By His Stripes We Are Healed

Have you ever watched an airplane cross the sky? From the ground, it almost looks sluggish. After all, my finger can trace a path from one tree to the next in a split second, but that 757... 

Have you ever raced a toddler? Little feet moving as quickly as they can, dozens of steps to your one.

Have you ever waited for news from your spouse's surgeon? or watched her walking up the drive as you hung the last decorations for her surprise party? The waiting is very different in each case.

Point being, perspective changes everything. That enormous jet is traveling hundreds of miles an hour; but to the observer on the ground, it is barely in motion. That toddler is frantically working to cover the same ground on tiny legs that you can cover with one stride. And time? It's all the same hour, sixty minutes, 3600 seconds; but the thing that transpires at the end of that hour impacts our attitude toward the wait. What is taking so long? Or, Stall her, please!

I have been thinking about the finished work of Christ on the cross. Yes, His work is sufficient for the atonement of my sin. His work restores my relationship with my Creator, a relationship once broken by the aforementioned sin, and receives me (and anyone who trusts in Jesus) into the family as a child of God. His resurrection assures me of mine, guaranteeing a newness of life in which I can walk today and a face-to-face relationship I will enjoy one day. And, yes, that is more than enough; but is that all? 

Take, for instance, Isaiah 53:5:

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.

There are those who would argue this means physical healing: Jesus suffered physical stripes and by them, our physical bodies are healed. 

First of all, does mankind suffer any physical ailment worse than the deadly spiritual enemy of sin? Matthew 10:28 warns, Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The greater danger by far is the eternal death of the spirit. 1 Peter 2:24-25 equates Christ's stripes with the death of sin and the healing of those who believe unto righteousness. A spiritual healing.

Secondly, if God's words through Isaiah are the promise of physical healing all the time, every time (for those who possess "enough faith" in them), how is anyone to get to heaven? Without physical death, those with exemplary faith would still be among us; never dying, always healed of their diseases, but not yet realizing the fullness of the promises of God.

And thirdly, if the torment Christ suffered is the catalyst of physical wellness for all who believe, did believers prior to His death never recover from illness? Did pagans always die of sinus infections or battle wounds? Obviously, healing was present in the world --by God's design and grace --prior to the death of Christ on the cross.   

David Guzik, in his Enduring Word Commentary on Isaiah 53, writes:

[Complete healing] is not promised to every believer right now, just as the totality of our salvation is not promised to us right now. The Bible says that we have been saved (Ephesians 2:8), that we are being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18), and that we will be saved (1 Corinthians 3:15). Even so, there is a sense in which we have been healed, are being healed, and one day will be healed.  

Guzik takes the position that while healing does occur in this lifetime, there is not an immediate, comprehensive guarantee of physical well-being; we can, however, rest assured we will one day be completely physically whole. Just as Matthew 8:16-17 equates the words of Isaiah (53:4) regarding Christ's suffering with physical restoration in that day, Jesus did not heal everyone on earth, nor did everyone He healed cheat a physical death later. Like the aircraft crossing the sky or the exertions of the toddler or the nature of a wait, our perspective is critical. Healing, as it occurs in God's economy is not beholden to a calendar or a clock. What we see as the plodding of days or that to which we exert all our energy trying to make some headway is under His sovereignty and within His power. The wondering if today will be the day or pleading for just a little more time --all of it is at the discretion of a loving God who cares for His people in ways we do not always agree. But He knows the end from the beginning and He is good. When He says we are healed, we are healed; His word is as good as done. But for the time being, our mortality impacts our perspective, our system for measuring time is at odds with God's infinity; a disparity that causes us to stand in awe of One so great and trust His plans for our healing.