By His Stripes We Are Healed - Isaiah 53:5

I am going out on a limb here by sharing my views on this verse. I know I run the risk of offending some of you, so I ask at the outset for grace to make my argument. I want to share with you why I believe this passage is misquoted by Christians to “claim” physical healing, believing that Christ was scourged for our physical health. It’s not my intent to debate whether or not God miraculously heals today. I believe that He does and there are Scriptures to prove that – I just don’t believe Isaiah 53:5 is one of them.

There are two common ways that I’ve heard this verse interpreted. The first is what I call the “face-value” interpretation and is used by those who claim this verse for physical healing. It draws on the fact that the Hebrew words for “healed” means literally that – physical healing. The second interpretation is to spiritualize what healing really means. They like to cite Luke 4:18 (and its origination in Isaiah 61:1) where Jesus says he comes to heal the brokenhearted, as well as Psalm 147:3 which says “[God] heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds”. Consequently, the healing implied in Isaiah 53:5 is not a literal physical healing, but rather some kind of emotional or spiritual healing in our soul, or in our relationship to God, or something akin to that.

These two interpretations both have serious flaws. Both interpretations pull this verse out of its larger context and try to apply a meaning to it that is not found within that context. The face-value interpretation has serious theological implications – if Christ underwent scourging and crucifixion for the forgiveness of my sins and my physical health, if I get sick, should I not also doubt my forgiveness, too? How can my forgiveness be complete but my physical health incomplete if the same sacrifice paid for both? Furthermore, the spiritualized interpretation to me seems lacking in credibility. While it is a bona fide Biblical teaching that Jesus heals our broken hearts, it is a stretch to draw this interpretation out of the context of Isaiah 53:5 which has to do with sin and iniquity rather than sadness and loneliness.

So then what is left? Well, I believe there is a solid case for this passage of Scripture being interpreted as a figure of speech called a metaphor. A metaphor is “a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable” (Wikipedia). This explains how a word like “healed” can be literally understood while meaning something apart from physical healing. This is at least an equally valid interpretation of Isaiah 53:5 since it takes into account the greater context of sin and forgiveness found in the entire passage. If this was an isolated occurrence of sickness and healing being used as metaphors, I would understand your skepticism about this interpretation’s validity. However, this is not an isolated occurrence in Scripture.

“Sickness” and “healing” are commonly used metaphors in Scripture for sin and forgiveness, respectively. Therefore, this passage in Isaiah 53:5, as well as in its greater context, illustrates how Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty for our sin and reconciled our relationship to God. Let’s give a brief overview of how this figure of speech is used elsewhere in Scripture. While I don’t claim this to be an exhaustive treatment of the subject, I do believe there are enough verses to make a solid case for this interpretation. I will only write out select verses so you for illustrative purposes – I encourage you to look them all up before passing judgment on this interpretation.

Sickness is used as a metaphor in the following verses: Isaiah 1:5-6, “Where will you be stricken again, as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil.”; Psalm 38:10, “There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, there is no health in my bones because of my sin.”; Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”. Also see Micah 1:9, Hosea 5:13, Jeremiah 10:19, and Jeremiah 13:19-20.

Healing is used as a metaphor for forgiveness in the following verses: Isaiah 19:22, “The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.”; Isaiah 33:24, “And no resident will say 'I am sick'; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.” Also see Jeremiah 17:14, 2 Chronicles 30:18-20, Isaiah 3:7, Isaiah 6:10, and Jeremiah 46:10-12.

Sickness and healing are used together as metaphors for sin and forgiveness in the following verses: Jeremiah 8:21-22, “For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?”; Isaiah 57:17-19, “’Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him; I hid My face and was angry, and he went on turning away, in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, created the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near’, says the LORD, ‘and I will heal him.’”; Jeremiah 33:6-8, “Behold, I will bring to it [Jerusalem] health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace of truth. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.” Finally, the best one for last -- Jeremiah 30:12-17, “For thus says the Lord, ‘Your wound is incurable and your injury is serious. There is no one to plead your cause; no healing for your sore, no recovery for you. All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not seek you; for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the punishment of a cruel one, because your iniquity is great and your sins are numerous. Why do you cry out over your injury? Your pain is incurable. Because your iniquity is great and your sins are numerous, I have done these things to you. Therefore all who devour you will be devoured; and all your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity; and those who plunder you will be for plunder, and all who prey upon you I will give for prey. For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds’, declares the LORD, ‘because they have called you an outcast, saying ‘It is Zion, no one cares for her’”.

The greatest commentary on Isaiah 53:5, however, is given by the apostle Peter. In 1 Peter 2:24, right after he says that “[Christ] bore our sins in His body on the cross”, he quotes Isaiah by saying “for by His wounds you were healed.” I’ve heard Word of Faith preachers cite this verse as proof for their physical healing interpretation of Isaiah 53:5, but doing so is scripturally dishonest. Physical healing is not what Peter is talking about here – sin and forgiveness is. And Peter rightfully uses Isaiah’s metaphor to drive home his point.

So what is my point in all this? It is to offer a biblically sound interpretation for Isaiah 53:5 that is an alternative to the commonly held interpretation which is used to claim physical healing through Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Properly understood, this passage illustrates our sinful condition and how His crucifixion satisfied God’s wrath so we could be forgiven. This passage should not be cited as proof that Christ’s crucifixion guarantees physical health as part of the New Covenant. To do so is to misapply this portion of Scripture. Preachers and televangelists who proof text this verse and use it as a bedrock for their health and wealth gospel build a heterodox theology and thereby confuse many who trust in their authoritative style of teaching.

That’s all I got to say about that! Let me know what you think. Blessings to you all.

Marriage Encounter

It has been three weeks now since Candy and I went to the Marriage Encounter Weekend sponsored by the Assemblies of God. It was a wonderful time! And I can honestly say that our marriage is richer now for it, too. Candy and I had both been in a spiritual funk the last 2 years, and this was an excellent opportunity to reconnect with each other and with Christ. It was not “group therapy” or anything like that. Rather, the time was equally split between listening to presenters in a whole group setting and writing love letters to each other and dialoging about various topics. Most of all, the weekend reminded us of why we fell in love with each other and showed us what we needed to do to nurture and grow that love for the future.

Personally, I came to grips with some things that I have been dealing with for quite some time, and I was made aware of some things Candy had been wrestling with recently, too. Through letter writing and dialoging, however, Candy and I were able to grow closer and better understand each other’s needs. By the end of the weekend I felt a renewed sense of purpose for our marriage and love for Candy, but I also felt somewhat overwhelmed. You see, I realized on a much deeper plane how lovely and special Candy truly is. I also realized how precious her heart is and how great the responsibility is for me as her husband to guard and protect her heart. When I also considered my inadequacies as a man, though, this seemed like a lofty mark that I was doomed to miss at some point. Our culture, and specifically the Church of Jesus Christ, is littered with the ruins of failed marriages. How could I be sure that I would be the husband that Candy needs and deserves?

As I pondered this, Philippians 4:13 came to mind: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” I realized that as long as I stay submitted to Christ, the life of Christ in me would ensure that I am a loving, serving, and committed husband. In and of myself, I don’t have the capacity to be a good husband. However, as I submit to the authority of Jesus Christ and let the Holy Spirit challenge and change me, He empowers me to be the man that He’s called me to be. Galatians 5:15 says, “…walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”

Candy is a wonderful woman and I am very thankful to God for our marriage. I am thankful, too, for Marriage Encounter, because through it our love has been rejuvenated and equipped for the future. And, most of all, I am thankful to Jesus Christ, for I know that a successful marriage is possible by His power in our lives.

Conversations With a Spiritist - Part II

Last time I shared with you some of the beliefs of a sweet little old lady I met in an airport who was a spiritist, i.e. someone who communicated with spirits. I questioned her on how she knew about spiritual truths, and her knowledge was based on her own relativistic opinion rather than the objective authority of Jesus Christ as revealed to us in Scripture. She mentioned a couple times about “the light of Christ” and its importance in discerning spiritual truth, but she could not explain this concept as anything more than just recognizing that Jesus was some really enlightened spiritual guy. Her view of Jesus was a typical New Age one – that Jesus realized His divinity and showed us how we could all become like God. When I responded that her view of Jesus differs from what is given to us in the Bible, she quickly pointed out that the Bible has been altered many times over the centuries and it cannot be trusted. When I told her about the solid textual evidence of the Bible’s authenticity and how we can be sure that what we have today is what the authors really wrote in the first century, she fell back on her relativistic “inner knowing” that told her the Bible was wrong.

As our boarding time was approaching I sensed a pause in our conversation and an opportunity to share the Gospel. I asked her why Jesus came to Earth. In line with what she already shared, she said that Jesus came to show us how to be spiritual people and to show us the way to God. I then asked if she would let me share what the Bible said about Jesus’ mission and she quietly nodded her head. I told her about mankind’s sin, his rebellion against God, the punishment we all deserve in Hell for our rebellion, that Jesus came and purposefully died in our stead and took our punishment upon himself on the cross, that He rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God, and that eternal life in heaven is promised to all who give their life to Him.

She sat there silent for a few seconds and then got up to use the restroom. I was so nervous that I was shaking – I had never done anything like that before! I have always been pretty shy about sharing the Gospel because I don’t like offending people. I didn’t know if she was going to come back or if she was going to avoid me from here on out. So, after I used the restroom I returned to see her sitting back in her old seat with my former seat still vacant. “What the hay,” I thought, “why not try sitting back down by her?” To my surprise she did not get up and walk away, but instead continued with our previous small talk. She then shared a few more of her spiritual encounters before we began to board. I never talked to her again after that, and she did not make eye contact as I passed her on the plane. Please keep praying for her, that she will be protected from the Evil One and that her eyes will be opened to the Truth.

Please understand that I am not trying to sound as if I am some great evangelist or that this was easy. In hindsight there are a lot of things that I should have said or could have said better. One example is that I wish I would have asked her to test the spirits – try reading the gospel of John out loud and see if the spirits try to stop her. I would expect them to be quite unhappy about her reading the Truth.

I suppose it will always be the case that we could have said more in these situations. We just have to remember that it is the Holy Spirit who draws the heart and not our eloquence or persuasive arguments. Paul boasted that he knew nothing apart from Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1-2). Apologist Greg Koukl likes to say that his goal is not to win converts in these situations; rather, he wants to leave a stone in their shoe – leave them with something to think about that makes them question what they believe. I hope to see this sweet little old lady in heaven someday, as I hope to see all of you, too.
Until next time,
Chad

Conversations with a Spiritist - Part I

Wow! During my last business trip my final connection home was held up in Denver due to flight delays. While I sat at the gate catching up on email an elderly lady sat down one chair away from me. We began to talk about the towns in Kansas we both were familiar with and about some of the places she has lived over the years. When she mentioned that her daughter sees the angel of death, I started paying more attention. Then she began talking about how she interacts with spirits and about the vast unseen spiritual world. It was then that I realized I had better shut off my computer and seriously engage this sweet little old lady about the truth.

It would take hours to unpack everything she talked about – things ranging from reincarnation to the lost city of Atlantis. There are a few main things that I focused on, however, and I would like to share them with you in this blog and in the next. First, I asked her how she knew if the spirits she communicates with are good. She admitted to the existence of evil spirits (which I will hereafter refer to as demons), but she was quite confident in her ability to discern between the two. Her means of discernment was based solely on how she felt inside. “You just know on the inside when something is true, when they are good spirits,” she said repeatedly. I challenged her on this subjective view of spiritual truth. I told her that Jesus Christ, as the risen Son of God, is the only one with the authority to speak on such matters. One should only rely on His objective teaching of spiritual truths instead of our personal subjective judgment. Since Satan masquerades as an angel of light, you cannot be sure if you truly are speaking to an angel or demon. Scripture alone contains the proper teaching on the spiritual world, and our limited, sin-influenced personal feelings can easily be deceived and manipulated by demons.

Another belief she had was that all religions serve the same god. This was a softball and an easy one to refute. I asked her why God would contradict Himself – why would He say Jesus is His Son and not His Son at the same time? Christianity (Jesus is God’s Son) and Islam (Jesus is not God’s Son) cannot both be true (this is the logical law of noncontradiction). This stumped her until she pulled out the “true for me, true for you” card. She promptly used a rose as an example – that she could believe it is a wonderful flower but I could hate it because I was allergic to it. Yes, I agreed that this was an illustration of the subjective quality of liking something, but regarding an objective truth such as color, could the rose be both red and yellow at the same time? The rose would either be red or not red – it could not be both, regardless of how much we each believed both to be true. This also seemed to stump her as well.

In my next blog I will share about her view of Christ and her response to the Gospel. I was reminded after this encounter that our command as Christians is not to win arguments but to win souls. There were a lot of things that I could have countered, but I tried to focus on such elemental beliefs as knowledge and truth during the short time we had together. Please pray for this dear old lady, that she would be delivered from Satan’s deception and be brought into the love and truth of Jesus Christ.

Sorry for the Silence

I want to apologize to you all for my long silence in this blog. Thank you to everyone who has spent their valuable time visiting this site -- I am humbled and I greatly appreciate your interest. I have been very busy with work lately, and consequently much of my free time has been spent with my wonderful wife. She is truly a God-send and I am very thankful that we have each other in this life. I love her very much!

I must confess that I grew somewhat discouraged knowing that not many people were reading this blog. The recent upsurge in views, however, has been refreshing and I am excited to share with you some things that have been on my mind. I would also like to answer any questions you may have regarding Christ, apologetics, or theology. I don't know it all by any means, but there are plenty of resources out there that we can find the answers together.

As always, to God be the glory. Until next time,
Chad

God's Work In My Life

There have been many times in my life when I have questioned God. The questions often arise during times of pain and suffering. Basically, I’m wondering “why?” During my most recent stroll through the valley of pain and despair, one question was posed to me that made me stop and think. The question was this – how has God worked in my life? I would like to share with you how I came to answer this question.

Now I am not a person who has ever had a vision or dream from God. Nor have I ever had a tangible miracle occur in my life. I have not had an impossible prayer answered in an extraordinary way that could only be explained by God’s intervention. So, to answer this question I first turned to other prayers that have been answered in one way or another. These entailed prayers and subsequent blessings of a wonderful wife and marriage, completing my graduate schooling, my wife and I getting our current jobs, etc. Such examples illustrated the indirect working of God in my life since my wife didn’t beam down out of heaven (although she is quite angelic), my diploma didn’t materialize on my office desk, and so on. To cite such instances as examples of God working in my life, however, requires a presuppositional view of God’s sovereignty in these matters. In other words, in order to cite my wonderful wife as evidence that God worked in my life I must first believe that God is sovereign over every area of my life and that He orchestrated our meeting and sustains our marriage.

I have to be honest and say that in the midst of my valley of pain such examples seemed very weak to me. Would these examples really mean anything to an unbeliever who doesn’t acknowledge God at all? A lot of unbelievers have good marriages, nice families, good jobs, etc. To them, it was their own ability that acquired these things. Why would it not be the same for me? After all, it could have been my good looks and charm that won my wife over; it could have been my own intelligence that earned the diploma; it could have been our successful careers that lead to our new jobs. Even though these are arrogant statements and do not represent what I believe, nevertheless they do have equal explanatory power. Or, perhaps my understanding of God’s sovereignty is mistaken. Maybe He doesn’t have any control over the events of my life, in which case the latter reason would explain all of what I was crediting to God.

After some more consideration, though, I was able to find one proof of God’s working in my life that could not also be explained by my own abilities. That evidence is my coming to faith in Jesus Christ. You see, in the midst of my valley I saw how rebellious towards God that I really could be. My flesh wanted nothing to do with God; I was willfully defiant and angry towards Him. There is nothing in my natural self that would or could seek after God. That experience reminded me that apart from His work in my heart by the Holy Spirit, there is no way at all that I would even want to love Christ. Romans 3 clearly outlines the depths of my rebellion prior to His grace. My wanting to follow God is the one thing that could not be equally explained by my own abilities. My coming to faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior is the one undeniable proof of God’s working in my life.

The job, the diploma, even my wonderful marriage are just transitory and earthly. There have been Christians who have lived and experienced absolutely none of these things, let alone any miracles. Yet, God still undeniably worked in their lives by changing their hearts, calling them out of their rebellion, and answering their cry for help. That is the one thing no person has the ability within themselves to do. And now I have a much greater appreciation to Christ for my salvation – the undeniable proof of God’s love for me and His activity in my life.