From Sickness to Healing

If you ponder on that list, and even more so if you read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy on which it’s based, you’ll find that one major element in the curses is mental and physical sickness. I’ll develop this a little further by reading some passages from Deuteronomy 28 where the curses are specified, in many times in great detail.

Beginning in Deuteronomy 28 verses 21-22,

“The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.”

Notice that it specifies there diseases in general, and then particularly wasting disease, fever, and inflammation.

Then in verses 27 and 28,

“The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of the mind.”

Just pick out the significant words there, all part of the curse: boils, tumors, festering sores, and the itch, madness, blindness, and confusion of the mind. All those are part of the curse.

Then on in verse 35,

“The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.”

All that’s part of the curse, skin diseases. Deuteronomy 28 verses 59 through 61, still listing the curses,

“The Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illness. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.”

Notice again the items listed there: severe and lingering illness, and then all the diseases of Egypt.

And I’ve lived in Egypt. I’ve spent more than three years of my life in Egypt. Believe me, there are few diseases that are not experienced in Egypt, and it says, “all the diseases of Egypt.” And then it goes on to say, if there should be any diseases not included in that,

“The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.”

In other words, every kind of sickness, disease, is part of the curse.

Logically, therefore, and the Bible is the most logical book I’ve ever read, and I used to be a professor of logic. Logically, therefore, if Jesus bore the curse for us, then He bore our sicknesses, both mental and physical. And sure enough, that’s exactly what the Bible declares. We’ll look first of all in Isaiah 53 verses 4 and 5. Again, this is the prophetic preview of the sufferings of Jesus on the cross.

“Surely he” – that’s Jesus – “took up 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.”

Notice there it speaks of infirmities and pains. We need to know that infirmities are what we might call congenital weaknesses. Like many people have a hereditary tendency to diabetes or to arthritis. That would be an infirmity. A sickness would be the specific condition that we are exposed to through the infirmity. Jesus took our infirmities, our sicknesses, and our pains. He made complete provision.

If you look there in that passage in Isaiah 53, you’ll see there are three words that describe the spiritual, three words that describe the physical: transgressions and iniquities, and then peace – that’s spiritual. Because Jesus was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, He offers us peace. Then there are three physical words: infirmities, pains, and healing. Because Jesus took our physical infirmities, bore our physical pains, therefore He offers us physical healing. All that I’ve said about the death of Jesus and His provision of healing, which I’ve quoted from the Old Testament, from Isaiah chapter 53, is fully confirmed in the New Testament. So Jesus, coming in fulfillment of the prophecies 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. 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, I think, 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 the 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.