(Day one, #WarOnSickness Healing Devotion)

Isaiah 53:3-5 KJV,
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53 was written over 700 years before Jesus’ birth. It’s a prophecy of how Jesus would suffer in bearing the sin of the world. But it goes further to reveal how through His agony we’d also have access to healing for our physical bodies. Many people believe that Jesus died only for our “spiritual healing”. However, if that were the case, why did He suffer physically? And why did He have to die physically? One of the most trustworthy ways to interpret Scripture is through the Scriptures itself. The Gospel of Matthew quotes Isaiah 53 and offers some interpretation on this 700+year old prophecy.

Matthew 8:16-17 KJV,
When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bareour sicknesses.

This verse substitutes what Isaiah 53:4 called “sorrows” and “griefs” for the words “infirmities” and “sicknesses”. This makes it clear that when Isaiah said “by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5), he was saying that Jesus’ physical sacrifice would provide for physical healing, not just forgiveness of sins.

Jesus took your infirmities (disease and weakness) so you don’t have to have them! Jesus bore your sickness, so that you wouldn’t have to bear them. God sent Jesus to the world, out of His great love for us so that we would not perish (John 3:16). Sickness is a means of perishing and it is certainly not God’s will. God wants you well! God wants you to have and enjoy good health!

DECLARATION:
Proverbs 18:21 says that the power of life and death are in the tongue. I encourage you to speak life concerning your health. When you feel a pain, or experience a symptom of some sickness, don’t just complain – declare life. Declare this out loud now, and throughout the day:

I do not have to be sick or suffer because Jesus took my infirmities, my sickness, my disease and my weakness. Jesus bore my sickness so that I would not have to. God wants me well because He loves me. By His stripes I am healed. I declare that I am healed in Jesus’ Name.