GOD WANTS YOU WELL – Tuesday, 10 October

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was uponhim; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 53:3-5 KJV

 
This chapter in Isaiah was written over 700 years before Jesus’ birth. It’s a prophecy of how Jesus would suffer in bearing the sin of the world. But it goes even further: it reveals how, through His agony, we would also have access to healing for our physical bodies. Many people believe that Jesus died only for our “spiritual healing”. However, if that were the case, why did He suffer physically? And why did He have to die physically? One of the most trustworthy ways to interpret Scripture is through the Scriptures itself. The Gospel of Matthew quotes Isaiah 53 and offers some interpretation on this 700+year old prophecy.
 

“When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”
Matthew 8:16-17 KJV

 
         This verse substitutes what Isaiah 53:4 called “sorrows” and “griefs” for the words “infirmities” and “sicknesses”. This makes it clear that when Isaiah said “by hisstripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5), he was saying that Jesus’ physical sacrifice would provide for physical healing, not just forgiveness of sins.
 
         Jesus took your infirmities (disease and weakness) so that you don’t have to experience them! Jesus bore your sickness so that you wouldn’t have to bear it. God sent Jesus to the world, out of His great love for us, so that we would not perish (John 3:16). Sickness is a means of perishing and it is certainly not God’s will. God wants you well! God wants you to have and enjoy good health!