Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 53:4-6
“By his wounds we are healed” also translated as:
- “And by His scourging we are healed” (NADB1995).
- “He was whipped so we could be healed” (NLT).
- “And by His stripes we are healed” (NKJV).
So we see the Hebrew word ḥabbûrâ is translated as wounds, scourging, whipped and stripes. Habbûrâ describes the visible mark left from being struck. Isaiah used this word once before:
“From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts (ḥabbûrâ)
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil” (Isa 1:6).
In speaking of Israel and their miserable condition due to their disobedience, Isaiah also alluded to the condition of the Messiah upon the cross. Israel’s spiritual wounds and welts would be healed by the Suffering Servant’s physical wounds and welts.
Peter quotes Isaiah in his first letter:
“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed’” (1 Pet 2:23-24).
The Hebrew word for “healed” is rāpā’ which always carries the idea of bringing wholeness to something that is damaged, diseased or disordered. The subject is almost always the Lord and speaks to His restoring work. The wounds inflicted upon Jesus and the work done by him on the cross leads to our spiritual restoration. We are spiritually healed and forgiven of our sins by his wounds.
Notice that Isaiah doesn’t say anything about faith here. We are not healed by Jesus’ wounds plus our faith or plus our repentance. We are not saved by our faith in Jesus. Jesus alone heals us. We are saved by the wounds of Jesus and nothing else. He did the work.
Think of sin like an infection in your body. The infection has grown beyond your body’s ability to fight it off. You need an antibiotic. You go to the doctor and he gives you Penicillin. The doctor didn’t heal you. The needle he used to inject the medicine didn’t heal you. The Penicillin healed you. The doctor and the needle were just the instruments to get the antibiotic inside of you.
We are saved by Jesus’ work on the cross. Through our faith, that saving work becomes our’s. The faith that God gives us is the instrument that applies his saving grace. But salvation comes from the Lord. It is his salvation. We can take no credit for our salvation. Our healing doesn’t lie within ourselves. It doesn’t matter what we feel or what we promise to do. In him and in him alone is our healing. We rely on the wounds of Jesus for our salvation and nothing else. “By his wounds we are healed.”
“Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved… For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:4-5, 8-9).
Christ in the Old Testament 
Leave a comment