By His Stripes, We are Healed

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Isa. 53:5d “…and by His stripes we are healed.”

Does this part of the verse mean that every time we are sick, God will always heal us? Some say that Jesus died for our sins and our sicknesses so we should claim our physical healing by faith just as we claim our forgiveness of sins by faith. Some would go so far as to say that if you claim your healing and are not healed, then it is a lack of faith or sin in your life. So what is this verse talking about? Is the healing physical or spiritual?

When we look at how the New Testament writers used it, we see that there is only one reference to it. That is 1 Pet 2:24. When you examine what Peter is saying you will see that it is spiritual healing in view. He is saying that through Jesus stripes we have been brought back to God. That is the real healing. Having said that, Jesus’ death on the cross did provide the means for total healing of the entire person – body, soul and spirit… But each in its time. God’s ultimate healing and salvation of body, soul and spirit has a name. It is called Resurrection. Until then we live in a body that is ageing and breaking down and that in itself is used by God to remind us that the important things in life are eternal. Does God still heal us physically? Of course He does. But as I once heard Adrian Plass say about God and healing – ‘We know two things about God and healing. 1. That God heals. 2. That He doesn’t.’ That is, that He is sovereign and knows what is best for us in this life and sometimes that involves great miracles and sometimes that requires difficult times of refining and suffering. It is just the way it is.