Divine Healing

and other related lectures

 

-three-

 

God’s redemptive document;

Is physical Healing in Christ’s Atonement?

  

We have seen that the ministry of healing is a definite display of the grace & compassion of God. Therefore, it should not be considered strange to believe that The same Lord Who healed under the old covenant & in the Person of Christ & through His Apostles, will also choose to heal today. He remains gracious & compassionate; therefore I believe that He will, if He wills. For some believers, the key to their cure rests in somehow proving that the finished, atoning & redemptive work of The Lord Jesus Christ, includes Him suffering to guarantee healing for our physical bodies, as well as salvation for our souls. By far the most popular passages of Scripture cited to this end, are found in Isaiah 53, Matthew 8 & 1^st Peter 2. 

Isaiah 53 shows us a striking biblical portrait of Messiah; The Suffering Servant. Read the whole chapter & you will see this quite clearly. The Gospel is right there. This is God’s emancipation proclamation for Israel & by extension, all other nations. However, those who champion divine healing as something that is part & parcel of the Atonement, will only zero in on the small portion of the chapter that they believe deals with the subject at hand. In reality & in its context, it deals with our Redemption as a whole. Let’s look at these verses in particular. 

⁴ 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 (Isaiah 53:4-5). 

These prophetic words came at a significant period of time before Christ, yet even those who do not believe The Lord Jesus Christ is the promised Saviour will attest that Isaiah’s prophecy points to The Messiah. The themes of substitution & identification run through this entire chapter very clearly. However, there is no explicit mention of YHWH’s servant suffering for sickness & disease. Traditionally we have assumed that this is the case, because of Matthew’s interpretation of Isaiah. So, we have to ask whether the Prophet’s words relate to sin, sickness or both. We have to do this if we are to remain credible.  

¹⁶ 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: ¹⁷ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses (Matthew 8:16-17). 

The argument unfolds thus. Matthew interprets the words griefs & sorrows as infirmities & diseases, therefore in this estimated belief, Isaiah’s prophecy is obviously speaking about bodily healing, right? Case closed. Slam dunk. Break out the custard creams & let’s do cartwheels. However, this simplistic line of reasoning leaves me scratching my head & rubbing my chin.

Why would Matthew say this, unless his understanding & subsequent interpretation are correct? We have to be careful here, otherwise we will run away like children, with our shoes on the wrong feet & laces untied. If healing is foretold as an element of the atoning, finished work of Christ, we have a slight grammatical & theological problem. Let’s look again at the text. Isaiah says, “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 (Isaiah 53:3)”. If sorrows & griefs are only to be equated with infirmities & diseases, it could be argued that YHWH’s suffering servant was himself subject to illness. This would make Him a man of disease, acquainted with sickness. 

As we read over these verses, we can see that there are several things that have to be considered as Matthew is obviously quoting Isaiah 53. First of all, the action of Christ in delivering the possessed & ministering healing to all the sick that were present brought the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Concluding His sermon on The Mount & then descending, Jesus heals a leper. He then heals the Centurion’s servant & later, Peter’s mother-in-law. Those who oppose the ministry of healing will suggest that these verses deal explicitly with the healing of those present at the specific time of The Lord’s ministry, on that particular occasion. In other words, He fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah as He ministered healing during that one evening. This would mean that Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice did not include healing because He bore infirmities & carried sicknesses before going to the cross. Therefore, healing could not be a part of Christ’s Atonement & our Redemption. 

Also, what about those The Lord healed before & indeed after this occasion? There is nothing in the text of Isaiah’s prophecy to suggest that the bearing of griefs & carrying of sorrows would be localised to one particular occasion, unless of course, that occasion was the cross. I would contend that Matthew is quoting Isaiah by way of example, not as an ultimate fulfilment. 

Do you remember Jesus teaching the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9)? When asked by His disciples why He spoke in allegory, The Lord quoted Isaiah, saying, ‘Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.’ (Matthew 13:13-15). Was this prophecy ultimately fulfilled there & then, when Matthew reports Jesus’ quotation of Isaiah? No. Was The Lord speaking in relation to physical healing of the body? No. He cites Isaiah by way of example, not as an ultimate fulfilment. 

We have another example of this in the epistle to The Hebrews, where the writer again quotes Isaiah; ‘Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;’ (Hebrews 12:12-15). The writer is quoting Isaiah 35 by way of example, not as an ultimate fulfilment. 

³ Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. ⁴ Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. ⁵ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. ⁶ Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. ⁷ And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. ⁸ And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein (Isaiah 35:3-8). 

Peter’s interpretation cites Isaiah’s prophecy as a post cross reality, but is the Apostle speaking of physical healing? ‘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.  For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls’ (1^st Peter 2:24-25). Those who believe that Matthew identifies Christ’s fulfilment of Isaiah’s words on that one evening, would have to conclude that Peter could only be writing these words to the leper, the Centurion’s servant, his mother in law & those who had been present on that singular occasion. This is not true. 

At this point I would pose a question & suggest an alternative biblical view. I say this as someone who is neither theologian nor grammarian. While one side argues that physical healing is in the Atonement because of Matthew’s interpretation & the other denies its relevance beyond the instance surrounding the quote, both are missing or ignoring the centre ground. Physical, bodily healing does not have to be in the Atonement in order for it to be vital, viable or valuable. The Lord Jesus Christ healed the sick before He went to the cross & He healed the sick after the cross in acts of gracious mercy. God has not constrained Himself contractually to deliver physical healing in the way that we have been taught. If this were the case, the Lord has left Himself open to being sued in the courts of heaven. No doubt someone will now attempt this & gain a slot with Sid Roth. Isaiah 53, Matthew 8 & 1^st Peter 2 show us The Lord’s willingness & ability to heal, not His obligation. It is on that basis that we approach Him. 

¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. ¹⁵ For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).