By His Stripes We Are Healed — Paris Reidhead

The Importance of Scriptural Context

Many of you have had the opportunity of being in services on our mission fields. One of the most interesting things, at least in the Sudan where we were, was that the preacher invariably started in Genesis, all the way through the Bible to the end of Revelation every Sunday.

Now it wasn't the same message. It would, as he went from Genesis, pick up on a particular emphasis that he wanted. And I've sometimes thought that there was a certain wisdom in that. Because, strangely enough, everything in the Scripture has its context.

And the context is everything that went before and everything that followed after. So as I ask you to turn to Isaiah 53, with emphasis on verses 4 and 5, and suggest that you put a finger or a piece of paper in Matthew chapter 8, then I do it with the realization that the context is very extensive, and we really need to bear it in mind.

This is the day we call Palm Sunday. The day when the Lord Jesus came into Jerusalem. And Christmas is the day when the Lord Jesus came into time, and was born bearing our humanity. He invaded humanity by his birth.

In both cases, it was for a specific purpose, and the purpose is described here in Isaiah, this 53rd chapter, this gospel according to Isaiah. It is important that you should read it perhaps several times during this week.

Not just the two verses that will be before us. But I read them for you now. Surely he, Christ, hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

He bore our transgressions. He was burned. The chastisement upon him. We are healed. In 9 verses, it is declared that the Savior's sufferings were vicarious. That is, they were for us, to save us from the consequence of sin, and to enable us to escape from punishment.

Isaiah’s Revelation of the Divine Sacrifice

Now in verse 4, we see the revelation of divine sacrifice. Verse 3, we see how men viewed him, his generation, the Pharisees, the scribes, the Jews, the Romans, despised, rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And speaking for the Jews of that day, Isaiah said, we hid as it were our faces from him, deemed him not. Now that is what the men of the day thought of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the next verse tells us how God viewed his Son.

This is emphasized in the New Testament. There are at least 10 verses that I could have given you. I'm selecting to read for you just 5, because I want to have emphasized in your mind that it is indeed the fact that he bore our griefs.

He died not for himself, but for us. But in Matthew 20, verse 28, he came as a minister, he came as a servant, and to give his life ransom for many. You remember when the matter was brought up in Caiaphas in John 11, verses 50 -52, discussed with the Pharisees this matter of the death of Christ.

And as Caiaphas said, it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. In Romans chapter 3, verses 24 and 25, the words are, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, that is a covering, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God.

Christ was set forth by God the Father to be a covering. In Romans chapter 5, verses 6 -8, the words in verse 8 that I pick up are these, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Last reference is in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 18 -21.

He was made him to be sin for us, he who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross for us. Now we'll come back to that and see that in just a little different light in a few moments.

Christ Bearing Our Sorrows and Fulfilling the Law

The next clause we have, and he carried our sorrows. Think for a moment. We read in Romans 3, God has sent forth his Son to be a covering through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God.

There was a problem. How could God, who had spoken the law and given the law, and the sanction of the law was the soul that sinneth it shall surely die, how could he now forgive? The law had to be vindicated.

The righteousness of the law had to be upheld. And so it was that there was a way. By God becoming flesh, God the Son taking upon himself our form and our likeness, invading time, invading humanity, subjecting himself to the law, keeping the law, he then could die and in his death demonstrate to the universe the holiness of the law and the justice and righteousness and holiness of God.

So that God could be forbearing and there could be a covering for sins. Now, we know therefore that Christ's suffering was primarily for the purpose of satisfying the law and vindicating the holiness of God, making it possible for God to forgive repentant and believing sinners.

Now that we understand from the death of Christ. There is, I think, no argument about that in anyone's mind. That's what the scripture teaches. But in addition it says, Christ's sufferings, included the carrying of our sorrows, was the remedy for all of the ills to which flesh is.

Everything that could happen to man because of sin had to be dealt with by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, for instance, it was true what the serpent said to Mother Eve, you shall not die. She didn't die then, but she came subject to physical death and sentenced to eternal death.

And she died. Now, that meant that the death would pass upon all men for that all would sin. And therefore the death of Christ had to include a redemption that would provide a resurrection body. Now, we have no problem at all believing that when we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and the Savior, and then we die, that he is in that time, his hour, going to come again, and we're going to be given bodies like unto his own body of glory.

That the church accepts and has no problem with. Where the problem seems to come is to believe that he can give us an earnest or a foretaste of that resurrection body while we're still in time. If he's going to give us a body like unto his own body of glory, is there any real problem in one's mind about whether he can heal this one, keep it in repair, keep it functioning, keep it working, use it?

Matthew’s Fulfillment of Isaiah’s Healing Prophecy

Well, that's what the text tells us. He bore our griefs, and he carried our sorrows. Let's look at Matthew 8 .17. I want you to see it because I believe that sometimes the Scripture is the best commentary on itself.

Read verse 16 to give you the context. And 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, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sickness.

Now, that is the New Testament translation of this verse in Isaiah. He took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. And Matthew, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, This is the fulfillment of the prophecy made by Isaiah.

And we find, Yet we did extreme him stricken, smitten of God. The spectators that were there at the time Christ had the crown of thorns pressed on his head, and had his back scourged, and was buffeted, and beaten, and mocked, never could understand why all this was happening.

They assumed that he was suffering at God's hand for something that he might have done for his own sins. So they scoffed at him, and they reviled him, even in the time of his greatest agony. There was only one in that whole company that understood.

One to whom revelation was given, and that was the one who presided at his crucifixion, the centurion, who when he died said, Certainly this was a righteous man. But all the rest of them, well, they just believed that he was suffering for things that he had done.

But we know. We know what he was doing. We understand it. So we've had the revelation of the divine Savior. Now I'd like to see something of the revelation of the divine purpose in verse 5. We've looked at verse 4.

The Piercing and Bruising of Christ for Our Transgressions

In contrast to what the spectators saw, and what they assumed, this declaration of the 5th verse is very specific, isn't it? He was wounded for our transgressions. Wounded literally in Hebrew is pierced.

Piercing came from the crown of thorns pressed upon his brow. The second piercing came by the nails through his hands and feet. And of course, the last was the piercing of his side, when the evidence that he had died of a broken heart and not of the agonies of the crucifixion was there, for there came out blood and water.

The heart having broken, the peritoneum connecting it, and when he was pierced, the evidence of the nature of his death was proven for all time. He was wounded for our transgressions. And then it says he was bruised for our iniquities.

How was the bruising? So in the piercing, how was he bruising? Well, the scourging was in itself not only tearing the flesh, but a bruising of the flesh. And then he was buffeted by the soldiers with their hands and their fists slapping and hitting him.

And then the carrying of the cross and the cross falling upon him as if the load was too heavy for his physical frame. He was bruised. Perhaps it would be well for you to just look for a moment as we see what the psalmist saw.

Turn to Psalm 22. I want to read beginning with the twelfth verse. I think it will be worth our time just to let the Spirit of God speak to our heart through this psalm and permit us to enter into something of what is not otherwise described in the Gospels.

Beginning with verse 12. Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. Do you remember who was described as a roaring lion?

And then I am poured out like water, bones are out of joint, is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels, my strength is dried up like a patcher, my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet. I tell all my bones and they look and stare upon me, they part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.

But be not thou far from me, O Lord, O my strength, haste Thee to help me, my soul from the sword, my darling from the power, from the lion horns of the unicorn. And such is the description as God the Holy Ghost saw the agony of His Son iniquities.

The Chastisement of Peace and Reconciliation

And the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, the chastisement which brought us peace. An end to the enmity between man and an offended God. That's why He was doing this, that it might be possible for God to be just and the justifier of him that would repent and believe in Jesus.

The law had to be vindicated. God's holiness had to be upheld. And the only way that could be accomplished was for God Himself to show how infinitely holy and just and right is the law. So, let's see it in the New Testament.

If you turn to Ephesians 2 .15 -17, the last words are, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, having removed the enmity there too, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments.

And in Colossians 1 .20, having made peace through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. The third thing we see is the revelation of Christ our Healer.

Christ Our Healer and the Completed Provision

I want to repeat that rendering of verse 4 that we have in Matthew 8 .17. I want you to see it again because I think only as we hear the Spirit of God tell us what's meant, can we actually understand that it might be fulfilled by that which was spoken by Isaiah saying Himself took our infirmities.

And this is a statement of a completed provision for our healing. It doesn't denote sympathy. It doesn't denote just concern, but a substitution and a removal of that which is born. And here in verse 5, with His stripes, by the shedding of blood is the remission of sin.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. The Scripture is explicit. The soul that sinneth, it must die. And the only way that can be averted is by the shedding of blood. So the Lord Jesus did die, and His blood was shed.

But have you continued to meditate upon that which I've brought to your attention in days past? If it was just the shedding of blood, why could not the soldier's spear have pierced his heart in Gethsemane's garden?

And he would have died. And his blood would have been shed. Why was it that He submitted to having thongs tied around His wrists to be led, and then to have a crown of thorns put on His back, a mock road put on His back, a broken reed put in His hand, to be buffeted and slapped and scourged and crucified, to hang there for six hours, three of them, the last three, in awful darkness when the things we read in Psalm 22 were occurring, when the God of this world came and showed His terrible hatred of God the Son?

Why, I ask you, the benefit we get from the death of Christ is remission from sin. Why did He have to suffer all of those other nine hours? Well, Galatians 3 .13, that we've looked at more completely in days past, that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us.

For a curse it is every one that hangeth on the tree. Everything that happened to Christ during those nine hours from six in the morning till nearly three in the afternoon, everything that happened had to do with this verse that we have, with His stripes we are healed.

This is deliverance from the curse of the law. And it's so important for us to understand this. Now, in a few moments, we're going to come to the table of remembrance. And you know the formula. You're familiar with it.

The Lord’s Supper and Christ’s Full Redemption

Take the bread, which is grain that has been crushed and heated. He said as He took the bread, and as He broke it, it is given for you to help you in all the events of life and time. This is given for you.

And then He took the cup when He had supped, and He blessed it, and He said, drink you all of it, for this is My blood shed for the remission of sins. Making a distinction between His body given for us and His blood shed for the remission of our sins.

Looking back on the days of my belligerent dispensationalism when healing was something so abhorrent to me that I couldn't even be pleasant to the people who said they believed in it. And I can't understand how my mind could be so darkened to such simple and direct and clear truth as this.

With His stripes we are healed. This is My body which is given for you. Oh, today, as we come to this table of remembrance, and as we follow our Lord during this holy week, meditating each day on the appropriate Scripture for the day, let us realize that as He endured those six hours of agony, it was that He might procure for us this full, blessed, this glorious gospel of redemption from sin.

Dr. Simpson sang it. Dr. Simpson stated it. We hold it. We believe it and affirm it. Christ our Savior, my blood shed for the remission of sins. Christ our Sanctifier. John says, He that cometh after me is preferred before me, and He it is that baptizeth you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

And Christ our Healer. Oh, I know there are problems. I know there are problems. Why isn't everyone healed? I don't know. But because I don't know why everyone is healed, I'm not going to stop preaching the Word.

I don't know why everyone isn't saved in the light of the glorious gospel of His grace. I don't know. I want to find out of my need in my life and my pilgrimage. I'm going to have to stand as best I'm able.

And as God teaches me day by day, stand even stronger with His stripes. We are healed. That we're going to be? We are. And I think there are many, many things we've got to learn. Someone suggested to me, Here you've been speaking so long about faith and about healing.

Why haven't you called for those that might be sick to come for prayer and anointing? Well, there's one reason. Because the Scripture says, Let the sick call for the elders. It doesn't say, Let the elders call for the sick.

What I'm trying to see happen is the quickening of faith in your heart, in your mind, in your life, until you, like the four, bring the one who is in need. But today, gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ of whom it is said, with His stripes we are healed.

Prayer for Faith and the Glory of Christ

And as you take the bread, remember my body given for you. Let us pray. Father of Jesus, we're praying that Thy Son may be here in the midst of the candlesticks. Like John on the island of Patmos, we may see Him as Thou hast exalted Him and glorified Him and given Him a name above every name.

And we bow to express our love and our worship and our adoration. King of kings and Lord of lords. Father, we treasure everything that Thou didst include in the death of Thy Son. We treasure everything that He died to bring to us.

We need every gift and every blessing and every provision to enable us to walk wisely and well in this desperately needy breath of God. Quicken faith in our hearts and expectancy in accord with the provisions of Thy Word.

And grant to us, Father, the joy of being able to rejoice in the triumphs of faith as we see the Lord Jesus Christ glorified in the lives of this people and those whom we shall touch with this good news of His delivering love and power.

In His name and for His sake we ask it. Amen.

Trust in Him. Trust His Heavens. Young shall pray. Blessed read. Precious redeems. Now I see His tree.