THE RELATIONSHIP OF DIVINE HEALING AND THE ATONEMENT
Divine Healing from Isaiah 53:4 & 5.
Divine healing of Christ’s atoning sacrifice is witnessed in the following verses:
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 upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. {wounded: or, tormented} {stripes: Heb. bruise} (Isaiah 53:4-5 KJV)
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses (Matthew 8:17 KJV).
These two verses support and prove the truth of divine healing and the atonement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These verses are further linked together in Acts 8:26-35, where the Holy Spirit led Phillip to the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading Isaiah 53. In verse 35, Phillip began preaching Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch solidifying the fact that Isaiah’s prophecy is about Jesus Christ our Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer and coming King. A closer look at these verses will show the substitutionary relationship of Jesus Christ’s atonement and Divine healing for us.
In Isaiah 53:4 the verbs borne and carried, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” are used especially in reference to the bearing of guilt or punishment. In Genesis 4:13, Cain could not bear (nasa) his punishment and in Leviticus 5:1 the soul that sins will bear (nasa) their iniquity. Who shall bear this punishment in Isaiah 53? He shall and He is Christ our Saviour. In verse 12 we see bare (nasa) again where Christ has borne our sin and made intercession for the transgressors,
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12 KJV)
This signifies that Christ interceded for the transgressors, the sinners, and all mankind certainly falls in this category. He also took upon the sin of many. He borne the sins of the guilty which also signifies a substitutionary bearing of one person’s guilt by another. Therefore, the covering or atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ takes upon Himself the sinners consequences. In the case of Isaiah 53:4 it is our grief and sorrows. Grief is the Hebrew word choliy S.C. 2483 and is translated disease, grief and sickness. Sorrow is translated as grief, sorrows and pain (2 Chronicles 6:29, Exodus 3:7, Jeremiah 51:8).
These can be emotional, physical or spiritual. Without Christ we certainly are spiritual sick for our spirit would be dead. Emotional sickness can be seen as mental or even a chemical imbalance; and physical sickness comes in all forms of viruses and diseases.
Also every sickness, and every plague, which [is] not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. Deuteronomy 28:3
The best part of knowing about every sickness even those not listed in the Bible is that God can take them away. “And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness” (Deuteronomy 7:15 KJV). God is the same yesterday, today and forever He is Jehovah Raphe, the Lord our healer.
He carried our sorrows. Carried is the Hebrew word sabal S.C. 5445, which also means to bear something as a penalty or chastisement. He took on again our emotional, physical and spiritual despondencies. Grief is emotional, pain is physical and sorrows can be a malady of all the above. But God has sent Jesus our Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer and coming King to be the atonement for our sorrows and to bare our griefs through His divine healing power even for today. This is confirmed in Matthew 8:17 “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”
“That it might be fulfilled” is referring to the preceding verses which say, “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. 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:” (Matthew 8:14-16 KJV). The Greek word here for sick is kakos S.C. 2560. Kakos means (physically or morally) – diseased, evil, grievously, miserably, sick, and sore. Verses 14 -16 reference the physical, emotional and spiritual healing of sicknesses Christ our healer performed. Peter’s mother had a fever, she was physically sick. Those who were possessed were spiritually sick and those Jesus healed that were sick, were both physically or morally sick.
Another congruent scripture concerning healing is 1 Peter 2:24. Where Peter also quotes Isaiah 53:5.
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 (1 Peter 2:24 KJV).
Christ our Healer bare our sins and by His stripes we are healed. Some may say it is a spiritually healing but truly it is a divine healing of the body soul and spirit.  The word healed is the Greek word iaomai S.C. 2390 meaning to cure, make whole, to heal. To cure is to restore to health. Jesus can restore us wholly, that is to say physically, spiritually and emotionally (our soul).
Physically e.g. Matthew 8:13, in this case the centurion’s son was sick of a palsy, paralyzed. (Also see Acts 9:34). Spiritually Matthew 15:28 the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter was vexed with a devil, she was demonized.  (Also see Luke 9:42; Acts 10:38).
In Luke 4:18 we saw the healing of the soul, spirit and body. Jesus came to heal us and to preach the kingdom of God; “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15 KJV) Through the gospel we can be saved from the dominion of Satan. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil and restore us to His kingdom. The devil has come to steal, kill and destroy but Christ has come to give us an abundant life by restoring our whole being body, soul and spirit, (Luke 5:17; Matthew 13:15).
In Christ,
Greg