WHY HEALING/HEALTH IS PART OF THE CROSS
The literal truth about Isaiah 53:3-5
Besides our sins, Jesus also bore our sicknesses and pains on the cross. He was also whipped 39 times on His back (till His flesh was torn and His bones exposed) to buy us healing.
Isaiah 53:4,5
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs [sicknesses], and carried our sorrows [pains]: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
The original Hebrew words for "griefs" and "sorrows" are actually "sicknesses" and "pains" (physical and mental) respectively (see Strong's numbers 02483 and 04341). The translation is thus unfortunate.
Some have insisted that Isaiah 53:4 has to do with spiritual healing only. But let the Bible interpret the Bible. The verses are quoted again in Matthew 8:17 and 1 Peter 2:24. How does the Holy Spirit translate Isaiah 53:4 in Matthew 8:15? He says, "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses", implying physical healing.
Matthew 8:15-17
15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.
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.
Moreover, the immediate context of Matthew 8:17 (verses 15 and 16) proves that the verse is referring to physical healing. This is not to say that spiritual healing is excluded as demons were cast out too,
Note also that the word "Surely" is used in Isaiah 53:4. It is as though God knew that Christians would not have difficulty believing that Jesus bore their sins, but would find it hard to believe that Jesus also bore their sicknesses and pains, hence, He added the word "Surely"! You don't find that "double assurance" in verse 5, which talks about Christ bearing and suffering for our sins.
The verse before Isaiah 53:4 says:
Isaiah 53:3
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows [pains], and acquainted with grief [sicknesses]: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Again, the original Hebrew words for "griefs" and "sorrows" are "sicknesses" and "pains" (physical and mental). The translation here is also inaccurate.
As with verse 4, verse 3 is talking about Jesus' suffering on the cross -- He became a man of pains and sicknesses because He was carrying all our physical and mental pains, as well as all our diseases. In fact, His face and body were so disfigured by the pains and diseases that those who saw Him were appalled and hid their faces from Him (verse 3).
Isaiah 52:14
14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
Finally, if we look at verse 5, Isaiah says:
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
The Hebrew word for "peace" here is "shalom" (see Strong's number 07965). It is a very rich word and means completeness (in number); safety, soundness (in body); welfare, health, prosperity; peace, quiet, tranquillity, contentment; peace, friendship (of human relationships and with God especially in covenant relationship); peace (from war) and peace (as an adjective).
Jesus was punished in our place so that we could have "shalom", which includes health and prosperity!
The same crime cannot be punished twice
What does all this mean for us Christians? Because Christ bore our sicknesses and pains on the cross, it would make no sense for us to bear them again. Do we go around carrying our sins and feeling condemned? No, because Jesus already bore our sins for us, and was judged and punished by the Father in our place because of our sins. So, for us to carry on bearing our sins and condemning ourselves is to not trust in the finished work of Christ and to dishonour it.
It is the same with sicknesses and pains. Why should a Christian suffer cancer and be in pain when, in his place, Christ had already born that particular cancer and pain in His body on the cross? If Christ had already been punished with that cancer, why should that Christian be punished again with that same cancer?
The same crime cannot be punished twice! If you get a speeding ticket, you don't pay the fine twice or thrice, do you? God is not unjust -- He is faithful to the perfect payment of His Son. It is Satan who is unjust. It is the devil, not God, who puts sickness on the ignorant Christian.
God says that His people are destroyed due to a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Christians are still getting sick and dying prematurely because they do not know their rights or inheritance in Christ, and Satan has taken advantage of their ignorance and indifference. When they partake of the bread during communion, they are not recognising the health and healing that has been purchased for them by Christ.
So, start seeing that cancer on Jesus' body on the cross, not on your body. The disease cannot exist in two places at the same time. Focus on the fact that Jesus did bear that cancer on His body when He hung on the cross for you. Stop focusing on the cancer. Stop focusing on the medical reports. Stop focusing on your circumstances. Look unto the finished work of Jesus!
The bronze serpent on a pole
That is why Moses lifted up the bronze serpent wrapped around a pole -- a type of the crucifixion (and the medical symbol used today). See diagram here:
http://sg.geocities.com/saltandlight5/images/medicalsymbols.jpg
Any Jew who was bitten by a snake in the wilderness received healing as long as he focused on the bronze serpent on the pole (a type of Christ bearing our sicknesses and pains on the cross). But those who focused on their snake bite wounds (their natural circumstances) died.
Numbers 21:9
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
But how can the bronze serpent be a type of Jesus? A serpent symbolises sin and curse. Jesus was made both on the cross.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Galatians 3:13
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
John 3:14
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Bronze speaks of judgment. In God's Old Covenant temple, the bronze altar is where the animal sacrifice is burnt. On the cross, Jesus bore God's wrath and fiery judgment as God had to punish our sins that were on His Son's body.
Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death, but Isaiah 53:5 says that the chastisement that brought us peace with God was laid upon Jesus. The pole, of course, symbolises the cross.
Under the Old Covenant system of law, God blesses His people if they obey His laws, but allows terrible curses to come upon them if they don't (Deuteronomy 28:1,15).
Redeemed from every type of sickness
In Deuteronomy 28, there are 11 verses of blessings (verses 3 to 13) and 53 verses of curses (verses 16 to 68). Since there are more curses than blessings here, it behoves the Christian to study what these curses are, lest he calls something a blessing when it is a curse!
One of the curses is:
Deuteronomy 28:61
61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Notice it says "every sickness, and every plague". This means that any and every sickness or disease is a curse, never a blessing as some Christians believe. So, if you say that your sickness is a blessing from God, you are contradicting Deuteronomy 28:61, which implies that any sickness is a curse.
But praise God that because of Christ's work on the cross, we have been redeemed from the curses of the law, including Deuteronomy 28:61.
Galatians 3:13
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
In other words, healing is part of Christ's redemptive work. Healing is part of the atonement (Isaiah 53:4, Matthew 8:17 and 1 Peter 2:24)!
So, we can't say that God chooses to heal some and not others because the fact is that healing is offered to all through the cross. If we say that God is willing to heal only some people, it is like saying that God is willing to save only some people. Neither can we say that God chastens His children with diseases (see Does God chasten with sicknesses and deaths?). If that were true, God would be going against the work of His Son!
Out of Egypt
Egypt in the Bible represents the secular world. Just as God saved the Israelites out of Egypt through Moses, Christians are saved out of the world through Christ.
John 15:19
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
John 17:14
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:16
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
This is one reason why we need not suffer like the world does in terms of sickness (and many other bad things). Sicknesses are of the world. Sicknesses belong to the world. Christians are in the world but not of the world. Christians are of God's kingdom.
In Deuteronomy 28:60, God calls diseases, "of Egypt". In God's eyes, sicknesses are of the world. But in God's kingdom -- and we are of His kingdom -- there are no diseases!
Deuteronomy 28:60
60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
John 18:36
36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
The way the bread is made
If we examine the Jewish matza bread, which is the unleavened bread the Jews eat during the Passover feast, and which many churches use as the communion bread, you will notice that it is striped with tiny holes and slightly burnt. The Jews do not really know why the bread has to be made this way -- they are simply following Moses' "recipe" strictly -- but we do see diagram here:
http://sg.geocities.com/saltandlight5/images/matzaillus.jpg
What "saved" means in the NT
Finally, if we look at the Greek word for "saved" in the New Testament, which is "sozo", it means more than just saved from sin and hell. According to Strong's Greek lexicon, it also means:
¥To save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction.
¥To save one from injury or peril.
¥To save a suffering one from perishing, that is, one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health.
¥To preserve one who is in danger of destruction.
¥To save or rescue.
As we can see, health and protection are included.
The literal truth about Isaiah 53:3-5
Besides our sins, Jesus also bore our sicknesses and pains on the cross. He was also whipped 39 times on His back (till His flesh was torn and His bones exposed) to buy us healing.
Isaiah 53:4,5
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs [sicknesses], and carried our sorrows [pains]: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
The original Hebrew words for "griefs" and "sorrows" are actually "sicknesses" and "pains" (physical and mental) respectively (see Strong's numbers 02483 and 04341). The translation is thus unfortunate.
Some have insisted that Isaiah 53:4 has to do with spiritual healing only. But let the Bible interpret the Bible. The verses are quoted again in Matthew 8:17 and 1 Peter 2:24. How does the Holy Spirit translate Isaiah 53:4 in Matthew 8:15? He says, "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses", implying physical healing.
Matthew 8:15-17
15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.
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.
Moreover, the immediate context of Matthew 8:17 (verses 15 and 16) proves that the verse is referring to physical healing. This is not to say that spiritual healing is excluded as demons were cast out too,
Note also that the word "Surely" is used in Isaiah 53:4. It is as though God knew that Christians would not have difficulty believing that Jesus bore their sins, but would find it hard to believe that Jesus also bore their sicknesses and pains, hence, He added the word "Surely"! You don't find that "double assurance" in verse 5, which talks about Christ bearing and suffering for our sins.
The verse before Isaiah 53:4 says:
Isaiah 53:3
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows [pains], and acquainted with grief [sicknesses]: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Again, the original Hebrew words for "griefs" and "sorrows" are "sicknesses" and "pains" (physical and mental). The translation here is also inaccurate.
As with verse 4, verse 3 is talking about Jesus' suffering on the cross -- He became a man of pains and sicknesses because He was carrying all our physical and mental pains, as well as all our diseases. In fact, His face and body were so disfigured by the pains and diseases that those who saw Him were appalled and hid their faces from Him (verse 3).
Isaiah 52:14
14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
Finally, if we look at verse 5, Isaiah says:
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
The Hebrew word for "peace" here is "shalom" (see Strong's number 07965). It is a very rich word and means completeness (in number); safety, soundness (in body); welfare, health, prosperity; peace, quiet, tranquillity, contentment; peace, friendship (of human relationships and with God especially in covenant relationship); peace (from war) and peace (as an adjective).
Jesus was punished in our place so that we could have "shalom", which includes health and prosperity!
The same crime cannot be punished twice
What does all this mean for us Christians? Because Christ bore our sicknesses and pains on the cross, it would make no sense for us to bear them again. Do we go around carrying our sins and feeling condemned? No, because Jesus already bore our sins for us, and was judged and punished by the Father in our place because of our sins. So, for us to carry on bearing our sins and condemning ourselves is to not trust in the finished work of Christ and to dishonour it.
It is the same with sicknesses and pains. Why should a Christian suffer cancer and be in pain when, in his place, Christ had already born that particular cancer and pain in His body on the cross? If Christ had already been punished with that cancer, why should that Christian be punished again with that same cancer?
The same crime cannot be punished twice! If you get a speeding ticket, you don't pay the fine twice or thrice, do you? God is not unjust -- He is faithful to the perfect payment of His Son. It is Satan who is unjust. It is the devil, not God, who puts sickness on the ignorant Christian.
God says that His people are destroyed due to a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Christians are still getting sick and dying prematurely because they do not know their rights or inheritance in Christ, and Satan has taken advantage of their ignorance and indifference. When they partake of the bread during communion, they are not recognising the health and healing that has been purchased for them by Christ.
So, start seeing that cancer on Jesus' body on the cross, not on your body. The disease cannot exist in two places at the same time. Focus on the fact that Jesus did bear that cancer on His body when He hung on the cross for you. Stop focusing on the cancer. Stop focusing on the medical reports. Stop focusing on your circumstances. Look unto the finished work of Jesus!
The bronze serpent on a pole
That is why Moses lifted up the bronze serpent wrapped around a pole -- a type of the crucifixion (and the medical symbol used today). See diagram here:
http://sg.geocities.com/saltandlight5/images/medicalsymbols.jpg
Any Jew who was bitten by a snake in the wilderness received healing as long as he focused on the bronze serpent on the pole (a type of Christ bearing our sicknesses and pains on the cross). But those who focused on their snake bite wounds (their natural circumstances) died.
Numbers 21:9
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
But how can the bronze serpent be a type of Jesus? A serpent symbolises sin and curse. Jesus was made both on the cross.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Galatians 3:13
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
John 3:14
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Bronze speaks of judgment. In God's Old Covenant temple, the bronze altar is where the animal sacrifice is burnt. On the cross, Jesus bore God's wrath and fiery judgment as God had to punish our sins that were on His Son's body.
Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death, but Isaiah 53:5 says that the chastisement that brought us peace with God was laid upon Jesus. The pole, of course, symbolises the cross.
Under the Old Covenant system of law, God blesses His people if they obey His laws, but allows terrible curses to come upon them if they don't (Deuteronomy 28:1,15).
Redeemed from every type of sickness
In Deuteronomy 28, there are 11 verses of blessings (verses 3 to 13) and 53 verses of curses (verses 16 to 68). Since there are more curses than blessings here, it behoves the Christian to study what these curses are, lest he calls something a blessing when it is a curse!
One of the curses is:
Deuteronomy 28:61
61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Notice it says "every sickness, and every plague". This means that any and every sickness or disease is a curse, never a blessing as some Christians believe. So, if you say that your sickness is a blessing from God, you are contradicting Deuteronomy 28:61, which implies that any sickness is a curse.
But praise God that because of Christ's work on the cross, we have been redeemed from the curses of the law, including Deuteronomy 28:61.
Galatians 3:13
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
In other words, healing is part of Christ's redemptive work. Healing is part of the atonement (Isaiah 53:4, Matthew 8:17 and 1 Peter 2:24)!
So, we can't say that God chooses to heal some and not others because the fact is that healing is offered to all through the cross. If we say that God is willing to heal only some people, it is like saying that God is willing to save only some people. Neither can we say that God chastens His children with diseases (see Does God chasten with sicknesses and deaths?). If that were true, God would be going against the work of His Son!
Out of Egypt
Egypt in the Bible represents the secular world. Just as God saved the Israelites out of Egypt through Moses, Christians are saved out of the world through Christ.
John 15:19
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
John 17:14
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:16
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
This is one reason why we need not suffer like the world does in terms of sickness (and many other bad things). Sicknesses are of the world. Sicknesses belong to the world. Christians are in the world but not of the world. Christians are of God's kingdom.
In Deuteronomy 28:60, God calls diseases, "of Egypt". In God's eyes, sicknesses are of the world. But in God's kingdom -- and we are of His kingdom -- there are no diseases!
Deuteronomy 28:60
60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
John 18:36
36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
The way the bread is made
If we examine the Jewish matza bread, which is the unleavened bread the Jews eat during the Passover feast, and which many churches use as the communion bread, you will notice that it is striped with tiny holes and slightly burnt. The Jews do not really know why the bread has to be made this way -- they are simply following Moses' "recipe" strictly -- but we do see diagram here:
http://sg.geocities.com/saltandlight5/images/matzaillus.jpg
What "saved" means in the NT
Finally, if we look at the Greek word for "saved" in the New Testament, which is "sozo", it means more than just saved from sin and hell. According to Strong's Greek lexicon, it also means:
¥To save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction.
¥To save one from injury or peril.
¥To save a suffering one from perishing, that is, one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health.
¥To preserve one who is in danger of destruction.
¥To save or rescue.
As we can see, health and protection are included.
As verse 11 in John 15 says, Christ was in the world and we are still in the world, thus he prays for us because we are subject to sickness and the actions of other sinful people.
