Joseph Prince, when waxing eloquent on Isaiah 53 said this:
"But what came on Him was not just the whip stripping the flesh off His back, but your sicknesses and diseases. Each time He was whipped, every form of sickness and disease including arthritis, cancer, diabetes, bird flu and dengue fever came upon Him. 'The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed'."
Here is the link to the entire piece he wrote.
Kenneth Copeland had this to say as he gave a prayer we are to pray:
"Father, I come boldly before Your throne to obtain grace to help in time of need. I have confidence in Your Word, and I take hold of Your promises to heal me. According to Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24, I resist sickness and disease. I speak with my mouth and believe in my heart that I am healed of all sickness and disease."
Here is the link to the entire post he wrote.
To be totally honest, there is so much wrong in both of these posts. But, we are going to focus on the absolute torturing of Isaiah 53:5 because, as the title of this series says, I do not think this verse means what they think it means.
This post will be short because it doesn't need to be long. There is one thing that I will employ in this "fact checking" mission: CONTEXT.
"With His stripes we are healed" are the last few words in Isaiah 53:5. Here is the entire verse in the KJV that they love to quote:
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5. KJV)
Just reading the entire verse puts the part they quote into perspective. But if that context does not satisfy your understanding, here is the next verse:
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 KJV)
What are they key words here: Transgressions, iniquities, chastisement, peace. These are the important concepts that we will come back to.
We must, however, treat a little to verse 4 because this is where the false teachers begin their false teaching. Verse 4 says:
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. (Isaiah 53:4. KJV)
In the Hebrew, the word translated as "our griefs" is CHOLIY, which means "sickness". So, the false teachers are right to an extent. Jesus DID take our sickness on Himself. However, they completely miss the context. The first word of the next verse, verse 5, is "BUT". Verse 5 says:
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 KJV)
It does not say he was wounded for our sickness or bruised for our disease. So what does verse 4 mean? It means that Jesus was human...just like us. He suffered...just like us. He was just like us in every way except one...He never sinned. And that is why He could be "wounded for our transgressions"....because He was the sinless, perfect Son of God who became the perfect, sinless Son of Man...to live the perfect life that we could not in order that we could have the perfect life that we do not deserve. We deserve death because of our unrighteousness before a holy God. God is holy and we are not. But because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, if we place our faith and trust in Christ, we can have the eternal reward that we do not deserve.
Isaiah 53:5 has absolutely nothing to do with our physical healing and EVERYTHING to do with our spiritual healing.
Back to the key words: transgressions, iniquities, chastisement, peace. He was wounded for our transgressions, or REBELLION in the Hebrew. He was bruised for our iniquities, or PERVERSITY or DEPRAVITY in the Hebrew. The chastisement, or DISCIPLINE or CORRECTION in the Hebrew, that brought us peace, or COMPLETENESS, WELFARE, PEACE FROM WAR in the Hebrew, was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed...SPIRITUALLY. WE ARE SAVED FROM THE WRATH OF GOD...WRATH WE DESERVE BECAUSE OF OUR SIN...BY HIS STRIPES IF WE WILL PLACE YOUR FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.
That is what Isaiah 53:5 is talking about...your eternal, spiritual healing by the death of Christ. What the false teachers teach about physical healing being your guarantee is disgusting and shallow. It is demeaning to Christ and what He accomplished on the cross.
Will you not turn to Him today?
Call out to Him. His word assures us:
All that the Father has given Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. (John 6:37)
