Dr. Jay Snell Newsletter Feed and Free BonusesChapter Four
Dr. Jay Snell Newsletter Feed and Free Bonuses
Christ died for our sicknesses, as well as our sins. I will prove it in this chapter. I will show you from the Scriptures in language you can easily understand that Jesus Christ died for the sicknesses of his people, as well as for their sins.
We stated previously that Jesus' death ratified the Abrahamic covenant which granted unto us, the people of God, healing for our bodies. Because of this ratification, it only makes sense that the Scriptures spell it out over and over and over that God's will for us is our complete healing at all times. Then, we asked, "Do the Scriptures spell this out over and over and over?" Then, we said, "In point of fact, the Scriptures do spell it out. "
In this chapter we show that healing for our body is spelled out for us in the death of Christ. We shall find here that Jesus did indeed die for our sicknesses, as well as our sins.
The first scripture I want to show you is in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. I want you to look closely at verse 4. Actually, we ought to read the whole chapter. For the sake of brevity, I will not print the whole chapter here. Read it all, though, as soon as you can.
Isa 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (KJV)
Keep in mind, the book of Isaiah was written between five and six hundred years before Christ was born. Yet Isaiah 53 contains the prophecy about His death and some of the accomplishments of it: We find that He was to be buried in a borrowed tomb, the tomb of a rich man; we find prophesied nearly 600 years before Jesus was even born that He would die between two thieves. If you have never read this whole chapter, read everything in it slowly and deliberately. It will bless you.
Now look at verse 4. Notice carefully the words griefs and sorrows, which translate two Hebrew words, uniformly rendered throughout the Old Testament by the words sickness and pain. Sickness and pain. Jesus has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.
The Bible: An American Translation (J. M. Powis Smith and Edgar J. Goodspeed) says, "Yet it was our pains that he bore...our sorrows that he carried...."
The Holy Scriptures According To The Masoretic Text: A New Translation (The Jewish Publication Society) says, "Surely our diseases he did bear...and our pains he carried...."
The Emphasized Bible: A New Translation (J. B. Rotherham) translates it, "Yet surely our sicknesses he carried...and as for our pains he bare the burden of them...."
The New American Bible declares, "Yet it was our infirmities that he bore...our sufferings that he endured...."
The New English Bible translates it, "Yet on himself he bore our sufferings.. our torments he endured...."
In addition to the above, Young, the great Hebrew scholar, translates it, "Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, and our pains, he hath carried them."
Another Hebrew scholar, Leeser, translates it, "But only our diseases did he bear himself, and our pains he carried."
This is what Isaiah said between five and six hundred years before Jesus Christ was born. He said that Jesus surely has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. Now, I want you to see Matthew 8: 16-17.
Matt 8:16-17
16 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:
17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. (KJV)
Now, we must get Matthew's version of the Isaiah prophecy. Keep in mind, there were five to six hundred years between the writing of these two books. Jesus was alive when Matthew wrote. He was not born for nearly six more centuries in the book of Isaiah. Yet Isaiah prophesied about Him. In verses 16 and 17 Matthew said, "When the evening was come, they brought unto Jesus many that were possessed with demons and he cast out the spirits with his Word and healed all that were sick. That it might be fulfilled that was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying He, Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." That's Matthew's commentary on Isaiah 53:4.
In the same chapter, Isaiah 53, we find the same words (He bore, He took, He carried ) used to describe what Jesus did with sin.
Isa 53:11-12
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (KJV)
Now, we know that Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself. He carried those sins and He did away with them in His death on the cross, but most of us have never realized the rest of what the Bible says about the relationship of the death of Christ to the sicknesses of God's people; He did the same identical thing with our sicknesses that He did with our sins. Isaiah said it plainly. He said He bore and He carried our sicknesses and our pains. That is what the Hebrew text says in Isaiah 53:4.
Then Matthew loosely, but accurately, translates it right. He says the reason Jesus healed all that came to Him is because of what Isaiah said about His bearing and carrying our sicknesses and our pains, our weaknesses and our infirmities. He said Jesus healed everybody, so that what Isaiah said pertaining to the carrying of our sicknesses, might be fulfilled. Isaiah prophesied it. Then, Matthew said that Jesus did it, so that what Isaiah prophesied might be fulfilled.
Maclaren said (concerning Isaiah 53:4), "The prophet constructs no theory of Atonement. But no language could be chosen that would more plainly set forth the fact of Atonement. And it is to be observed that, so far as this prophecy is concerned, the Servant's sole form of service is to suffer. He is not a teacher, an example, or a benefactor, in any of the other ways in which men need help. His work is to bear our griefs and be bruised for our healing."
He further states, ". . . it is to be kept in view that the 'griefs' which the servant is here described as bearing are literally 'sicknesses' and that, similarly, the 'sorrows' may be diseases."
Finally, he stated, "Of the two words expressing the Servant's taking their burden on his shoulders, the former implies not only the taking of it but the bearing of it away, and the latter emphasizes the weight of the load."
Delitzsch said, "The Hebrew verbs of the text (nasa and sabal), when used of sin, signify to assume as a heavy burden and bear away the guilt of sin, as one's own; that is to bear sin mediatorially in order to atone for it (as in Is. 53:11-12). But here (Is. 53:4), where not our sins, but our sicknesses and pains are the object, the meditorial sense remains the same."
He continues, "It is not meant that the Servant of Jehovah merely entered into the fellowship of our sufferings, but that He took upon Himself the sufferings that we had to bear, and deserved to bear; and, therefore, He not only bore them away, but also in His own person endured them in order to discharge us from them.
Now when one takes sufferings upon Himself which another had to bear, and does this, not merely in fellowship with him, but in his stead, we call it substitution."
Having stated the Bible's case that Jesus bore and carried our sicknesses as well as our sins, let me now build your faith to a fever pitch by refuting the Scoffers.
Many people say that Isaiah's prophecy was indeed fulfilled in Matthew's day, and since it was fulfilled, we cannot look to this scripture anymore as a basis for our healing. They say that Jesus fulfilled that prophesy from Isaiah then and there by healing those who were sick. Since it was fulfilled then and there, it was fulfilled once and for all. Therefore we cannot look to that scripture for our own healing anymore. Matthew plainly said that Jesus fulfilled the prophesy, and since it was fulfilled, there is no more to it. It has run its course and expired because Jesus fulfilled it.
My response to this nonsense is this: Jesus did not fulfill that prophesy then and there; that is not what Matthew said about the prophesy from Isaiah. Notice what he said. He said that He healed all that it might be fulfilled. He does not say that Jesus healed all to fulfill on the spot or to fulfill it completely, then and there, but He healed all that came to Him, so that He might fulfill it at a future time. Do you see this? He said that it might be fulfilled.
Now let me show you some things about the difference in the various nuances of Greek syntax. This will build your faith and help you. The indicative mood in Greek functions the same way it does in English. It is the mood of reality. When the Greek text uses the indicative mood, it describes what actually happens. It describes what is real and actual. The indicative mood is not used here in Matthew 8:17. Had he done so, our verse would read something like this; "He healed them all and completely fulfilled what Isaiah said." Instead, Matthew used the subjunctive mood. This makes our verse read like the translators have it: "He healed them all so that what Isaiah said might be fulfilled at some future time."
The subjunctive mood is the mood that the Greek would use to say what might happen, or what can happen, or what has a probability of happening. This is exactly what Matthew means in this passage when he used the subjunctive mood. He did not say that it was fulfilled on the spot. He placed his commentary on Isaiah 53:4 in the subjunctive mood to indicate that, although Jesus was healing them all, the prophesy was not totally fulfilled then and there. But He healed them all, that it might be fulfilled at a future point in time.
Do you see what I am driving at? It was not fulfilled then and there. But He healed them all, so that what Isaiah said could be fulfilled at a future point in time. The difference between the indicative and the subjunctive is very important here.
Furthermore this subjunctive mood expression, "that it might be fulfilled", is a typical Greek purpose clause which combines the conjunction HOPOS with the subjunctive mood. This combination, used here in Matthew 8: 17, is one of the ways that the Greek would set forth a purpose clause. In other words, the purpose of Jesus healing all these people was so that the prophecy of Isaiah could be fulfilled at a future point in time. When was this future time of fulfillment of which Isaiah spoke?
When was this future time? To answer this question, we must go back to the book of Isaiah, and we must follow what the Bible says. We can't base our faith on what someone teaches that does not follow what the Bible says, but we can base our faith on teaching when we can plainly see that it is, in fact, what the Bible said. We must see it with our own eyes and our own understanding.
When was this future time? This future time is not determined willy nilly. It's not pulled out of the air. It's not left up to Brother So and So to say when this future time is. Keep in mind, Matthew is quoting a prophecy uttered by another man. That other man was Isaiah.
Isaiah himself said when the fulfillment would take place. He said it would take place at the death of Jesus Christ. All of Isaiah chapter 53 pertains to the death of Jesus. It talks about God laying on Him the iniquities of us all. We understand that. We have been taught that from the time we were children. It talks about Jesus bearing the iniquities of many. We understand that. We have been taught that from childhood. It talks about Jesus Christ bearing our sins. We understand that because we have been taught that, also, from childhood. We know that Jesus became our substitute and God literally laid our sins upon Him, and He died in our place. We know all of that because it is taught in Isaiah chapter 53. Everything in that chapter pertains to the time of Jesus' death.
This context has to do with the death of Jesus. Furthermore, this context talks plainly about Jesus taking and bearing our sicknesses in his death. Therefore, the time when this prophecy is to be fulfilled is when Jesus dies and not before. So then, we cannot say, and neither can anybody else and be honest about it, that this prophecy was fulfilled, ran its course, and disappeared when Jesus healed those people in Matthew chapter 8.
Well, the scoffer would like to beat us at our own game. He says, "OK, I'll buy what you say. It was not fulfilled in Matthew 8, it was fulfilled in His death. Therefore, nobody can be healed since His death because it was literally fulfilled then and there. Since it was fulfilled then and there, there is no more promise of healing in this scripture since that time. It is now over."
Everybody reading this page will say, "But that's ridiculous." And you are right. That is ridiculous. But that's the logic a lot of people use to tear down your faith and convince you that you cannot expect to be healed, based on Isaiah 53. "It was fulfilled," they say, "at His death. Since it was fulfilled in His death, there is just no more basis for healing left in the prophecy."
Here is my answer to this foolishness. If there is no more healing left in it, since it was literally fulfilled in His death, then there is no more salvation left in it either, because He not only bore and carried our sicknesses, He also bore and carried our sins. Using the scoffers logic, since one is fulfilled, both are fulfilled.
Nobody here has a problem believing that the death of Christ for sin is still valid. But, the modernist, the liberal and the scoffer will destroy your faith by saying to you that the healing in this passage is no longer valid because it was fulfilled in Christ's death. They do not stop to think that if the healing part is fulfilled and is no more, the sin bearing part is also fulfilled and is no more. Therefore, nobody has been saved since the day Jesus died. Does that make sense? That doesn't make a bit of sense.
Now let me answer another question. Notice the word our in this passage. In verse 16, our represents a group that came to Jesus, and He healed every last one of them, so that what Isaiah said might be fulfilled. Then Matthew placed himself in that group. My question is this: Who is in that group designated by our. Who is in that our group? You are. All Christians are in the our group. Here's why.
In the Abrahamic covenant God made a covenant with Abraham that included Abraham's physical descendants, but in Genesis chapter 22 verse 18, He included more than his physical descendants in the Abrahamic covenant.
Gen 22:18
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (KJV)
He made the statement that through Abraham's seed, who is Jesus Christ, all the nations of the earth would be blessed, and not just the Jewish nation. The word blessed is the same identical word that He applied to Abraham himself and to his physical descendants. Bless means "the beneficial endowment of the power of God to produce well being in every area of a person's life." In other words, bless means that God gave Abraham and his physical descendants, salvation, healing, prosperity and well being for their family members. Then, in Genesis 22:18, these four things are passed on to us Gentiles since we are the "all nations."
Consequently, healing, prosperity, well being for our families and salvation are guaranteed to us Gentile Christians in the Abrahamic covenant. When Jesus died, He did two things that related to two of the Old Testament covenants, the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic Law covenant. When He died He ratified with His own blood everything in that Abrahamic covenant. At the same time He abolished the Mosaic Law. Now do you know that there is nothing in this world that means you have to be sick? There is not one reason why you have to get sick and stay that way. Why?
The Law of Moses kept Gentiles out of The Abrahamic covenant, but Jesus abolished that Law. Therefore, that which kept us Gentiles out of Abraham's Blessing System has been done away with. Now, we are in this covenant by grafting. Consequently, healing is guaranteed to us by the Abrahamic covenant. There is no reason anymore to get sick and stay that way.
Gal 3:13
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (KJV)
There's that word, blessing, again. It still means, "the beneficial endowment of the power of God to produce well being in every area of a person's life." Those blessings in every area include salvation for the soul, healing for the body, prosperity for the pocket book, and well being for your family members. Christ redeemed those Jews from the curse of the Law by abolishing it, so that the blessing of Abraham might also come on us Gentiles. It can come on us Gentiles because, when Jesus abolished the Law, that which kept us Gentiles out of the Abrahamic covenant was done away.
See our books for a complete faith building explanation of these subjects: What Are Abraham's Blessings, Anyway?, What've They Done With Abraham's Blessings?, and The Unbroken Force of Abraham's Blessings.
Unfortunately, some of the devil's greatest helpers are well meaning people. They will tell you, "Well, God is going to get some glory through your sickness." No, He is not. They don't understand the meaning of the word glory. I have already explained that to you from the Greek text. Do you remember what it means? The word "glory" or "glorify" comes from the Greek word which means "to seem" or "to suppose", and, then, "to reach a favorable opinion." God does not reach a favorable opinion and conclusion about Himself based upon your sickness.
Nowhere can you find God responsible for sickness in the body of a Christian. God does not use sickness to glorify (reach a favorable opinion about) Himself. You just can't find that. The Bible said Jesus bore them so that I don't have to bear them.
The first thing that I do when I pray for a sick person is remind God of His own statements. I quote Isaiah 53:4 and Matthew 8:17 to Him. Then I remind Him that this person is His child, and since Jesus bore this sickness, they don't have to bear it. Therefore, why are they bearing it? Then I have a basis for my prayer. I have a basis right then and there (the Word of God) from which to launch my faith. If you let somebody mess with your mind and convince you that Jesus did not die for your sicknesses, or that it's no longer valid, and you have respect for this person's so called ability, you will believe him. Then, guess what will happen to you? You won't be healed, because seven of God's eight Healing Delivery Vehicles are based on faith.
One of the greatest heart breaks I ever had was when I attended a major healing campaign held by one of our greatest men of God. This is certainly not meant to put him down in any way. He is a mighty man of God. He operates in the anointing. That's where the power of the spirit of God sovereignly picks certain people and heals them. It requires no faith on their part. It requires nothing. God just heals when the anointing is moving. This great man of God operates in that anointing. However, only a small percentage of those people in these massive crowds gets healed.
I sat by the wheelchair section, and I saw people brought in there on stretchers. Many had tubes in their bodies and bottles hanging all over them to keep them alive. Some of those people came in there for a touch from God, but they did not get it. They left like they came - sick and on their death bed. Those people, by this time, have probably died.
The thing that bothered me is this: There are eight ways that God administers the healing that Jesus wrought in His death, and the sovereign move of the Holy Ghost in the anointing for healing is only one of the eight. There are seven more, but the other seven operate by faith on your part. You cannot exercise faith for healing, or anything else, as long as somebody has convinced you that it is no longer for you. If they can play mind games and mental gymnastics with you by messing your brain up concerning what the Bible says about healing in the death of Christ, you will not be healed.
There is a note in the Scofield Bible that says it is all over, that Matthew 8:17 was fulfilled back then and is no longer valid. I mean this with all due respect. I use the Scofield Bible, and his notes in some areas are tremendous. But in some areas, they are worthless. This particular Scofield note is not logical for two reasons.
First, if Jesus' death for sickness terminated in Matthew 8, the Scofield editors determined the time of fulfillment for Isaiah's prophecy, and not Isaiah himself. He plainly geared his 53rd chapter to the death of Christ and not to the events nor the time of Matthew 8.
Second, if the prophecy terminated on the cross, and nobody since then can look to that passage as a basis for their faith for healing, then common sense demands that we can no longer look to His death on the cross for our own salvation. Why? Because that also would have had to be fulfilled on the cross, according to their logic, since the same words, bear, take and carry, that Isaiah applied to our sicknesses, he also applied to our sins.
Consequently, if the sickness part was fulfilled on the cross and is no more, then neither does Christ's death substitute for sin anymore. Therefore, using Scofield's logic, nobody has been saved since. Do you believe that? Of course you don't. Neither should you should believe the stuff they peddle about healing being gone because it was fulfilled, either in Matthew 8 or on the cross, and therefore nobody else can claim it.
I never mean to be ugly, never. Please, I never mean that. But, sometimes I have to bear down hard to open your mind and cause you to see the real problem that destroys people's faith. Many people have to have faith in other people's faith for their healing because some of the teaching we have had declares that Christ's death for sickness is no longer valid. Again, I do not mean this to be ugly. But I have to show you these views, and I have to meet them head on to build your faith and bless you. Christ died for our sicknesses. It is still valid. It is running full bore, and it will last as long as His death for sin lasts. Now how long is that? Forever.
You don't need to be sick. Christ bore that. Since He bore it, you don't have to. That's why you don't have to bear your sins either. I am not going to bear my sins. I have dumped them all on Jesus. He is bearing them. That is why I am saved. Furthermore, every time I get a puny feeling, I will dump it on Jesus. You can do the same thing. Jesus died for our sins and our sicknesses.
"Father, build the faith of your people for healing. In Jesus name. Amen."
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Date Last Updated:
February 27, 2008
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