the sacrificial  substitute or the sinner would have to bear his own sin. Verse 6 – 

Isaiah 53:6 – All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him [Jesus, our Lamb of God, our Substitute] the iniquity of us all.

Because Jesus bore our sin, He had the power to save us. In bearing our sin, He put an end to it.

So in verse 12, our Redeemer bore our sins, and in verse 4, He bore our sicknesses. He paid the ransom price for both. Although He had no sin, He bore our sins. Although He had no sickness, He bore our sicknesses.

Even as a human, Jesus could not be touched by sickness because He was holy. We never find an account of Jesus getting sick.

The only way He could die was by a violent death of His own voluntary consent. And when He died, He triumphed over sin and sickness obtaining the judicial right to deliver His children from both.

As soon as we understand what it means that Jesus has borne my sins, then we aren’t afraid to say, “I no longer have to bear my sins.”

In the same way, as soon as we understand what it means that Jesus has borne my sicknesses, we aren’t afraid to say, “I no longer have to bear my sickness.”

How did Jesus bear our sins? As our Substitute. And in so doing, He experienced all the shame, condemnation, punishment, and forsakenness that we deserved. How did He bear our sicknesses, as our Substitute. Do you know what that means? He experienced the full force of all sickness and disease in our place. 

Carried – sabal

Now let’s look at the other verb: “carried.” “Jesus carried our pains.” [maḵ’ōḇ] “Carried” is the Hebrew word “sāḇal”, and like the word “nāśā’” it means to “bear something as a penalty or chastisement.”

Isaiah 53:4 – Surely He [Jesus] has borne our griefs [Choli, sicknesses] and carried [sabal] our sorrows [makob, mental and physical pains]

The verb “sabal” (carried) is also in Isaiah 53 twice. Here in verse 4 “He carried our pains” – and also in verse 11 – 

Isaiah 53:11 – By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He [Jesus] shall bear [sabal – carry] their iniquities….[“`avon” – perversity, depravity, evil, guilt or punishment]

Verse 11: How did Jesus carry our iniquities? As our Substitute. 

Verse 4: How did He carry our pains? The same way: as our Substitute.

Again, this means that Jesus – in our place – experienced the full force of all of our pain, both physical and mental.

In Verse 11, the Father calls His Son, “My Righteous Servant.” The words “bear” and “carry” speak of a Servant bearing and carrying a burden. That burden was the cross that we deserved, and not only the cross, but the scourging before the cross. 

Jesus lifted our iniquities, took hold of our diseases, and entered into our pain. “Nasa” – to bear – implies not only the taking of our sin and sickness, but the bearing of it away. “Sabal” – to carry – emphasizes the weight of the load. But it was not too heavy for His broad shoulders because He is our Burden Bearer.

Matthew in his gospel, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, quotes Isaiah 53:4 and translates it “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”

You might remember the context – the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. 

Matthew 8:14-17, NASB – When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw [Peter’s] his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. 15 He [Jesus] touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on [Jesus] Him. 16 When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself [no one else! Jesus alone] took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”

If you only had two passages to prove to someone that healing was provided at the cross, in my opinion, they should be Isaiah 53:4 and Matthew 8:14-17.

The clear description of the price Jesus paid at the cross in Isaiah 53 and the fulfillment of that in the context of Jesus healing sick bodies and casting out spirits makes it clear that healing was provided through the broken body and shed blood of Jesus at the cross.

1 Peter 2:24 – the scourging

Next verse in Isaiah 53 – verse 5

Isaiah 53:5 – But He [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

Peter quoted the that verse – 

1 Peter 2:24 – who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for [His] righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. [Past tense! Paid in full! Make a mental note here: the word “stripes” is the Greek word “mōlōps.”]

Again, we see the coupling of the forgiveness of sins and the healing of bodies. Peter states that 1) Jesus bore our sins on the cross, and 2) that by His stripes we were healed. 

In the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, listen to Isaiah 53:5 which Peter quoted:

“but He was wounded on account of our sins, and was bruised because of our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His bruise we are healed.” [“Bruise” is that Greek word “mōlōps” again. We’ll get back to that word in a minute]

The word for “healed,” both in the Septuagint and the Greek New Testament, is “iaomai,” [ē -ah’-ō-mī] a verb that always speaks of physical healing. It is used 28 times in the New Testament, and it’s always in connection with physical healing.

Some people want to change the interpretation of certain healing scriptures to say that they are referring to “spiritual healing.” But remember this: The spirit isn’t healed! The spirit is recreated! The spirit was dead in sin and had to be born again.

Colossians 2:13 – He has made [us] alive together with [Jesus] Him, having forgiven you all trespasses…

Our spirit is made eternally alive and perfect in Christ. It will never need to be healed. When Peter declares, “by His stripes you were healed,” he is referring to our bodily healing, not to spiritual healing.

Note secondly, that the Greek word for “stripes” is actually a singular noun – not only in 1 Peter 2:24, but also in Isaiah 53:5 in the Septuagint (“mōlōps”) and the Hebrew text. (chabburah – khab-boo-raw’)

Why is it singular, and what specifically is this referring to?

It is the scourging that Jesus received before He went to the cross. Those who were sentenced to death on a cross would first have to endure the hideous torture of the scourge.

This scourging would be primarily by a flogging on the back of the convicted. In Matthew 27:26 we read regarding Pilate – 

Matthew 27:26 – Then he released [a criminal named] Barabbas to them [to the Jews]; and when he had scourged Jesus, delivered Him to be crucified.

Now, why do Peter in 1 Peter 2:24 and Isaiah 53:4 in the Septuagint, use the singular Greek noun mōlōps?  That word means “the mark of a blow” or “a bruise.” This definition tells us that there would be a mark that could be plainly seen for each blow that Jesus received. 

Now, Jesus received a Roman scourging, which was much more brutal than a Jewish scourging. The Jews had a law that no one could be given more than 40 stripes when flogged to keep them from dying during the scourge. But the Romans had no such law. They would often scourge a victim until he bled to death.

So the singular noun “mōlōps” tells us that the scourging was so terrible that no single blow could be distinguished from another. Every part of His back – and most likely His whole body including His face – was so bruised and torn that it was like one huge gaping wound. 

If there had been even 1/4 inch between any two stripes, the noun would have been plural and the Greek text would have been read “bruises” – molopsi.

So I want to take just a minute to describe this scourging so that you will know for sure that you are fully justified in receiving from the Lord Jesus every healing of every disease and pain, both physically and mentally.

From Gaikie’s Life of Christ, 1923: “Victims condemned to the cross first underwent the hideous torture of the scourge, and this was immediately inflicted on Jesus. He was now seized by some of the soldiers standing there, and after being stripped to the waist, was bound in a stooping posture, his hands being behind his back, [tied] to a post, or a block, near the tribunal. He was then beaten at the pleasure of the soldiers, with knots of rope, or braided leather thongs, armed at the ends with acorn shaped drops of lead, or small sharp pointed bones. In many cases not only was the back of the person scourged cut open in all directions, but even the eyes, the face, and the breast were torn, and teeth [were] not seldom knocked out. Under the fury of the countless stripes, the victims sometimes sank – amidst screams, convulsive leaps, and distortions – into a senseless heap; sometimes died on the spot; sometimes were taken away, an unrecognizable mass of bleeding flesh, to find deliverance in death, from the inflammation and fever, sickness, and shame. The scourging of Jesus was of the severest, for the soldiers only too gladly vented on any Jew the grudge they bore that nation, and they would, doubtless, attempt to force out the confession which His [Jesus’s] silence had denied to the governor. Besides, He was to be crucified, and the harder the scourging, the less life there would be left to detain them afterwards on guard at the Cross.”

Isaiah 53:7 – He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; [He didn’t try to get out of it because He had US on His mind!] He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.

Eusebius, an early church historian, wrote about those inflicted with the Roman scourging:

“All around were horrified to see them so torn with the scourges that their very veins were laid bare, and the inner muscles and sinews, and even their very bowels were exposed.”

And then on Jesus’s poor, bruised back, they now laid the heavy cross.

John 19:17 – And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

Much of His blood was shed while receiving that awful scourging – one big gaping wound and the blood poured while He walked the Via Dolorosa – the Way of Suffering – to the cross. However the rest of His precious blood would be reserved to be shed on the cross for our sins.

Our bruised and tortured Lamb of God, hung on the cross bearing all of our sickness and pains, and there on the cross, He put an end to them. You know what that means? For every believer, no matter how you leave this world, you will never die! Why? Because right on the heels of this one is the next one where we will get a glorified body that will never die!

Plowmen plowed furrows

I want to end with another Messianic scripture from the Old Testament which describes the stripes that have a healed us:

Psalm 129:3-4, The Message – “Their plowmen plowed long furrows up and down my back; but God wouldn’t put up with it, he sticks with us. Then God ripped the harnesses of the evil plowmen to shreds.”

The stripes on Jesus’s back were like a plowman’s furrows. When the soldiers threw the whip back and slapped it on the back of Jesus and scraped across His flesh, the chiseled bone and lead created deep furrows.

I had never thought of this before, but Joseph Prince points out that furrows are dug for sowing seed. It’s the language of farming. The evil plowmen didn’t know it, but with every beating, they were digging a furrow for God to sow the seed of our healing.

Every seed for the healing of  every sickness and pain was sown into the body of Jesus at the whipping post. And every seed that the Lord plants will reap a harvest!

Isaiah 55:11 – [God says – ] “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Psalm 107:20 – He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.

Matthew 8:8, NASB – [The centurion said to Jesus – ] “…just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

Well, God sent forth His Word – in the body of His Beloved Son. In His back and shoulders, all the muscles and tendons and tissues were ripped to shreds leaving one big gaping wound.

By His wound, an infinite number of diseases, ailments, and pains – both physical and mental – were healed. All of them. Why? Because He loves us that much!

As you pray for healing, ask yourself, “Was that sickness or that pain included in Jesus’s one big gaping wound? The answer is “Yes!” 

Psalm 103:2-3 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases…

Copyright info: All scriptures in the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

• (NKJV) New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
• (NASB) Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
• (NLT) Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
• The Message, Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
• (AMPC) Amplified Bible, Classic Edition, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
• (YLT) Young’s Literal Translation by Public Domain