His Servants' Ministry

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HIS SERVANTS' MINISTRY

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Isaiah 53:4-5, By His Stripes We Are Healed!

Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. [5] 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. (KJV)

I receive hundreds of letters from inmates each year, even though we are a small ministry. So many read literature of what I consider to be false teachers who are teaching many damnable heresies; “You name it, you claim it” being one. See: http://www.worldlychaos.org/w_c_1_false_teachers.1.htm http://www.worldlychaos.org/w_c_word_faith_is_it_biblical.1.htm

Isaiah 53:4-5 above is a tremendous comfort! I do NOT believe this is speaking of physical healing, as many who write me think and claim; it is speaking of spiritual healing.

He was “smitten of God, and afflicted.” Isaiah makes sure that he tells us the reason God’s only begotten Son was smitten of God and afflicted. Christ was smitten . . . by divine judgments. God allowed it. It was God’s plan for His Son to die on the cross for us. Smitten means Jesus was beaten and received wounds. Afflicted . . . for His sins; this was the point in which they so erred (Luke 23:34; Acts 3:17; 1 Cor. 2:8). He was, it is true, "afflicted," but NOT for His sins. Christ submitted Himself willingly on OUR behalf, He was abased, defiled, weakened.

“He was wounded for our transgressions.” Wounded means to be rubbed or worn; to be weak, sick, afflicted; to grieve, make sick; put to grief, be grieved, put to pain, for OUR transgressions, OUR rebellion, OUR sin, OUR trespasses.

“He was bruised for our iniquities.” Our precious Saviour and Lord was horribly beaten, crushed, humbled, oppressed.

Psalm 22:17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. (KJV)

Do you really see what this is saying? Jesus was beaten so horrendously that His Bones were exposed! Willingly for us, He paid a debt we could not possibly pay!

“The chastisement of our peace was upon him.” He was wounded and crushed for OUR sins. He accepted the beating willingly so that we might have peace with God. He took away OUR punishment, OUR correction, OUR rebuke when WE accept Him and His Work on the cross.

“With his stripes we are healed.” Stripes means all the punishment Jesus took on our behalf. “With His stripes we are healed.” Of what are we healed? Are we healed of physical diseases? NO!

Peter interprets this by the inspiration of the Spirit of God.

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (KJV) Healed of what? Peter makes it quite clear that we are healed of our trespasses and sins. We are NOT healed of our physical sickness, but of our spiritual sickness!

Isaiah 53:6 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. (KJV)

This verse begins and ends with “all.” “All we like sheep have gone astray”. . . not some of us, but all of us. What is the real problem with mankind? Isaiah clearly tells us: “We have turned every one to his own way.” That is our problem. Man has gone his way, far from God’s way. And the Scripture further says:

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (KJV)

Proverbs 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (KJV)

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (KJV)

JESUS clearly tells us the Way . . . but we all have turned to our own way.

“And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity, of us all.” Isaiah is making it clear that when Christ died on the cross He was taking your place and mine. Jesus had done NO wrong, ever! He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners (Heb.7:26). He was the Substitute who took OUR place, whom the love of God provided for the salvation of you and me.

It was our sorrows and our griefs that He bore on the cross. He had no grief or sorrow of His own. He was joyful in His mission here upon Earth.

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (KJV)

Even on the cross He joyfully took our place, our pain. He made that cross an altar upon which He offered a satisfactory payment for the penalty of your sins and mine. Willingly He died there, for us!

You can bring added joy to His heart by accepting the gift of eternal life that He wants to give to you. He is not asking anything of you, except to believe! John 6:28-29 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? [29] Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (KJV)

He wants to give you something that the richest man in the world CANNOT give you! Eternal life in Heaven with Him! What the world offers is NOTHING compared to what Jesus offers to give us!

Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (KJV) All you have to do is accept Him and His Work on the cross. He invites you to the foot of the cross where you will find mercy and forgiveness for your sins.

How could someone in Old Testament times understand Christ dying for our sins (our transgressions and iniquities)? How could they understand Christ (Messiah) actually bearing the punishment that we sinners deserved? The Jewish sacrifices hinted at this idea, but it is one thing to kill a lamb, and quite different to think of God’s only begotten Son as that Lamb. God was letting the people of Isaiah’s day look ahead to the suffering of the future Messiah and the subsequent forgiveness made available to all mankind. It is sad indeed that so “few” take advantage of this salvation offer.

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (KJV)

Our souls are bewildered when we see that it was God the Father who allowed the Perfect Man, His Only begotten Son, to suffer in such a terrible way. It is far too much for me to even begin to comprehend this!

Consider that horrendous cross. Christ was on the cross six hours, hanging between Heaven and Earth from nine o’clock (Mark 15:26) in the morning until three o’clock in the afternoon (Mat.27:45-50). In the first three hours man did his worst. He heaped ridicule and insult upon Him, spit upon Him, nailed Him without mercy to the cruel cross, and then watched Him die. At noon, after He had hung there in daylight for three hours in agony, God drew a veil over the sun, and complete darkness covered that scene, shutting out from human eye the transaction between the Father and the Son. Christ became the Sacrifice for the sin of the world. God made Christ Jesus’ soul an offering for sin. He was treated as sin! 2 Cor. 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (KJV)

IF you really want to know how much God hates sin . . . look at the cross! Some people do not think that God will punish sin, will not send anyone to Hell. They think He will allow everyone into Heaven! They are wrong! Look at the only begotten Son of God! Look at Jesus enduring the tortures of its penalty. How can anyone hope to escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (KJV)

That cross became an altar where we see the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. He died for you and me, to heal us spiritually, to give us eternal life in Heaven with Him some day.

Christ became the Sacrifice for the sin of the world (John 1:29; 3:14-17; 2 Cor.5:19,21; Gal.3:13; 1 Pet.2:24). God made Him an offering for OUR sin. Christ Jesus was treated as sin, for we are told that He was made sin for us who knew no sin (2 Cor.5:21; Heb.7:26; 9:14; 1 Pet.2:22; 1 John 3:5). If you want to know if God hates sin, all you have to do is look at the cross. If you want to know if God will punish sin, look at the Love of His heart enduring the tortures of its penalty. By what vain pride can you and I ever hope to escape if we neglect so great a salvation? NO way my friend! That Cross of Jesus is our altar where we must fall to our knees and behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. Jesus died for you and for me. Do you really understand this? Have you believed God and accepted His One and Only Way of Salvation? Have you thanked Him for saving your soul from the depths of Hell?

Passages mentioned above.

Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (KJV)

Acts 3:17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. (KJV)

1 Cor. 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (KJV)

Hebrews 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; (KJV)

Mark 15:26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. (KJV)

Matthew 27:45-50 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. [46] And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [47] Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. [48] And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. [49] The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. [50] Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. (KJV)

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (KJV)

John 3:14-17 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: [15] That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. [16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [17] For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (KJV)

2 Cor. 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (KJV)

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (KJV)

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (KJV)

2 Cor. 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (KJV)

Hebrews 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; (KJV)

Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (KJV)

1 Peter 2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: (KJV)

1 John 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (KJV)