Wounded for Our Transgressions: Session 3 – By His Stripes We Are Healed

Notes:

By His Stripes We Are Healed. Isa.53:4-6    See Session Slides Here

‘Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 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. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all’ (Isa.53:4-6).

 

‘…by His stripes we are healed’? Healed in what sense? Isaiah is referring to spiritual healing.

  • Jesus did not suffer and die to heal our bodies. This was not necessary. He healed many before the cross. Matt.8:17. And God healed many in OT times; even raised the dead.
  • The Bible often refers to sin as sickness needing healing, (e.g. Psa.41:4; Mk.2:17)
  • Isaiah also referred to sin this way, (Isa.1:4-6).

 

  • The context is clear that the sickness is sins. ‘Wounded’ means pierced through. Crucifixion was unknown in Isaiah’s day. He wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. ‘Bruised’ means overwhelmed or crushed by the burden of sins. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought our peace with God.
  • The remainder of this passage also makes this clear. ‘For the transgressions of My people He was stricken… When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days…For He shall bear their iniquities … Because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors’ (Isa.53:8,10-12).

 

  • This is quoted by Peter. But note the context. ‘…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls’ (1 Pet.2:24-25). Neither Isaiah nor Peter intended physical healing in these references to Christ’s sufferings.
  • Jesus suffered stripes as punishment for sin not sickness, (Deut.25:2-3).
  • If Jesus died for our sickness He didn’t do a good job. Every person He healed died. In contrast, forgiveness is complete. No more record of sin. No more condemnation. No more confession of sin. Christ’s satisfaction is so perfect it leaves no penal liability for any sins of the believer. Completely healed!
  • The doctrine that Jesus died to take away sickness is false. The true gospel is: ‘Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.’ (1 Cor.15:3). ‘…according to the Scriptures’, i.e. the Old Testament.

 

  • Does God heal the sick today? Yes. But not on the basis of the atonement.
  • Always? No. Our bodies are not yet redeemed. We await this fruit of the atonement, when every trace of the curse will be removed. Then there will be no sickness, pain, suffering, or death.
  • Penal substitution is the only way to understand Isa. 53 and the Cross.
  • Penal: There is a penalty for sin – without exception. This is called the wrath of God. God’s wrath is mentioned approximately 580 times in the OT. It might not be pleasant or popular, but it is something which cannot be sidestepped. Jesus never watered down this concept (e.g. Matt. 13:41-42,  Matt. 13:49-50 ;  Matt.18:8;  Matt.25:41; Mark 3:29; Mark 14:21; Luke 12:5; Luke13:3–5, etc.) See also Rom. 1:18; Rom. 2:5; Eph. 5:6).
  • Substitution: ‘But now…’ ‘But Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God’ (1 Pet 3:18). There are 3 key words which teach this: 1) ‘Borne’ nāśā – ‘bear, carry away.’ This term is used literally and figuratively of bearing the guilt or punishment of sin, (Gen.4:13; Lev.5:1; Num. 14:34); 2) ‘Carried’ sābal – the ability to carry a burden. Like Cain we say ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear.’ It would crush us; 3) ‘Laid’ pâga’ – ‘to lay upon, to burden’. He bore it and carried it, but it was laid on Him. Sin did not kill Jesus, God did. The LORD laid these on Him. He was smitten by God. ‘It pleased the LORD to bruise Him…’ (Isa.53:10). He spared not His only Son, but delivered Him up for us all’ (Rom.8:32).
  • He bore the wrath of God in our place. He is the propitiation for our sins. It is the greatest demonstration of love, Jn.15:13. And the only way we to escape God’s wrath, Jn.5:24. ‘In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins’ (1 Jn.4:10)