Blake Long

Isaiah 53:5 is a verse that should stop you in your tracks. “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (italics mine).

It’s beautiful; it’s breathtaking; it’s redemptive. But many people, I believe, interpret it incorrectly, which leads to bitterness and confusion. This misinterpretation has to do with whether or not physical healing is part of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Many a Christian read this verse to mean that not only did the atonement of Jesus Christ bring spiritual healing (i.e. salvation, redemption, forgiveness of sins, etc.), but also brought physical healing. And, at first glance, I can understand why. But upon further examination and context, I don’t believe that’s true.

In other words, Isaiah 53:5 is not declaring that Christ’s atoning death brings physical healing. Can God heal people today? Absolutely. He can do whatever He pleases. If God wants to heal someone, He will. But that doesn’t mean physical healing is connected with the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Why is the good news of Isaiah 53:3 more extravagant than a supposed physical healing? Because His wounds bring us salvation—spiritual healing. It brings peace, as the text says—“upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.”

Where the confusion lies is what the purpose was behind Christ’s atonement. Why did Jesus die? What did He set out to do?

In an article at G3, Pastor Josh Buice wrote:

When Jesus died on the cross, it was a substitutionary death in the very place of sinners. Jesus was being crushed on the cross by the wrath of the Father (Is. 53:10) for the sins of his people. He was not being crushed for the effects of sin. He was being crushed for the actual law violating rebellion of the sinful human heart. Therefore, when you overcome COVID-19 by God’s mercy—you should not be quoting Isaiah 53:5, “By his stripes I’ve been healed.” No, it’s by his sovereignty that you’re healed. Jesus didn’t take your disease into his body and die for your disease. All sickness from the common cold to the most horrific brain cancer is the effect of sin.

Intereptration mishaps occur when we conflate the effects of sin with actual sin, if that makes sense. As Buice mentioned, Jesus was “crushed by the Father” for “actual law-violating rebellion of the sinful human heart.”

If you come down with the flu or worse, God could absolutely heal you in a heartbeat, but that is not an intrinsic facet of the atonement—it’s simply by His sovereign will. What happens many times is people become bitter and hard-hearted when God doesn’t heal them. If they believe this passage is a guarantee of physical healing in the atonement, and they’re still sick, why is that? Has God taken back His promise, or have we misinterpreted the passage?

Isaiah 53:5–and surrounding verses—are a beautiful picture of what Jesus did on our behalf in His life and on the cross! The healing that is intrinsically connected with the atonement is spiritual, not physical. By Jesus’s wounds we are spiritually healed, that is, our sins are paid for, our slate is wiped clean. What Jesus sowed, we reaped. Jesus paid what we owed. He took all of it upon Himself willingly, and took on the wrath of God that was meant for us.

Friends, when we survey the wondrous cross and see what God did for us in the atonement of Christ, we are far less concerned about physical healing, and simply marvel that we’ve been spiritually healed (saved) through His sacrifice. This doesn’t mean we don’t concern ourselves with being healed physically. You should absolutely pray for healing—you should pray for your sinus troubles to go away! But we don’t stake our hope in physical healing through the atonement, but in God’s sovereign will.