By his wounds we are healed
Isaiah 53:5 - All Christians should pray boldly and trust that God will, in His goodness and mercy, bring healing even now—before the ultimate healing that comes with the resurrection.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
I thank the Lord for picking this verse from Isaiah for today’s devotional. This is one of the more memorable verses from Isaiah (out of many!), although you may have heard or read it from a different Bible translation. Here are a few of those alternate translations:
“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.”
Isaiah 53:5 NKJV
“But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NLT
“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NASB1995
This chapter of Isaiah foretells the suffering of Jesus in accurate detail, and why He had to suffer. It was for our transgressions and our iniquities. Let’s look at those two words more closely.
Transgressions: This is translated from the Hebrew word פֶּשַׁע (pešaʿ), which is defined as rebellion, and in this particular sense, as rebellion against God.
Iniquities: The ancient Hebrew word is עָוֹן (ʿāôn), defined as perversity, moral evil, fault, and sin.
Jesus took on the transgressions and iniquities of all mankind on the cross — past, present, and future. That was an infinite amount of emotional and spiritual suffering…
Jesus also suffered physically through being scourged (beaten with a multi-tipped whip with curved, hook-like tips designed to rip the flesh - Matthew 27:26), bruised/beaten/crushed - Matthew 27:30), and wounded/pierced through - crucified and pierced with a spear (John 19:34).
This image was created using DALL·E, OpenAI’s legacy image generation model.
The Messiah suffered these things in our place, for our transgressions and our iniquities. It was for our sake that, as Isaiah tells us, “by His wounds (stripes) we are healed”. Some may take the phrase “we are healed” as meaning that we should all have perfect lives now, with no spiritual or physical ailments. The following commentary from David Guzik of Enduring Word explains why that isn’t so:
d. And by His stripes we are healed: Here, the prophet sees through the centuries to know that the Messiah would be beaten with many stripes (Mark 15:15). More so, the prophet announces that provision for healing is found in the suffering of Jesus, so by His stripes we are healed.
i. There has been much debate as to if Isaiah had in mind spiritual healing or physical healing. As this passage is quoted in the New Testament, we see some more of the thought. In Matthew 8:16-17, the view seems to be of physical healing. In 1 Peter 2:24-25, the view seems to be of spiritual healing. We can safely say that God has both aspects of healing in view, and both our physical and spiritual healing is provided for by the suffering of Jesus.
ii. However, some have taken this to mean that every believer has the right – the promise – to perfect health right now, and if there is any lack of health, it is simply because this promise has not been claimed in faith. In this thinking, great stress is laid upon the past tense of this phrase – by His stripes we are healed. The idea is that since it is in the past tense, perfect health is God’s promise and provision for every Christian at this very moment, even as the believer has the promise to perfect forgiveness and salvation at this moment.
iii. The problem of this view – not even counting how it terribly contradicts the personal experience of saints in the Bible and through history – is that it misunderstands the “verb tense” of both salvation and healing. We can say without reservation that perfect, total, complete healing is God’s promise to every believer in Jesus Christ, paid for by His stripes and the totality of His work for us. But we must also say that it is not promised to every believer right now, just as the totality of our salvation is not promised to us right now. The Bible says that we have been saved(Ephesians 2:8), that we are being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18), and that we will be saved(1 Corinthians 3:15). Even so, there is a sense in which we have been healed, are being healed, and one day will be healed. God’s ultimate healing is called “resurrection,” and it is a glorious promise to every believer. Every “patch-up” healing in this present age simply anticipates the ultimate healing that will come.
iv. What Christians must not do is foolishly “claim” to be healed, despite “mere symptoms” that say otherwise, and believe they are standing on the promise of Isaiah 53:5. What Christians must do is pray boldly and trust God’s goodness and mercy in granting gifts of healing now, even before the ultimate healing of resurrection.
v. “‘With his stripes we are healed.’ Will you notice that fact? The healing of a sinner does not lie in himself, nor in what he is, nor in what he feels, nor in what he does, nor in what he vows, nor in what he promises. It is not in himself at all; but there, at Gabbatha, where the pavement is stained with the blood of the Son of God, and there, at Golgotha, where the place of a skull beholds the agonies of Christ. It is in his stripes that the healing lies. I beseech thee, do not scourge thyself: ‘With his stripes we are healed.’” (Spurgeon)
In our intercessory prayer, we find many of the prayer requests to be for healing of physical ailments or spiritual attacks, and we always pray earnestly for relief from pain, disease, and emotional distress. To reiterate Guzik’s point, all Christians should pray boldly and trust that God will, in His goodness and mercy, bring healing even now—before the ultimate healing that comes with the resurrection.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
God in Heaven, thank You that Jesus was wounded for my transgressions and took on my sin in His body on the cross. Thank You for exchanging my guilt for Your peace that now soothes my soul. Thank You for releasing me forever from sin and death, and that by His wounds I have been healed and made Your child. May my praise for You be always on my mind and lips, AMEN.
Well done, sir. That is the best explanation I have heard about the different aspects of healing. Ultimately, God is going to heal us. It may not always come in this life. I love how God made our bodies to heal themselves. He did that because he cares about our healing.