BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED

This phrase is used frequently when one is praying for someone to be healed of sickness and disease. But, are we using this phrase in it’s proper context? Let’s explore the scriptures to find out.

In Isaiah 53:4-5 it reads: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by His stripes (or wounds) we are healed.

The prophet Isaiah is talking about the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his day this event was about seven hundred years in the future. The Holy Spirit supernaturally revealed this to the prophet so that he could relay the message to the children of Israel. Notice the prophet uses the terms transgressions, iniquities, chastisement. What the prophet is describing here is the suffering and punishment the Savior would undergo because of the sins of his people. God the Father must punish someone for sin for his Holiness sake. Jesus was the only one qualified to be a substitutionary sacrifice for man and satisfy God’s just wrath against sin. Jesus fully paid the price for the sins of the world with the shedding of his blood (John 1:29). The healing described here is the deliverance from our sins. Jesus went to the cross to suffer for our sins and pay sins debt so that we would not have to. This is a spiritual healing and deliverance; not a physical one. Jesus died to heal us from sins’ disease which is eternal damnation, not physical disease.

The Apostle Peter echoes the Prophet Isaiah in I Peter 2:24: who himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree that we being dead to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes we are healed.

So once again, Jesus came to heal and deliver us from our sins (emphasis added), not sickness although he’s capable of both. It’s important that we make the distinction. Isaiah 53:4 actually deals with physical healing. This verse was fulfilled in Matthew 8:17, He himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.

It’s important for us understand scripture in it’s proper context so that when we pray, we’re not asking amiss (James 4:3), and therefore not receiving what we’re praying for. No matter how well intentioned, praying Isaiah 53:5 for someone’s physical healing is not biblical.