By Whose Stripes Ye Were Healed
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 as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. (1Peter 2:23-25).
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SOMETIMES I THINK THESE MORNING BRIEFS should have been named “The Morning Thimble.” A page or two is not big enough to say much. But, our readers do not have time to read more than a few minutes. When I was doing radio, in the beginning I wrote out the script. I learned by experimenting that one sheet of double-spaced typing took 2 ½ minutes to read. That allowed me to judge the time and to pack more into the five minutes of radio time we were buying.
The last radio I did, I was traveling a lot. When time drew near for the broadcast, I looked for a telephone booth and called the radio station to do my broadcast. It wasn’t ideal, but I was able to connect most of the time. So, lifting a few things out of a subject to share is a blessing to me but also frustrating when I realize how much must go unsaid. Like today. Let’s keep in mind that Peter’s purpose is in helping new believers to live right.
JESUS BORE OUR SINS IN HIS BODY. I had been saved several years before I encountered these verses and realized in these terms what God had done for us on the cross. I did not know that Jesus was our sin bearer, that he took upon Himself our sins to be punished in our place. This refers to Isaiah. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)
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 bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)
BARNES COMMENTS WELL ON THIS. “As this cannot mean that Christ so took upon himself the sins of people as to become himself a sinner, it must mean that he put himself in the place of sinners, and bore that which those sins deserved; that is, that he endured in his own person that which, if it had been inflicted on the sinner himself, would have been a proper expression of the divine displeasure against sin, or would have been a proper punishment for sin.” (Barnes)
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2Corinthians 5:21) 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: (Galatians 3:13)
“He was treated as if he had been a sinner, in order that we might be treated as if we had not sinned; that is, as if we were righteous. There is no other way in which we can conceive that one bears the sins of another. He took the consequences on himself and suffered as if he had committed the transgressions himself “(Barnes-abbrev.)
MOST PEOPLE TODAY BELIEVE THAT CHRISTIANITY is merely a recipe for being nice with a religious wrapper. But, we cannot be nice enough to stand before God. What will you tell Him? Neither is it a matter of getting cleaned up one time and then holding on to your bath, so you want be dirty when you die. It is not possible to live good enough to be saved by it.
The basis of being saved, the basis of Christianity is that the promised Jewish Christ came as the sacrificial Lamb of God. He came for the express purpose of dying on the cross as our substitute. Of course, He is also our example for living but that is not the basis of our salvation. The wages of sin is death (Rom.6:23) and Christ paid those wages in our place. The result is that we should live unto righteousness. God saves us in our sins, but He does not leave us in our sins.
OUR TEXT AND TITLE FOR TODAY SAYS: “by whose stripes ye were healed.” Please notice that these words are encased in the subject of getting healed from the sin problem. There’s nothing in these verses about getting healed from physical sickness. God often heals sick people but there’s no reference in this passage about physical healing.
The problem is sin and Christ bore our sins in His own body. When He was beaten with a Roman scourge and it cut into His back, it was in payment for our sins. Our sins offend God and it is our sin that must be atoned for. Our diseases do not offend God. Isaiah and 1Peter deal with our sin problem and the cure of our sin problem. If Jesus took my stripes for my sins, should I not want to live for Him and bear the fruit of righteousness that He wants from me?
IF PHYSICAL HEALING OF OUR BODIES WAS INCLUDED IN THE ATONEMENT, Christians could live to be very old people. Death is caused by something being wrong with our bodies. If healing is in the Atonement, Christians should not be dying from cancer and strokes and heart attacks. God healed the nerves in my eyes, damaged from French Polio. It was January 1, 1987, about 11:00 o’clock in the morning. I have witnessed the healing of several people. But, I have also conducted the funerals of a lot of people. The last sickness is never healed. If healing was included in the Atonement, we might expect the Apostles to still be living.
Amy McPherson witnessed the healing of a lot of people and then she died. Oral Roberts saw a lot of people healed and he died. He built a hospital because everybody was not getting healed in his meetings. Pat Robertson is approaching 90. He has witnessed the healing of a lot of people but last Friday he had a stroke. Before that, he had heart surgery and prostate cancer surgery. His twin brother died of prostate cancer. His wife has had surgery for breast cancer. God does not put in our hands the decision of who is going to be healed.
I believe the following verses are the master verses on prayer and they include prayer for healing: And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. (1John 5:14-15)
Briefly stated, it is not always God’s will to heal everyone who is sick by the moving of His hand. But, we should ask Him to heal us and keep on asking Him to heal us. In His own time, if it is God’s will to heal us, we will be healed. Ω
Read Through the Bible in a Year
FEBRUARY 7, 2018 – WEDNESDAY
A.M. Leviticus 1-3 P.M. Matthew 24:23-51
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
A Good Verse to Memorize:
Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king (1Peter 2:17).
Song for Today:
Just When I Need Him Most (2:46)
( Dr. Lee Roberson & Ladies’ Trio at Highland Park Baptist Church – Chattanooga, TN)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDauEBXfVoU
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