Jesus was Wounded that We might be Healed

Now, in the same two verses we get the physical aspect of the exchange which is just as clear. Going back to verse 4:

"Surely he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. [And then verse 5:] He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement [or punishment] that brought us peace was upon him; and by his stripes [or wounds] we are healed."

Notice how logical it is? He took our sicknesses, he bore our pains and by his wounds we are healed. The Hebrew there for “we are healed” is rather difficult to render in English but I’ll say it this way: It was healed for us. That’s the nearest I can get. So you can say healing was obtained for us. Why? Because he took our sicknesses and bore our pains. Therefore, healing was obtained for us.

To make it short and simple we will say he was wounded that we might be what? Healed. That’s very simple, isn’t it? But very important. It concerns a lot of us here at this present time. He was wounded that we might be healed.

Before we do that I want to emphasize that the New Testament totally endorses this interpretation because this passage of Isaiah is quoted twice in Matthew 8 and in 1 Peter 2. In each case it was a Jew quoting it who understood Hebrew and in each case he was inspired by the Holy Spirit. So we have a totally reliable and authoritative interpretation.

Keep your finger in Isaiah 53 in case we need to go back there and turn to Matthew 8:16–17. Now this is the opening of the public ministry of Jesus. This is the first time he began to minister in public. It says when evening had come, because it was a Sabbath, and the Jews were not allowed to travel or to carry anything on the Sabbath. So they had to wait until the Sabbath was over to come to him and bring their sick.

“When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon possessed; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.”

Notice how many he healed? [Congregation said all.] Are you sure of that? What did it say? [All.] Did it, really? Now, why did he do that? The next verse tells you.

“That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, He himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”

What is he quoting? Isaiah 53:4. And notice that he uses two words for physical problems. Infirmities and sicknesses. If you were to distinguish between them I would say infirmities would be weaknesses, things that you’re liable to, like allergies, and sicknesses would be actual diseases like cholera or diphtheria or influenza, whatever it might be.

But, you see, Matthew says that the healing ministry of Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4–5. And he emphasizes that he healed every one. Why did he heal every one? Because he had taken or was going to take—but in the eternal counsel of God he had already taken—our sicknesses and borne our pains. You know that’s good news! I don’t see how people can hear that and believe it without getting excited. Maybe it will take a little while to sink in but it’s not only good news, it’s exciting news.
You see, if the church really believed that, evangelism would be pretty simple. Like suppose I suffer from corns which, thank God I don’t. Suppose I did. And I discovered a remedy that completely dispelled corns. I mean, I just forgot I ever had a corn. I see this poor dear old lady hobbling around with corns. You know, it would be almost inevitable that I would say, “Madam, do you know that there’s a remedy for corns? You don’t have to have those corns.” I wouldn’t have to be an evangelist. I’d just have to be a normal person. Isn’t that right? If we, not somebody else but we, [that includes me] if we were totally convinced of what I’m teaching we would evangelize.

Going to Pakistan was a revealing experience for me because it’s 98 percent Moslem country. And we got as many as 16,000 people out to meetings without much advertising. Why? Because we prayed for the sick. And they got healed. They got healed. Not all of them, only a few of them, but they really got healed. The blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame walked. Believe me, brothers and sisters, you don’t have a problem getting a crowd if you have that. There are plenty of other fine ways to attract people but the number one central method of the New Testament is miracles. And practically speaking, they cost nothing—in the natural. In the spiritual they cost a lot.

Let’s go on to 1 Peter 2:24. Oh, I want you to notice before you do, Matthew 8:17, notice the quotation in the version that I’m reading:

“He himself . . .”

Notice all the emphasis? Where is it? On he, that’s right. And then we’ll go to 1 Peter 2:24. This is speaking about Jesus. It’s one of these long sentences that the New Testament writers indulge in. Beginning at verse 23:

"Who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return; when he suffered he did not threaten; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness: by whose stripes [or wounds] you were healed."

Notice that? See, that’s both aspects. The spiritual, he bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we might be forgiven and he took our sicknesses and bore our pains that we might be healed. I tell you, brothers and sisters, some of you are responding and some of you are not. That’s not my problem. But you may need to renounce unbelief at some time. I know it’s not easy to believe. Believe me, I struggled in a hospital bed for months to the point where I really believed it. It’s a strange thing. The critics of Jesus in his day never questioned that he could heal the sick. They did deny his claim to forgive sins. The church today, the evangelical church takes it for granted that people’s sins can be forgiven but stumbles over the fact that people can be healed. Which is harder? To forgive sins or to heal sickness? Which is the greater miracle? That our sins can be forgiven. There’s no miracle that transcends that.

You’ll find in previous centuries tremendously intelligent and dedicated and earnest men like John Wesley struggled for years to apprehend by faith the fact that their sins could be forgiven. Because today it is pretty generally taught, people take it for granted. They walk up and take it like helping themselves to a pill over the counter. It’s comical.

In John Wesley’s ministry in Cornwall, which is the extreme southwest county of England, there was a man, just a humble man who said that he knew his sins were forgiven. You know what they called him? A blasphemer. They press-ganged him into the British Navy to deal with him. See? Really it’s a subjective issue. It’s our attitude that determines how we’ll respond.

Again, I want you to notice in verse 24 of 1 Peter 2 who what? Himself. Do you see that? All through the emphasis is on him. Brothers and sisters, there is no solution in ourselves. You can go on quoting doctors about your sickness as long as you please and feeling yourself here and there and everywhere else. But it’s not the solution.

I am always amused at people who tell me they can’t memorize scripture. “Brother Prince, I just can’t memorize scripture.” But the same lady goes to the doctor, comes back and tells you verbatim everything the doctor said about her sickness. She memorizes what she believes.

Did we do this one on both hands? I don’t think we did. Now this time I’m to expect you to do it with me just by intuition. It’s the physical. He was wounded that we might be healed. He was wounded that we might be healed. Now I. He was wounded that I might be healed. Put your hand up in the air and say it. That’s you. Amen! Tell me, how much work did you have to put into getting your sins forgiven? None. How much work do you have to put into getting healed? None. It’s finished.

I have studied Greek since I was ten years old. The word that’s used in 1 Peter 2:24, you were healed, is the normal Greek word for physical healing. And again, like the Hebrew words, it’s not changed its meaning. It still has the same meaning in modern Greek. From it comes the modern Greek word for a doctor, "iatros".

Christians sometimes say to me, “Brother Prince, how can I know if it’s God’s will to heal me?” And I usually answer something like this—and mind you, there’s lots of things I don’t know and lots of questions I can’t answer. It doesn’t embarrass me the least bit. But I say, “If I rightly understand the revelation of scripture, you’re asking the wrong question. It’s not how can I know if it’s God’s will to heal me, it’s how can I appropriate the healing which God has already provided for me.”

You find that healing is never in the future tense when it refers to the atonement. Seven hundred years before it happened Isaiah said healing was obtained for us. And fifty years or so afterwards Peter said by whose wounds you were healed. It’s very emphatic. A simple past tense. It happened on the cross. It’s a fact of history. Whether we believe it or not it’s true. What we believe will affect us. We can’t change the facts of history, they’re already stated.