When Jesus was on the cross a divinely ordained exchange took place.
Something that was conceived in the heart and mind of God from eternity and acted out at Calvary, predicted very clearly in the Old Testament prophets.
The nature of the exchange was this:
All the consequences of living independently of God, and all the deceit in our heart of the human nature, in fact everything that we receive from after Adam sinned and produced children after his fallen nature (the old man) came upon Jesus.
So that all the good due to the sinless obedience of Jesus and His divine nature might be made available to us.
There are two aspects to our redemption. The legal and the vital. The legal is the provision Jesus made which I am teaching on. And the vital, is that we must appropriate it, for it to become operative in our lives or it must be imparted to us by the Holy Spirit.
All the evil came upon Jesus, that all the good might be made available to us. We can see this in two passages in Isaiah.
First, in Isaiah 1, where God depicts rebellious Israel as a body that is marred and beaten and bruised and sick. He says from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet there’s nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores.
In Isaiah 52 we see how that description was transferred to Jesus. That’s what happened to Him on the cross.
There was nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores on Him. They had not been closed up, they were septic. Why?
Because our sin was transferred to Him, so that His righteousness might be transferred to us.
Jesus, as the last Adam, took the sin of the whole human race upon himself and died and was buried with it. And when He rose again, He rose as the second man, the head of a new race.
In this message we are dealing with the first two aspects of this exchange, forgiveness and healing. Both are stated in Isaiah 53:4-5.
Isaiah 53: 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
The first exchange, is in verse 5, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him. I do not like the word punishment, chastisement is better. It is a father disciplining his son with the belt. But the purpose is for correction. So that the child will stop the bad behavior.
I spanked my oldest boy for hitting the younger. They were four and two years old, and it was a hard thing for me to do, and I had him sit awhile in the bedroom and think about why daddy spanked him. So, he was crying and I came back in the room and gave him a hug and told him how much I loved him and he did not hit him again as long as they were in my life, but their mother moved them out of state when she divorced me, because at the time I was still in my addiction to alcohol.
Jesus was chastised so that we might be forgiven. Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven. The result of being forgiven is that we have peace with God.
As long as you continue in your sin you cannot be forgiven. And the word forgiven in the Greek means to send the power of the thing away from you, so it is like being delivered.
The reason I stopped drinking was because of all the pain it caused me; I would go through withdrawals. If I drank two beers right now, in an hour I would be in pain because my body is different from others, because Alcoholism runs in my family line on my mother’s side, it is something in the genes.
See, as long as your sin is not forgiven, you cannot have peace with God, your conscience will be defiled. It will block the joy of the Lord from flowing into your emotions.
The word peace here means wholeness. Your spirit, soul and body are functioning the way God intends.
Jesus died to pay the consequences for our sins. The wages of sin is death. He paid that penalty for us on the cross.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Justified means it has been accounted to us, we are reckoned righteous.
But His righteousness must be worked into our life and that is a process of sanctification, being exclusively set apart for God’s use. Jesus can now live His life through us which is a righteous life.
Colossians speaks about Jesus on the cross.
Colossians 1: 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel
That could never be achieved by any other way except the sacrifice of Jesus. Because He was totally identified with everything evil that we had ever done, it was possible for us to be totally forgiven and totally delivered from the power of evil.
Ephesians 1. 7, speaking of Jesus: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
So, when we have forgiveness of sins, we have redemption. The word redemption means to buy back or to ransom.
So, through the price of the blood of Jesus given on our behalf as a sacrifice, we have been bought back from Satan to God.
In Romans 7 Paul says something which isn’t always very clear to people who don’t know the cultural background. I am carnal, sold under sin.
That phrase, “sold under sin’ relates to the Roman custom that when a person was being sold as a slave they were made to stand on a sort of block and from a post behind them a spear was stretched out over their head.
So, when you saw a person standing on the block under the outstretched spear you knew that person was being sold as a slave.
And Paul says, I am carnal, sold under the spear of my sin which is stretched out over my head and I have no options. I’m there for sale.
You know, when a person is bought as a slave, they don’t choose what they do. The owner chooses what they do.
Two women may be sold in the same market. One will become a cook, the other a prostitute. They don’t have the choice.
That’s true with us, when the enemy has control over our lives. You may think you live a good, respectable life, and you look down on the prostitutes and the addicts and people like that, but believe me, it’s the slave owner who determines what you do.
But the good news is this. One day Jesus walked into that slave market and he said, I’ll buy him. I’ll buy him. Satan said, you can’t have him. Jesus said I’ve paid the price. From now on he’s not your slave, he’s my son or she’s my daughter. That’s redemption.
So vivid that it only comes through the forgiveness of sins. How can we be forgiven? Because Jesus was chastised with the chastisement due to us. Jesus was chastised so that we might be forgiven.
Isaiah 53, 4: Surely, He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. There are two different words used in Hebrew. When it says He has borne our sicknesses, the word means He’s carried it away.
When it says He has carried our sorrows, the word is our pains. He has endured our pains. He has carried our sicknesses away and He has endured our pains. What’s the result?
By His wounds we are healed. This is because He has dealt with our sicknesses and our pains in His own body, healing has provided for us.
When it speaks about the atonement, the Bible never puts healing in the future. It’s finished. As far as God’s concerned, it’s there. Healing was obtained. We are healed.
Someone will ask, how can I know if it’s God’s will to heal me?
That is the wrong question. If you are a committed, born-again Christian sincerely seeking to serve God and do His will, your question should be this, not how can I know if it’s God’s will to heal me, but how can I receive the healing which God has already provided for me? That’s a very important question.
How do we appropriate what God has provided. If you don’t believe God has provided it, you’re not likely to appropriate it.
So, the basis is discovering what God has provided through Jesus on the cross.
Two passages in the New Testament, quote Isaiah 53:4-5. And both were quoted by Jews. One was Matthew, the other was Peter, who were also inspired by the Holy Spirit.
So now we have Isaiah, Matthew and Peter, three witnesses to confirm this is a Word from God.
Now this is the beginning of the public healing ministry of Jesus.
When evening had come, why did they wait till evening? Because it was the Sabbath and they weren’t allowed to do anything until the Sabbath was over in the evening.
Matthew 8:16 When evening had come they brought to Jesus many who were demon possessed and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.
We can see here that in the healing ministry of Jesus there’s really no distinction between healing the sick and casting out evil spirits. They go hand in hand all the way through His ministry.
Now, why did Jesus do that? Verse 17 tells us:
He did that because He saw His Father doing it, and He was full of compassion for the people, but also to fulfill his destiny scroll in heaven and all that was written about Him in the Old Testament. This is impartation, power flowed through His spirit, and then through His soul into His body then through His hands or voice.
Jesus did only one miracle before His time, because He loved his mother and His heavenly Father gave Him the OK.
Jesus is the pattern son; we follow His example. He was baptized in water, filled with the Spirit, was tested in the wilderness to see what his motivation was, He did nothing for his own glory or ministry but for the glory of the Father, after He passed the test He came out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit, all nine gifts working, He began to fulfill His destiny scroll and His ministry on the earth.
Matthew 8: 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”
Matthew is quoting Isaiah 53: 4-5. And notice its meaning is physical. Physical healings and casting devils out of the people’s souls and bodies. He quotes “infirmities and sicknesses”
Furthermore, its outworking is totally physical. What was the evidence? The fact that He healed all who came to Him. Not some, but all. Everyone.
When you’re struggling with sin or sickness or depression or rejection or fear, what the Bible says is look away from yourself. The answer is not in your own human abilities. Turn your eyes to Jesus. He Himself is the answer.
1 Peter 2: 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
Speaking about Jesus, it says who Himself… You notice that? Notice where the emphasis is? On Himself. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.
This is our focus, this is center (the point from which an activity or process is directed, or on which it is focused.
This is the basis in dealing with sin. When sin is dealt with, then the consequences of what Jesus did for us on the cross can flow.
By whose wounds you were healed. Not will be healed, not even are healed, but were healed. As far as God’s concerned, it is already done. When Jesus said it is finished, it was finished. As far as God’s concerned, nothing is ever going to change it, nothing will have to be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it. It is a perfect work, perfect in every respect, perfect in every aspect, perfect in every way. And the physical aspect is just as perfect as any other.
Now, I’d like to direct your attention to a number of passages in the New Testament where the word for save is translated heal or make well. The Greek word for save is sozo. All the other words for salvation also come from it. A Savior is (Greek) from the same root.
But there are a significant number of passages in the New Testament where that verb is used for physical healing.
The problem for people who can only read English and maybe readers in other languages is that the translators, to translate a word into English, do not use the word saved. So, for people who merely read English translations of the Bible, this provision of Jesus is hidden, so that they cannot plainly see that healing is part of salvation.
Now, I’ll give you a whole series of passages.
This is the story of the little woman with the issue of blood who came behind Jesus and touched His garment and then was afraid to reveal what she’d done.
You know why she was afraid? Maybe you’ve never thought about it. It was because a woman who had an issue of blood was considered unclean and she was forbidden to touch anybody. And anybody she touched then became unclean. So, she disobeyed the Jewish Law by touching Jesus. That’s why when she was asked what she’d done, she came trembling (Luke 8:47). Jesus didn’t get involved in that issue.
Matthew 9: 21 And behold, a woman suffering with a flow of blood twelve years, having come behind Him, touched the fringe of His outer garment, for she was saying within herself, If I only touch his garment, I shall be made whole. And Jesus, having turned around and having seen her, said, Cheerful courage, daughter, be having it constantly. Your faith has saved you and the cure is permanent. No relapse into your former condition. And the woman was restored to health from that hour-Wuest.
She said to herself, If only I may touch His garment, I shall “be made whole”. Be made whole is one word in the Greek “sōzō”. What did she say in her heart? If I touch His garment I shall be saved. What did Jesus say? Your faith has saved you. That word.
Mark 6: 56 And wherever He kept on proceeding, into villages, or into cities, or into farming districts, they laid those who were sick in the market places, and they kept on begging Him if they might touch even the fringe of His cloak. And as many as touched Him were being made whole-Wuest
What does it say? And as many as touched Him were being made whole. “Being made whole” is one word in the Greek “sōzō”. They were being saved.
What were they saved from? Sickness. They were probably saved from a sin too, but the emphasis is sickness.
In Luke we see the record of the man who had the legion of demons. Jesus cast the demons out and the man became perfectly normal.
Luke 8: 35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed.
What does it say? Was healed “sōzō”, was saved. Being delivered from demons is part of salvation. It has been provided by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. And dealing with evil spirits, they only respect one thing: the cross, the authority you represent in Christ, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua).
If the spirit is talking to you, you can tell the spirit you’re an ordained licensed Pentecostal pastor, they could care less.
But when you come on the basis of what Jesus did on the cross, then they tremble. But remember the devil only flees in terror, when you have submitted the whole of your life to Jesus Christ.
Let us read further, what happened in the life of Jesus really gets better and better the further His ministry progresses. But we must study this thing out looking at the original language and then meditate upon it. I bought two more interlinear’s today, the NIV and the NASV which cost me $55 dollars for my logos, but otherwise you do not really have a bible, just a translation. Now again, this is the woman with the issue of blood.
Luke 8:47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling before Him. She declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. How she was what? Saved. And He said to her, Daughter, be of good cheer, your faith has made you well. Your faith has saved you.
49 While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to Him, ‘Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher.’ But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, only believe, and she will be made well.’ She will be what? Saved. What was salvation there? Being brought back from the dead. So healing, resurrection from the dead and deliverance from evil spirits are all described by that one inclusive word to save.
Because salvation is everything that’s been provided by the death of Jesus on the cross.
Then we look at Acts 4:8-10. This is the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. The apostles have been questioned why they did it.
Acts 4: 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed-NIV.
Healed in the Greek is “sōzō”.
What produced healing? Salvation. Neither is their salvation in any other name.
2 Timothy 4:18, But the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve(sōzō) me for His heavenly kingdom.
When He says preserve, what does He say? Save. He will save me and keep on saving me.
So, the ongoing outworking of what Jesus did for us on the cross is salvation. It’s from the moment you believe till the moment you leave your mortal body And pass into the heaven’s; you are moving in salvation provided by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
The bible does teach that we do not have to die physically, there is provision for longevity or to keep on living for 100’s and 100’s, but if no one teaches it, how are you going to appropriate it? You are not, only a couple people I know teach it. Someday maybe I will.
There’s a Scripture in Hebrews which I think maybe we should turn to. I feel somehow that God wants me to bring this one Scripture out. Hebrews 2: 3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.
You see, there are people who refuse salvation. They just turn it down. They don’t want it. They don’t believe. But there are, I think, multitudes of professing Christians who don’t refuse salvation, they neglect salvation.
They don’t really find out what God has provided for them. They accept some traditional view, some denominational sermon.
You can’t afford to neglect this salvation. If you don’t see it now, I want to warn you, somewhere down the road you’re going to need it desperately. So may God help each one of us not to be neglectful this so great salvation.