1 Pet. 2:23-25
Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who 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.
Let’s talk about “by whose stripes you were healed, spoken of in past tense. Meaning, something already done. Most of us believe that God heals, but how many of us operate in the faith it requires to obtain the blessing of physical healing?
It’s one thing to say it. It’s another to believe it. It’s altogether different to live it.
Recently, I have been claiming the Lord’s promise of healing for several family members and friends, and even for those I don’t personally know. I myself have claimed the Lord’s promise of healing to my life and others many of times over the years, and have witnessed the Lord heal.
1 Pet. 2:24, speaks of the afflictions, the beating, the scourge Jesus suffered, as it being a covenant, a shelter, if you will, having been established for those who believe in what He endured for their sake. The ushering in certain spiritual blessings to those who believe in His Work on the Cross or what we will call the Doctrine of the Cross.
By whose stripes you were healed in 1 Pet. 2:24 is a recital of the fulfilled prophecy of the Messiah spoken by the prophet Isaiah, Isa. 53:4-5:
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
It says, the Lord borne or took on our griefs. The word griefs is the Hebrew word ????? h?a?li^y (choliy); which means, infirmities, diseases, sicknesses and anxieties.
Carried our sorrows or ??????? mak_’o^b_ (mac-oov); means, are afflictions of pain and sorrow, both to physical and the mental.
He was pierced for our transgressions… ??????? p_es?a‘(pe-share); meaning, our revolt, rebellions, trespasses and sins we committed against the Lord.
He was bruised or ?????? daka (da-haw'); meaning crushed. Now, the definition of crushed is, to press or squeeze with a force that something becomes destroyed or deformed. It also means to subdue by overwhelming with confusion, to oppress grievously. This is the actual definition of crushed.
So, Jesus was ?????? daka (da-haw' or crushed) for our iniquities (sins). He took on the overwhelming sense of our sins and our enmity towards God and bore them in Himself for our sake.
It also says, He received the chastisement or ?????? musar (moo-sawr'); meaning, received punishment, discipline of or for “our peace” or to grant us peace.
So, what we see in the prophecy of Isaiah 53:4-5 is that the Messiah, Jesus, would bare our infirmities, take on our sorrows, be pierced for our transgressions, be crushed by taking on the overwhelming sense of sin and be punished in our stead to bring us peace – NOW! This is the Doctrine of the Cross.
Jesus would endure the cross so that He could bring to us peace. Not, “peace” as defined in the English language, meaning tranquility and serenity, but “peace” as defined by the Hebrew “Shalom”. As many of you may know, shalom means a lot more than just tranquility and serenity, but shalom is all inclusive to our well-being, our welfare, wholeness, health, soundness, prosperity, favorable, safe, safely, safety, security, trust, as well as, a state of peace, peaceably, peaceful, and being in a right state.
The prophecy of Isaiah tells us, the Messiah was to be punished by being scourged, beat, whipped and ultimately put to physical death, though He committed no crimes, no wrongs, no sin, but would willing accept being crushed, punished, whipped and ultimately pierced for our transgressions, our iniquities, our sins to bring to shalom to the lives of those who believe in His work on the Cross.
Jesus willfully accepted this as a Lamb to slaughter, so that, He would forever be the atonement for those who believe in His redemptive work on the Cross, which by faith grants us Shalom, peace with God. A right standing with God. A fellowship with God. A friendship with God.
By our having faith in Him and what He did, we vicariously share in His stripes, bruises and affliction to the spiritual; believing He did it on account of healing me from the disease of sin and the granting me Shalom.
Sin is often spoken of as a disease, and the healing Jesus gives us is restoration from the disease and disorder of the soul first. By his stripes, that is, the sufferings he underwent, he purchased for us the Spirit and the grace of God, to put our souls in a good state of health, that we may be fit to fellowship with and to serve God the Creator.
The doctrine of The Cross literally brought to us healing. But, we must understand that the healing is first spiritual, a healing of our souls from the corruptiveness of sin and enmity with God, to the restoration of favor with God – Shalom.
Psalm 41:4
'I said, O Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee'
Psalm 6:2
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed'
Psalm 103:3
'Who forgiveth all thine, iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases
Though healing is first to the soul, it often is manifested as a physical reward. Did you get that?
To heal, healed and healing in Hebrew is ????? rapha (raw-faw'); yes, like Jehovah Rapha, meaning restored favor, repaired, taken care of, which always implies first a forgiveness in the soul.
The Greek word for heal, healed or healing is ???µa? iaomai (ee-ah'-ma-yay); which means, I heal or make whole, which always speaks to the spiritual, which may manifest in the physical. Both rapha (raw-faw') and iaomai (ee-ah'-ma-yay) speak to the supernatural act of the Lord Himself as the One who heals, makes whole.
For example Lk 17:15: "Now one of them [i.e. the ten lepers], when he saw that he had been healed (iáomai), turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice."
iáomai (ee-ah'-ma-yay) ("I heal", make whole) directs the attention to the supernatural Healer, beyond the physical healing itself, but on the favor granted from the Divine Healer. Did you get that?
Luke 5:23-25 Jesus says,
Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth – (to heal? No!), but He says “to forgive sins” —He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
What you have to see in this, is Jesus demonstrating His authority and power of healing the soul, by way of demonstrating His power and authority to heal that which is visibly seen – the physical body. It’s easy to say, “your sins are forgiven”, no one can see whether that actually occurred or not. But, to show His authority over forgiveness of sins, He gives a visible demonstration of His authority and power to heal!
This is the reason the Gospel and the Book of Acts of the Apostles are littered with testimony after testimony of Devine healing, so as to give man a visible witness of God’s grace of Divine healing. I hope you got that!
Jesus told His disciples before He sent them out to witness, Matt. 9:7-8
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
What is Jesus speaking of when He says, freely ye received, freely give? Nowhere does it tell us that any of them were sick and He healed them? It doesn’t tell us that any of them were once lepers? It doesn’t tell us that any of them were ever possessed of devils? So, what had they received? The answer is “healing”, not physical but spiritual restoration, repair, haven been with the Lord of Glory. So, He wanted them to share healing with other, by visibly demonstrating The Kingdom of Heaven being at hand granting restoration and repair, granting us Shalom. They would physical heal, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, freely giving spiritually what they had received. I hope you get that!
Physical healing is but a visible showing of the manifestation of God’s favor to restore and repair – His healing grace. Did you get that?
Though the Lord is first and most concerned with the healing of our soul; faith in Him, also grants us access to His power and authority over healing the body.
Mk 1:40-44
When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Notice the man first acknowledges his faith in Jesus’ power and authority to make him clean before He can be made clean.
Look at the Faith of the Centurion Soldier Lk 7:1-10. He by faith acknowledges Jesus’ power and authority to just speak a word and his servant would be healed.
What about the gentle woman who begged Jesus to heal her daughter and told Jesus even dogs eat scrapes that fall off the master’s table. What did Jesus say about this woman’s comment?
Matt. 15:28
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
In both instances, Jesus commented to their having great faith. He even said in the presence of His disciples, who He frequently commented saying to them, “O’ ye of little faith”. And, you must get this, both whom Jesus spoke on having great faith were “non-Hebrews”, but gentiles – A roman soldier, whom Jesus said He has not seen such faith, no, not in Israel. And, the woman who was a Canaanite. And in both instances, their faith in His authority and power to heal was for someone else, not themselves.
Healing is only accompanied by faith in the one with authority and power to heal. When your sick, you go to a physician, who you believe has the knowledge, expertise and training to make you well. You don’t go to the mechanic, who works on cars. Your believe is in the one who you believe has the ability to repair and restore you.
Luke 4:18-19
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Notice Jesus says, “to set at liberty them that are what?” “bruised” or ?????? daka (da-haw'); crushed – pressed or squeezed with forces that destroys or deforms. That subdue, overwhelm with confusion, that oppresses grievously. The state of being crushed comes in many forms, from mental, psychological, too emotional, to physical.
Jesus says, He came to recover us from that which “crushes” us; whatever that may be; our wrongs, our sins, our wrong way of thinking, our bondages, our afflictions, even our diseases, sicknesses, mental health, anxieties; to what grieves us, our pains and sorrow, both to the physical and mental.
Jesus act on the Cross was an act of healing from that which crushes us.
Matt. 8:16
When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: 17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
The miracles of healing are but a manifestation of our faith in the redemptive work of the Cross which grants us Shalom with God.
1 Pet. 2:24 says, by His stripes were ye healed”. Past tense! The word stripes in both the Hebrew ????????? chabburah (hab-boo-raw') and the Greek µ???p? (molopus) both mean, swollen marks of a blow; the expression used for “black and blue” marks on a person’s body from being beaten and whipped. Jesus stripes are a reminder to us that we may by faith have access to true healing when needed.
James 5:13-15
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
It is by operation of faith you believe that Christ died for your sins, meaning you believe that He endured the beating, the whipping, being scourged, the sufferings, was bruised and pierced to purchase the Spirit of God for our lives, granting us grace and restoration unto a right relationship with God, putting our souls in a good state of health that we may fellowship and serve the Almighty Creator, and to live to enjoy that relationship with the Almighty, Loving and merciful gracious Lord.
If, we then have faith in Jesus work on the Cross, we must also have faith in its rewards, and that is His covenant of healing. Like the leper, the Centurion Soldier, the gentile woman, and many others who believed in His healing power and authority, we are to believe in His healing.
We are healed – literally. Whatever it may be, by faith in the Doctrine of the Cross, it is healed to us; or healing has already happened, both to the spiritual and to the physical. Whatever, crushes you, Jesus has already paid the price for your restoration and recovery.
Believing the Lord for Divine Healing is but faith in His redemptive work on the cross. And, that’s all I’m going to say about that – by His stripes were you healed! Amen!
