By His Stripes
The other day I was out driving and doing some errands I was thinking about the Lord and was asking the Lord to make me healthy and heal my body. I have a few medical problems which I know could be a lot worse if it wasn't for the favor, grace and love of the Lord. I know I am here right now because my Lord has made it so.
As I was driving and talking to the Lord this is what I heard "by His stripes you are healed". I thought to myself OK Lord I here you so I had to look into it and really dive in to it and truly examine what the Lord was trying to tell us.
So I have decided to look into it and do a study on it and share it with all of you. The scripture I am talking about is Isaiah 53:3-5 which is below.
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by god, stricken by him, and afflicted. 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.
I now would like to really dive deep into this scripture and pull it apart so you can clearly understand what Isaiah was trying to say.
"He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by god, stricken by him, and afflicted."
This one sentence has a two fold meaning to me. One he was despised and rejected by man. Which tells me mankind did not love Him and show great love for him. He was an outsider and completely alone, He was rejected. A holy God came down to rescue His people and he was rejected.
This makes me think wow God was rejected and despised. Have you ever been rejected and despised. Have you every felt completely alone and the weight of the world was on your shoulders.
The second He suffered and familiar with pain. He suffered and knew pain and loneliness. The last part of this scripture says he was familiar with pain. That kind of sticks out doesn't it. He was familiar with pain.
Definition of familiar
Well known for a long time. Intimate association. Well acquainted with.
So with this definition of familiar we can say he knew pain very well and suffered a long time. He has an intimate experience with pain. He was well acquainted with pain.
Have you known anyone who was well acquainted with pain for a long time and suffered constantly. Our Lord loved us so much that He was willing to go through tragic pain to save us. He bore our sins He took up our pain and bore our sufferings so we may be free of sin and sickness and have a relationship with God Almighty.
Isn't nice to know that the God of heaven and earth can completely relate to how you or I may be feeling.
Some people say He doesn't know how it feels to -----. You can fill in the blank. I can tell you He knows completely and then some on how you feel.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him"
This scripture verse tells us exactly what Jesus went through for us. He was whipped and was beaten and was put on a cross so we can know God and have a great covenant with Him. He was pierced, crushed and punished. He did all this for one reason HE LOVES YOU. That is the only reason why Jesus came down to earth is because He loves us and wanted to have a deep relationship with us.
"by his wounds we are healed"
By his wounds we are healed another version of the bible says by his stripes we are healed.
I looked into how flogging was administered. The bible says that Jesus was flogged 39 times. The whipping would be on their back, hands and feet and was meant to render them helpless. The whip was usually a leather strip and they would tie sharp metal pieces on it so when they whipped someone it would rip skin off. This technic was used to cause tremendous pain but to not kill a person completely. They would also call the whip a cat of nine tails which means this one whip would have nine strips of leather on it and each strip would have metal pieces tied to it all over. Can you imagine one whip with nine strips and plenty of metal shards on it, now times that by two, and being whipped 39 times with 2 whipping sticks with 18 strips all together and many, many metal shards on it ripping at your skin. Now can you imagine the pain and suffering he went through. Now you can understand how he was familiar with pain.
When scientists looked at the shroud of Turin there was so much blood on it they believe that the Romans used two whips on Jesus. So can you imaging being whipped 39 times by two whips. They also beat Jesus, they beat him so much he was almost unrecognizable.
Please forgive my detailing I just want you to have a very good understanding of what Jesus went through so you can understand that by his wounds you are healed.
By his stripes we are healed refers to the punishment Jesus suffered, the flogging and beatings with fists.
1 Peter 2:24
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.
I want you to understand the pain and agony Jesus went through. I will go into it a little more in Part 2. I have touched on the physical pain Jesus suffered not including that Jesus died on the cross the ultimate sacrifice. In part 2 of By His Stripes I will discuss the emotional pain Jesus suffered on this earth for us.
References:
C.O.A.T Homepage - Roman whips
