"We are healed by the punishment He suffered" - Isaiah 53:5-6 (GNT)

Isaiah finishes his description of the Messiah, and what He must suffer on our behalf, Isaiah had no idea what or who he was writing about. Isaiah was given the inspiration to write down what God had given him, all the while describing the passion of our Savior, which was to come.

Amazingly, Isaiah gave such incredible details about what Jesus was to suffer even though it didn't happen for many years after.

There is an absolute beauty in prophecy that predicts the future in a way that unfolds and makes us aware of our place with God and His provision for us.

Today's passage states that "it was because of our sins He was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did."  Jesus bore upon His natural body, the physical abuse, and punishment that was required for sin, even though He did not know sin or have the stain of sin upon him. 

Jesus did this to selflessly restore us into right relationship with God.  

"Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God's approval. His wounds have healed you." 

1 Peter 2:24 (GW)

This was a sacrifice that had to be made because of the integrity of God and it was a choice (His choice) to allow His Son to be wounded and beaten because of the evil which we perpetrated in this life.

We could say that we were lied to by the deceiver/accuser (the devil), which is true, but our choices are what gave sin its power over us. 

God loves His Son Jesus very much and has a great passion for Him. He also loves us and has a great passion for us too, for we are also His sons and daughters. 

Jesus willingly chose to redeem us from the curse of sin and death so that we could be restored as the rightful sons and daughters of God and not be separated from Him because of sin any longer.

"This is true because Christ suffered for our sins once. He was an innocent person, but he suffered for guilty people so that he could bring you to God. His body was put to death, but he was brought to life through his spirit." 

1 Peter 3:18 (GW)

"We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received." Two types of healing take place in this passage mentioned in Isaiah 53; we are healed and restored both spiritually and physically.

Our position with the Father has been restored through Jesus; we are daily becoming aware of our rich heritage, it is a revelation of our true identity in Christ.

Jesus is only the first natural man born who has come into this awareness and reality; He paved the way for us as natural men and women to enter this awareness with Him, and experience the same spiritual reality that He knows with boldness because of what He has accomplished for us.

"Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let's not let it slip through our fingers. We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help." 

Hebrews 4:14-16 (MSG)

We also receive bodily healing when we cry out to the Lord and give Him our pains and ailments. I have heard many people who trust their healing totally by faith alone, which can be a good thing. But don't forget that God can bring a Doctor into our lives to help facilitate healing also.

There is a Greek word with speaks of Jesus healing people in the Gospels by laying His hands upon them for healing, Paul as well was healing people in the book of Acts the same way, it is the word therapeuo, it is where we get our English word for therapy. The word therapeuo involves physical touch and/or manipulation to produce healing.

"The head man in that part of the island was Publius. He took us into his home as his guests, drying us out and putting us up in fine style for the next three days. Publius's Father was sick at the time, down with a high fever and dysentery. Paul went to the old man's room, and when he laid hands on him and prayed, the man was healed. Word of the healing got around fast, and soon everyone on the island who was sick came and got healed." 

Acts 28:8-9 (MSG)

With Easter rapidly approaching, there is an awareness that we possibly may not be able to meet as a church body to celebrate Easter together until the coronavirus passes. No matter if we meet together in person or not, the victory of the cross still stands as one of the greatest accomplishments known to mankind, for we have been restored into right relationship with our God, and He loves us. 

The beauty of the Gospel is that Jesus did this while we were still in rebellion to Him; that is how far His love extends to us, we didn't deserve it, but still...thank you Jesus for the cross!

"But God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!" 

Romans 5:8 (GNT)

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett