By His Stripes We Were Healed: Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of God’s
coming suffering servant, Jesus Christ. It portrays crucifixion long before the
Romans had invented it.

Is. 53:1 Who has believed our report?

         And to
whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Is. 53:2       For
He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,

         And as a
root out of dry ground.

         He has no
form or comeliness;

         And when
we see Him,

         There is no beauty that we should desire
Him.

Jesus didn’t have a halo around his
head or lights shooting from his hands. He looked like an average Jewish peasant.

Is. 53:3       He
is despised and rejected by men,

         A Man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief.

         And we
hid, as it were, our faces from Him;

         He was
despised, and we did not esteem Him.

On the cross his form became so
marred people were repulsed to look at Him.

Is. 53:4       Surely
He has borne our griefs

         And
carried our sorrows;

         Yet we
esteemed Him stricken,

         Smitten
by God, and afflicted.

Jesus went to the cross, not for
Himself, but for us. On the cross, Jesus took the wrath of a Holy God against
sin. The words griefs is a Hebrew word that means sicknesses and diseases. On
the cross Jesus paid the price for us spirit, soul and body. Someday we will be
given a resurrection body and even now we can receive a foretastes through
miracles of divine healing. This is all because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Is. 53:5       But
He was wounded for our
transgressions,

         He was bruised for our iniquities;

         The
chastisement for our peace was upon
Him,

         And by
His stripes we are healed.

Jesus Christ can heal us spirit,
soul and body.

Is. 53:6       All
we like sheep have gone astray;

         We have
turned, every one, to his own way;

         And the
LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus took our iniquity to Himself
on the cross.

Is. 53:7       He
was oppressed and He was afflicted,

         Yet He
opened not His mouth;

         He was
led as a lamb to the slaughter,

         And as a
sheep before its shearers is silent,

         So He
opened not His mouth.

Is. 53:8       He
was taken from prison and from judgment,

         And who
will declare His generation?

         For He
was cut off from the land of the living;

         For the
transgressions of My people He was stricken.

Is. 53:9       And
they made His grave with the wicked—

         But with
the rich at His death,

         Because
He had done no violence,

         Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Is. 53:10     Yet
it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;

         He has
put Him to grief.

         When You
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.

Is. 53:11     He
shall see the labor of His soul, and
be satisfied.

         By His
knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,

         For He
shall bear their iniquities.

What Christ accomplished on the
cross satisfied the wrath of God against sin and provides our justification.

Is. 53:12     Therefore
I will divide Him a portion with the great,

         And He
shall divide the spoil with the strong,

         Because
He poured out His soul unto death,

         And He
was numbered with the transgressors,

         And He
bore the sin of many,

         And made
intercession for the transgressors.

He bore our sin for us, so that we
can be forgiven and made right with God.