Isaiah 53:5 5… and by His stripes we are healed.
Under Roman law in Bible times, a criminal was either
scourged for a lesser crime and then set free, or crucified
straightaway if guilty of a greater crime. But Jesus was both
scourged and crucified. Pontius Pilate had hoped that after
scourging Jesus and presenting His bloodied body to the
people, they would be satisfied and willing to let Him go. But
the people were not and demanded His crucifixion instead.
Don’t think for a moment that the people had power to inflict
such suffering on Jesus. It was all part of God’s plan and the
scourging was necessary for only by His stripes are we healed.
The Roman whip used for scourging was made of leather straps
embedded with glass, bone and metal hooks. With just one
strike, the instrument would have been wrapped around Jesus’
body, causing the glass, bones and hooks to cut deep into His
flesh. And as the whip was pulled back, the hooks would have
stripped His flesh off, exposing muscle and bone. Indeed, the
psalmist says, “They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count
all My bones. They look and stare at Me,” (Psalm 22:16–17) and
“The plowers plowed on My back; they made their furrows long”.
(Psalm 129:3)
Although 39 was the maximum number of times one could be
whipped according to Jewish law, I believe that Jesus was
whipped more times than that because the Romans, who were not
likely to regard Jewish law, carried out the scourging.
Whichever the case, His back would have been reduced to a
mass of bloody, mutilated flesh. That day, Jesus’ blood flowed
freely from His body for your deliverance from every kind of
disease and physical affliction. God allowed every one of
those stripes to fall on His Son’s body so that your body need
not be scourged with diseases.
My friend, if you are sick or suffering from some physical
condition, know that Jesus took the scourging as full payment
for you to be free of that condition. He bore those stripes so
that, today, there is no sickness, no disease left for you to
bear. By His stripes you have been healed!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment