Day 20: Jesus took your pain, suffering and sickness…

Isaiah 53:4-5 is such a wonderful verse:

“Surely he [that's Jesus] took our infirmities and carried our sorrows [but the more literal translation is pains]. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our pains, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (NIV)

Notice there it speaks of infirmities and pain. Infirmities are what we might call congenital weaknesses, like many people have a hereditary tendency to diabetes or to arthritis. Jesus took our infirmities, our sicknesses, and our pains. He made complete provision.

In Isaiah 53, there are three words that describe the spiritual (transgressions and iniquities and then peace), and three words that describe the physical (infirmities, pains, and healing). Because Jesus was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, he offers us peace. Because Jesus took our physical infirmities, bore our physical pains, therefore he offers us physical healing.

The prophecy from Isaiah 53 is fully confirmed in the New Testament. The two records are absolutely harmonious.

We look, first of all, in Matthew 8:16 and 17, speaking about the earthly ministry of Jesus:

“When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He [Jesus] took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.’” (NIV)

So, Jesus' coming in fulfillment of the prophesies of the Scripture for the Messiah, the deliverer, fulfilled all that was written in Isaiah 53 including this aspect of physical deliverance: He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.

And again, in 1st Peter, chapter 2, verse 24, the Apostle Peter refers back to Isaiah 53, verses 4 and 5, and he applies it to Jesus:

“He himself [that's Jesus] bore our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (NIV)

Notice He bore the spiritual, the sins, but He also bore the physical. By His wounds you have been healed. Jesus endured the physical wounding of His body that He might be able to offer us physical healing for our bodies and it's significant that Peter places that in the perfect tense. It's a finished fact: by His wounds you have been healed. The wounds of Jesus have already obtained for us the right to physical healing. That word that Peter uses in Greek in the New Testament is directly related to the Greek word for a doctor. It still is today. It specifically means physical healing. By the physical wounds of Jesus, physical healing has been obtained for you and me.