Chapter 5. God’s Provision for Our Healing.

Chapter 5. God’s Provision for Our Healing.

One of the great teachings of the Church has been the fact of Christ as Mediator of the New Covenant.

As I noted earlier the Hebrew idea of a mediator is quite different from ours. For them the Mediator was not an independent third party who brokered a deal between two warring parties. Rather the Mediator had to, in himself, embody the two warring parties. Only such a mediator could understand fully what was involved in mediation. Thus the church has always taught that Christ, who is in himself the very essence of God, took on himself, or ASSUMED, our Fallen Humanity so that he could mediate between us. This word ASSUMED is very important – as we shall see. When used in theology it has no idea of something being an assumption that is not really true. Rather it means that Christ really and truly took our position, taking on himself our sinful state so that we could be freed from it.

About this we cannot go into detail but we need to understand some fundamental points:

First, the Early Church Fathers understood that, in himself, Christ was both God and man and thus could mediate between God and man. Because he embodied both God and man he could be mediator. If he had not embodied both God and man he would not have been able to mediate between them. Instead he would only have been a broker of words and not a mediator at all.

Second, the Fathers understood the nature of mediation. It is different from our idea of mediation in which a third party brokers a deal between two parties in conflict. Instead the Bible idea is that the Mediator, because he embodies both parties, does all of the work of mediation required by both parties. He brings about reconciliation in and through himself. This reconciliation he then presents to the parties as a gift to be received. The warring parties themselves do nothing towards the reconciliation; rather it is given to them as a gift, to be received by faith.

Acting as mediator, Christ fulfilled all that was required for both parties for the mediation to be successful. Thus the human responsibility for completing the covenant was undertaken by him. He was our representative. In the same way he, being in himself God, took full responsibility for God’s side of the covenant. Thus the New Covenant was completed, sealed, by Christ 2000 years ago. It is fully operational – even without us, so we can do nothing to make it work. Thus to receive its benefits we can only receive them as a gift by faith.

Third, the Fathers understood that this reconciliation, this new Covenant, happened inside the person of the Mediator himself. He ASSUMED our fallenness so that he could heal it, in himself, by EXCHANGING our fallenness for his Divine perfection. Part of what salvation means is that God wants to restore his image in us. He wants to conform us to the image of Christ, who is the image of God.

The central idea is contained in the following phrase: WHAT IS NOT ASSUMED IS NOT HEALED.

But the converse is also true: What is ASSUMED by Christ is therefore defeated for us and we can be totally set free from it.

So what happened is this: Christ, the image of God, took on our brokenness due to sin, and IN HIMSELF EXCHANGED our brokenness (The Old Adam) for his perfection (the new man). Having completely exchanged one for the other he then took our old Adam and crucified it on the cross, fully and finally putting it to death. He then rose again in the power of the Spirit as the New Man, on which sin and death has claim or hold. Thus he has completely CONVERTED the old sinful nature of Adam into the perfect nature of the Son of God. This new man he now offers to us as a gift to be received by faith.

The fourth thing the Fathers understood was that this exchange was achieved by means of SUBSTITUTION. Jesus became our substitute – he took on himself all of the guilt and punishment of our sin, the curse of the broken covenant, so that we might live in the blessing of the covenant.

The fifth thing the Fathers understood was that this exchange was a process, beginning with the incarnation and ending with the Crucifixion. At every stage of life Jesus encountered the same temptations we encounter in life yet without sin. Instead at each point of test he exchanged the fallen nature of Adam he had received from Mary for the Word of God, thus realigning humanity in himself with the Divine Word that originally created it. Thus by the time he reached the Cross his whole humanity had been tested and realigned to the Word. This perfected humanity he then offered to God on the Cross as a sacrifice for sin. With the resurrection he was raised to newness of life and this Divine exchange which he had undertaken inside himself throughout his life was then made available to us by the Spirit of God. These blessings are received by us as a gift, by faith, because Christ has already done the work of exchange.

This has become known as The Divine Exchange. It is believed (in one way or another) by the whole Church – it is the essence of Christianity. It is the gospel message.

“For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man (Rom 8:3).”

v      Christ came in “the likeness of sinful flesh,” i.e. in the same sort of stuff we are made of. The word “likeness” here does not mean, as we often use the word, “like but not really the same as”. Rather it means “he took on himself exactly the same sinful nature we have.”

v      In that “likeness” he was an “offering for sin.”

v      As a result “he condemned sin in sinful man.”

In other words the power of sin in our lives has been overcome through what Christ did on the Cross. Jesus did this as a substitute for us.

Dr. Derek Prince put it like this “At the Cross an exchange took place, divinely ordained and predicted. All the evil due, by Justice, to come to us came on Jesus so that all the good due to Jesus earned by his sinless obedience, might be made available to us.”

Dr. Prince restricts this work of exchange to the cross, whereas the Fathers saw it as working right through Christ’s human life. This is a debate we don’t need to enter into here.

This teaching of the Divine Exchange was developed by the Fathers out of Isaiah 53 and other passages of scripture.

Isaiah 53: The prediction of Christ’s work.

There are four groups of 3 verses plus last three verses of chapter 52.

There are 66 chapters in Isaiah and 66 books in Bible. A clear division at chapter 39. 39 books in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament.

Chapter 40—66 = 27 = 3x9. Middle chapter of this section is Ch 53. The work of Christ is the central part of the second part of Isaiah, and the central part of the New Testament.

Isaiah 53:1. “Who has believed our report?”

Isaiah 52:13 - 15 is the summary of the report; Ch 53 is the report.

The Hebrews wrote things in a nutshell and then elaborated it.

52:12--53:12. 15 verses, 53:4--6 is the Central section - about the work of Christ.

Isaiah 53:6. The Central Verse of this Report – it contains the centre of the Christian message.

We all like sheep have gone astray, each have turned to his own way;

And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

“Iniquity” (Hebrew =) “rebellion and all its evil consequences.”

"Laid" (Hebrew =) “made to meet together.”

Christ exhausted all of the evil of the Adamic race on the Cross.  The Cross is an exchange, a substitutionary work.

Dr. Prince renders the verse like this: “The Lord made to meet together upon Jesus on the cross the rebellion of the whole Adamic race with all the due punishment and all the evil consequences of that rebellion.”

Christ said, "It is finished" - Greek perfect tense, i.e. "It is perfectly perfect, completely complete, totally finished".

Dr. Prince liked to quote a personal revelation given to him from God to illustrate this:

“Consider the work of Calvary. 

A perfect work,

Perfect in every respect,

Perfect in every aspect.”

Jesus, through the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to God (Heb 9:14).” The word “eternal” means ageless. What Jesus did on the Cross was not under the limitations of time - it was outside of time. He took upon himself the guilt of all men of all ages, past, present and future.

1. The origin of Salvation.

“Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering… (ISA 53:10).”

"Will" (Hebrew =) “set intention.” It was God’s unchangeable decision. The idea of the atonement began in the heart of God. Before the foundation of the world he made the decision – the set intention – that Christ would die for our sins. God is not an unwilling God – salvation was his idea.

2. The Person of the Saviour.

“See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted (ISA 52:13).”

God is speaking.  The Hebrew meaning is clear.  The term “servant” is used 35 times in Isaiah, and always means the Messiah.

“He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him (ISA 53:2).”

"Dry ground" – he came from the religious dryness of Israel.

"No form or comeliness" – He was repulsive to look at in the natural. He had no sex appeal.  There was nothing startling about him that would attract our attention.

3. The Suffering of the Saviour.

“Just as there were many who were appalled at him- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness- so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand (ISA 52:14, 15).”

"Appalled" – the word means “aghast.” The sight of his sufferings were enough to shock any decent person.

“disfigured” - in the Spanish Bible this is translated "Hamburger"- i.e. raw meat. The Hebrew means “to mutilate, grind up, totally disfigure.” One translation puts it this way "He lost even the appearance of humanity". What was seen on the Cross was a bruised, bleeding, putrefying mass of flesh that didn’t even look like a man.

The reason for this suffering is to "Sprinkle many nations".

“Sprinkle” – is used 25 times in the Old Testament - always for sprinkling blood or water for forgiveness of sins.  There is a purpose for which he suffered - so that he could be a priest for many, i.e. all, nations. Verse 15b is the application of that work by the Holy Spirit to individuals.

 “Why should you be beaten anymore?...your whole head is injured, you whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness – only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil (Isaiah 1:5, 6)..”

This is speaking of Israel, but Jesus as the substitute took this on himself – he ASSUMED it. There was “no soundness” in Jesus body.  He received no medical aid. 

“He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth (ISA 53:9).”

“A grave” – he was treated like a common criminal but at the last moment he was buried like a king in a rich man’s tomb.

4. The Work of the Salvation.

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, 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 (ISA 53:4, 5)”.

"Surely" – The word is supplied to emphasise "He". Really the Hebrew is a repetition, i.e. "He, he..." or "It was him, he....".  

In the Hebrew language you don't use a personal pronoun as the verbal form carries a pronoun. You only put a pronoun in if you want to emphasise it. "He" is put in here even though it is not necessary.

The Jews interpreted the servant passages of Isaiah as applying to Israel as a nation, but the addition of the pronoun “he” gives an emphasis that makes this interpretation impossible. The passage is talking about a “he,” an individual person, not a group.

C/f 2 Peter 2:24 "He, himself, in his own body...".

The aim is to turn our eyes onto Jesus from ourselves.

"We considered him" - refers to Jews mainly, because he died on a tree, a curse.

5. The Results of Salvation.

“See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him - his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human

Likeness - so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand (ISA 52:13-15).”

"Act wisely" (Hebrew =) “shall bring to a conclusion, be successful.”

“raised” (Hebrew =) “raise himself.”

The Rabbinical interpretation reads like this: "Exalted, higher than Abraham, extolled, higher than Moses, very high, higher than the angels".

“highly exalted” (Hebrew =) “ascended.”

The meaning is he was successful because he rose, ascended and sat down on high.  This is clear in the Hebrew, if it was not then verse 14 would be misunderstood.

Verse 14 is a parentheses and explains verse 15. Men were appalled at his suffering – but only because they did not understand why it had to be so. What was not revealed beforehand is now told and they understand and so shut their mouths.

Jesus took all the evil that was due to us that in return by faith we might receive all the good that was due to Jesus. The evil came upon Jesus that the good might be made available to us.

In Isaiah 53:4, 5 there are three statements to do with the spiritual, and three to do with the physical. A perfect balance, God is interested in the whole man.

There are many provisions in the redemption of Christ, but we will only have time to look at those that deal with aspects of our healing.

The first great healing need we have is for Spiritual healing – healing from sin.

1.  The provision for sins.

“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. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (ISA 53:5, 6).”

The words transgressions and iniquities are both plural.

Jesus was punished for our acts of disobedience (transgressions) and for our acts of rebellion (iniquities). Sinful acts must be punished otherwise there is no justice in the universe. But the punishment due to all our sinful acts came on Jesus. Now punishment has been met God offers forgiveness, or peace.  No longer is God angry or offended. Jesus took the punishment so that we might have the forgiveness for our sins and inner peace.

The word “Peace” primarily means forgiveness and reconciliation with God. But the Hebrew word “shalom” goes beyond this. It means “to be full in every area of our life.” Thus it includes physical, emotional, mental and spiritual healing and health.

The Exchange: Jesus was punished for our sins, our sinful acts, that we might have forgiveness, peace.

2.                                   The Provision for Sin.

1 John tells us there is a distinction between sin and sins. Verses 7, 8 talk of Sin - the root of sin. The blood is continually cleansing us from all sin -singular.

Verses 9, 10: talk of our Sins - our sinful acts.

For sin we need cleansing. For sins we need forgiveness.

Sin is an evil spiritual force that drives man to rebellion against God and corrupts man spiritually. As a result of sin we have committed sins, or sinful acts.

God’s provision in Christ deals with both of these: “Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand (ISA 53:10).”

The NIV is not a good translation here. The idea is not that of a guilt offering but a sin offering, hence the  KJV is better: “an offering for sin.”

In Hebrew, the Word for "Offering for sin" is the same as the Word for "Sin" - asham.  There aren't two words, because under the ritual of Mosaic law, when the sinner brought his offering he laid his hands on the head of it, confessed his sin over it, and by that act symbolically his sin was transferred from himself to the offering. So the offering for sin became his sin. After that it was killed and symbolically the man's sin was put to death. Thus Isaiah 53:10 literally reads "When thou shalt make his soul sin...".  This is the climax of the atonement. After this light floods in. Until now the darkness has been getting darker and darker. The moment sin is dealt with we begin to see promise.

Jesus absorbed the entire evil power of sin and exchanged it for righteousness.

He dealt with sin itself by becoming an offering for sin. Then the offering was killed - crucified. On the Cross the soul of Jesus was made sin itself.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2COR 5:21).”

The Exchange: Jesus was made sin with our sin that we might have his righteousness.

3. The provision for sicknesses.

If there had never been any sin there would never have been any sickness.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we

considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted (ISA 53:3, 4).”

This deals with sicknesses. Literally it reads: "Surely he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains".

We need to know some words.

Isa 53:4 – “took up, born” Hebrew: nasa – literally means “to lift up, bear way, move to a distance.” This is a Levitical word applied to the scapegoat. Jesus bore my sins and sicknesses without the camp. Sin and sickness have passed from me to Calvary. “Carried” – Hebrew: sabal – This is the same word as in v 11, 12 for carrying sin. Jesus took in his own body all of the sicknesses so that we might be healed, i.e., forgiven or be rid of them. Both words signify “to assume as a heavy burden”; they  denote actual substitution and a complete removal of the thing borne. They mean “one bearing another’s load.”

The same sense must be applied to both the sin bearing and the sickness bearing. To pervert the meaning in one case would give liberty to pervert it in the other case. In the sense applying to sin, here in Isa 53 and everywhere else in scripture the words are strictly vicarious and expiatory. This then gives the same substitutionary and expiatory character to Christ’s connection with sickness that is everywhere given to his assumption of our sins.

The Hebrew words when used of sin signify to assume as a heavy burden and bear away the guilt of sin as one’s own – to bear away sin mediatorially in order to remove it totally from us. They can only mean the same for sicknesses – to bear away sickness mediatorially in order to remove it totally from us.

This translation of Isa 53:4 as meaning sicknesses and pains is verified in Matthew 8:16, 17, where it is quoted as referring directly to physical healing: “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 fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."

Here sickness, not sin, is the object of the words. So the same mediatorial sense remains – he endured them in his own person in order to discharge us from them.

Objection: This is before the cross so not about the Cross?

Answer: No - Christ was offered before the foundation of the world.

Anyway Jesus forgave sin before he died – he did this in virtue of his coming sacrifice. Healing is the same.

“By his stripes we are healed.”

“are” – The Hebrew is difficult to translate – it is an impersonal past tense.. Derek Prince renders it: “with his wounds it was healed to us.”

That physical healing is meant is also confirmed by 1 Peter 2:24, 25, where Isa 53:5 is quoted and the Greek word specifically means physical healing.

It is a remarkable fact: when the Bible speaks about healing referring to the atoning sacrifice of Christ, it never uses the future tense. As far as the Lord is concerned your healing is already provided. It already exists.

Question: Did Jesus become vicariously sick?

Answer: The verbs in Matthew indicate this. Matthew replaces the LXX pherei (carries) with elaben (took) which is used elsewhere in the vicarious sense.

The Exchange: Jesus took our sicknesses so that we can be healed.

4. The Provision for sickness.

Again there is a distinction:

Sicknesses: the various diseases that can come upon our bodies.

Sickness: the evil, corrupting power that makes us sick.

“Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand (ISA 53:10).”

This deals with sickness. The clause "to bruise him, he has put him to grief" in v10 is in the Hebrew two words, "bruise" and "sickness" and the literal translation would be, "to bruise him unto sickness".

Hebrew: “It was the pleasure/purpose of the Lord to bruise him unto sickness”; i.e. to make him sickness by bruising him. The climax was that the whole evil, corrupting power of sickness was absorbed into Jesus.

What is the opposite of sickness?  Health!  Healing and health are two different things. Lots of Christians believe in getting healed, but they don't know how to live in health. They only get as far as Isaiah 53:4--5, and don't get as far as verse 10. This is just like lots of Christians believe they can get their sins forgiven, but they don't know how to live in righteousness. This is because they haven't been taught the whole provision of God.

Look again at Exodus 15:26. The promise there is for health, not just for healing.

He was made sick with our sickness, just as he was made sin with our sin. That's the climax.  After that there is nothing more to do. The whole thing is exhausted, then we burst forth into victory and rejoicing.

The Exchange: Jesus took our sickness so we can have health.

Sickness is to the body what sin is to the soul. Thus we see this parallel reference to forgiveness of sin and healing from sickness right through the Bible.

5. We are released from the curse of the Law and brought into blessing.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit (GAL 3:13, 14).”

This passage shows this clear and obvious exchange. Jesus hanging on a cross was a curse. That which hangs on a tree is a curse. All the curse of the broken law came on him that we might receive Abraham's blessing - that is, blessing in all things (Genesis 24:1). It comes to us by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the interpreter of Calvary.

Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law – and that includes every sickness. Thus he redeemed us from sickness. Redemption is synonymous with Calvary.

The Exchange: Jesus took the curse so that we can have the blessing.

6. The Provision for Our Emotional Needs.

The Answer to Loneliness, rejection, abandonment, heartache, abuse, injustice.

“The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him (GEN 2:18)."

Loneliness is “not good”. It is not good for a member of the race to be alone. Solitary life is impoverished life.

Jesus was rejected by God and man – totally abandoned and alone: “He was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was despised and we esteemed him not (Isaiah 53:3).”

"Despised" - to be trodden upon. This can be literal, but it can mean metaphorically.

"Rejected" - as a leper was considered unclean, thus was shunned and isolated from society.

"Man of sorrows" - so we could have joy. His only real acquaintance was grief. 

“People hide their faces" - why? Who would want to look at him, he was physically repulsive.

"Esteemed" - to weave, i.e. a pattern. He didn't fit their pattern of ideas - a contradiction of all of their expectations. 

“We considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted (Isa 53:4).”

Just as Christ had a unique fellowship with God in his life, so in his death there was a unique abandonment by God. His death does not come near anything that other human beings have suffered. This cry is the consummation of Christ’s becoming man, the end of the path of rejection he took on in the incarnation. The New Testament teaches that Jesus was separated from God in the death he died. So he cried out, “My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?”

 “He was oppressed and afflicted (Isa 53:7).”

 “By oppression and judgement he was taken away… though he had done no violence nor was any deceit found in his mouth (Isa 53:8, 9).”

“Oppressed” – his trial broke the legal guidelines. It was unjust.

There can be no doubt that loneliness, a sense of isolation from God, is one of the most painful experiences of this human life. Had Christ not undergone it he would have lacked one dimension of our way of life.

To be really one with us Christ had to know something of our loneliness. But he did more – he endured the God-forsakenness that was our due. He entered into our loneliness to take it away.

He “suffered outside the gate (Heb 13:12).” Like the lepers on the rubbish dump of Jerusalem he was totally rejected by society. Rejected by the “city”, i.e. the society he lived in, rejected by God, rejected by the earth. Hanging suspended on a Cross, belonging nowhere.

Godforsakenness is the experience of this generation. The New Testament speaks to this. God is the God of him who was forsaken on the cross. He is thus the God of all the forsaken.

The Exchange: Jesus took our isolation and brought us into relationship with God and with his body.

7. His Glory in place of our shame

Confession: Jesus bore my shame so that I can experience his glory.

“In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering (Heb 2:10).”

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2).”

Shame is the opposite is glory. Jesus endured our shame that we might share his glory. Shame is one of the most common emotional problems of Gods people. Believers are ashamed to let others know they have a problem. Shame shuts you up in a prison.

He endured shame right through his life: As far as the people in Nazareth were concerned he was illegitimate and they kept reminding him of the fact. In fact the priests resorted to reminding him of this too, “Moses – we know where he came from but we don’t know where this man came from (John 9:29).” This is a direct slur on his parentage. They wouldn’t have said this if they had accepted Joseph as his father but they knew that was not the case.

On the Cross Jesus endured shame—such shame as we can hardly imagine.
There was no form of death more shameful than crucifixion. It was the lowest form of punishment for the most debased criminals. Naked, mockery. What he endured was shame.

8. Jesus took our grief.

“…to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion and bestow on them

a crown of beauty instead of ashes
The oil of gladness instead of mourning
And a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isa 61:2-3).”

9. Jesus gives us victory over the evil powers of this age.

 “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong (Isa 53:12).”

The cross is the remedy for the whole man – spirit soul and body. Jesus went there spirit, soul and body.