Divine Healing

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Isaiah 53 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

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.

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.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he hath done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt 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.

He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 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 sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Alternate renderings from the Amplified Bible follow: v3 sorrows - and pains grief - sickness v4 griefs - sicknesses, weaknesses and distresses v5 iniquities - guilt peace - well-being with the stripes that wounded Him we are healed and made whole v10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him; He has put Him to grief and made Him sick v12 He let Himself be regarded as a criminal.

Matthew 8:16,17 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: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

1 Peter 2:21-25 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 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 sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. v24 [Amplified Bible] By His wounds you have been healed.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: [Amplified] - is crucified.

Deuteronomy 21:22,23 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

The foregoing Scriptures have reference to the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Divine healing is included in His substitutionary work on the cross of Calvary.

Everything the first Adam lost (in the Garden of Eden), the last Adam gained, purchased, restored at Calvary. This work lies at the very heart of Christianity.

Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world. There is no argument here. What raises contention is that the work of Jesus at Calvary embraces divine healing: that healing is included in the atonement.

God declares, "the stripes that brought bruising to Jesus, bring healing to us." Can it be shown in the Bible that Jesus was beaten?

Matthew 27:16 (b) and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

The word scourged is derived from the Greek word phragelloo, from a presumed equivalent of the Latin, flagellum; to whip, i.e., lash as a public punishment.

The official Roman scourge consisted of 39 stripes.

Paul suffered this treatment at the hands of the Jews five times!

2 Corinthians 11:24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

Dr S.I. McMillen, in his enlightening book, None of These Diseases, declares every disease known to man has its origin in one of 39 roots.

It is certainly no coincidence that Jesus received 39 stripes and every disease known to man has its source in one of 39 major roots. God made him sick: surely God laid on Jesus every known disease at the whipping post: surely the stripes that brought bruising to Him bring healing to us.

And just what did Adam loose in the Garden of Eden? What did he expose the entire human race to?

Prior to the original sin of Adam and Eve, the earth was a replica of heaven: Man and animals lived in harmony; there was no sickness, no sin, do disease. Creation existed in perfect peace.

Then came sin. For the first time in his life man knew discord, the fear of animals, the mark of sin, the effects of disease, the working of death. He was paying the price for his disobedience. God had told him, " in the day you eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die"; and die he did.

To deny divine healing is included in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, is to do despite to the Spirit of grace, to smite again the Lord Jesus, and to fly in the face of the Almighty.

The evil sin of unbelief reared its ugly head in the Garden and has pursued every individual human being since. It is evidenced in the statement, "Divine Healing is not included in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ."