By His Stripes We Are Healed

Introduction

I will be presenting a collection of sermons and series focused on Rediscovering God as a healer of our bodies.

Our Most Famous Healing Scripture

By Jesus Stripes, we are healed.

Isaiah 53:4–5 (NKJV) – ⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But he 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.

• • Jesus adopts our condition.
  • Jesus receives on our status.
  • Jesus bears our punishment.
• The word stripes (or wounds) is shorthand for all the things Jesus endured on the cross: our condition, our status, our punishment.
• In Sum: He receives wounds. We receive healing.

What is Healing?

The rub: Is this passage referring to spiritual healing or is it referring to physical healing?

• Isaiah 1:2–6 (ESV) – 2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken:“Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. 5 Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.
• 1 Peter 2:24–25 (ESV) – ²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
• Matthew 8:14–17 (ESV) – ¹⁴ And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. ¹⁵ He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
• Matthew 9:1–8 (ESV) – ¹And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. ² And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” ³ And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” ⁴ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? ⁵ For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ⁶ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ⁷ And he rose and went home. ⁸ When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
  • Jesus can heal you as easily as He forgives you.
  • The power for both comes from the same source.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023