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His stripes healed who when? When you come to Christ to be forgiven do you think of every sin that you committed and confess all your sins when you ask Jesus to forgive you? No, yet all your sins prior are forgiven. You are given a new start in life. Why then do the faith healers state everyone they must confess their healing separately? If sin causes our sickness, the same forgiveness from Jesus that heals us of our sin should heal our sickness at the same time. Why do you have to pray for healing separately from salvation? They insist Jesus’ crucifixion purchased your healing as it did forgiveness. If it did then our faith for salvation would be accompanied with healing of the body. If healing is in the atonement everyone should be healed by the same faith they were forgiven by, at the same time. If healing were a guarantee in the atonement as they claim than everyone would be physically healed at the same time they are spiritually healed (saved). But they are not. Consider that if sickness comes from sin (as we are told) than if our sin is forgiven we should not be sick? If you are forgiven past, present, and future and healing accompanies forgiveness you would also be healed past, present, and future. You would not need to have faith to confess healing anymore than you would salvation repeatedly. In fact once you are healed you would never get sick again. If healing is in the atonement as they teach. The same faith we were saved by certainly would be enough to be healed. Those who are sick would automatically receive a physical healing when they first believe for their salvation. Before you react - think on what you just read. Where in the Bible does it give an instance of someone being saved and their sickness is removed? Where does it say as so many claim, that Jesus died for our sins and SICKNESSES? Where do you find someone declare by his stripes I'm healed? Jesus himself said, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matt 26:28). I would like someone to offer a scripture that has stated he died for sicknesses so we can all be healed today, its not there. Salvation is about the remission of sins (Lk 1:77; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 10:43; Heb. 10:18). That is what we are guaranteed by the New Covenant. Our healing from sicknesses comes by the resurrection when we are given an immortal body. So what about “By his stripes.” If it means he was beaten does that mean we get healed by his bruises and not his blood? The fact is, these stripes mentioned have nothing to do with the whippings or punched by the Romans. The Bible teaches that sins of the world we laid upon him as the lamb the last 3 hours of his crucifixion (noon to 3:00). That is when Jesus paid for our sins as the sin bearer. Not before he was crucified, and certainly not after he died as the faith teachers teach when he went to hell to complete the new covenant. Do you see this scripture By his stripes we are healed repeated anywhere for healing in the New Testament? No, it is mentioned only once referring to Isa. 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. This idea that healing of the body is a guarantee in the atonement is not taught by the apostle's. Only the new apostles of healing. Most of them have the title doctor before their name. But they are doctoring the scripture, not the people. The only new Testament reference is 1 Peter 2:24 “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.” Notice first, it is speaking to those who believe in Christ, and it is in the past tense. Don’t let the “word smith” doctors take apart Isa. 53 or others scriptures and start redefining every word. They will have you miss the intended meaning of the thought presented by the Holy Spirit. It has to do with him being crucified for sin, that is what you are healed from, bore our sins, by whose stripes you WERE healed. And Peter points to the place it took place, on the tree, the crucifixion, not before. More importantly no one stood before Jesus and claimed their healing by faith or recited a promise of Scripture for their healing. Neither Paul nor any other apostle recommended Isaiah 53:5 as a cure apprehended by faith for himself or others. There is NO account of any person saying “by your stripes I’m healed.” The apostles did not teach this to the church. If it were a promise to the church we would see examples of this in the apostle’s ministry, but we don’t. So what does the word stripes actually mean? W.E. Vine explains the word stripes (Gr. Molops) is a wound that is bloody (from the Septuagint of Isaiah 53:5), used in 1 Peter 2:24, lit., in the original “by whose bruise,” is “not referring to Christ's scourging, but figurative of the stroke of divine judgment administered vicariously to Him on the cross (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words and The Collected writings of W.E. Vine. There are other Bible who scholars agree). The word “stripes” is in the singular, relating to Jesus being struck once in his crucifixion. Remember Moses was told to strike the rock only once for life giving water to be given, Jesus is the rock in this typology. He was struck only once to cure our sins, dying for sins once and for all. This is especially important as many claim we were healed from his stripes, plural (whippings, bruises etc.). These stripes were from men, not God. If these stripes heal us physically, then Christ did not need to go to the cross, because this occurred before the crucifixion. What they are teaching is a dichotomy, that we were healed spiritually from our sins by the crucifixion, but healed physically by his stripes before. Then there is no correlation to healing by sins being paid for by crucifixion, nor the resurrection of our new body by His resurrection. The New Testament reference to this verse does not mention illness; furthermore, the word (Gr. Iaomai) means to cure, it is in the past tense, “you were healed” by Jesus’ death. So then it should be a reality along with our sins that were forgiven as first pointed out. We believed in Christ’s crucifixion, the atonement which Peter applies to our sins; he says nothing about the healing of diseases in our present mortal bodies as a guarantee. While sicknesses can be caused by our sin, not all are, we live in a sin affected world. Death still occurs to non-believers and believers alike. Sickness is a facet of sin, and so is death. If our sicknesses were all healed now, we would not die, for death is a consequence of sin, the wages of sin is death. Then we would not have to wait for the resurrection to occur to the whole church simultaneously, it would happen to each of us individually. Again, Jesus said, “This is My blood...which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). It is never used in reference to healing a physical illnesses, though some have misused it today. The Bible states that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin, not healing for sickness. If you do a study on healing in the New Testament (not the old that prophesied of the event) you will find it takes place by God’s grace until the time of the resurrection. Isaiah 53’s primary concern is the spiritual healing of the effects of sin. Isaiah is speaking of the lamb being the sin bearer, using the words transgressions, iniquities which have to do with sin. The word “iniquity” is found four times in Isaiah 53 and is the emphasis in its discourse. Redemption is needed to remove our sin. The atonement brings redemption from sin but has not eradicated sin. We still have a sin nature. We have not yet received the redemption of our bodies. Christians age, have pain, failing eyesight, arthritis and die like everyone else. In fact most people will get ill before they die. Have you seen anyone survive death yet? The Bible tells us our sins are forgiven by the crucifixion. If it was as the false faith healers say then we would not die. So it must mean we are forgiven and cleansed in a legal sense, we live in the process of sanctification but not in a completed sense (glorification). Which is reserved for the day of our resurrection, it is then we will have no sin in the body and will never be sick again. Both sin and mortality will be permanently removed. The benefit of Christ’s death, includes an eternal healing. We are promised one day the ultimate healing because of what Jesus has done; at the resurrection. The issue isn’t “does God still heal today” he does. But will He heal – how and when. God can heal us, but it does NOT mean that He MUST heal us because we have faith for Him to heal us. No believer is ever without the possibility God healing by grace in our life. What about your spiritual health? It’s not spiritually healthy to feel that God is supposed to heal you but didn’t. That is not faith operating but presumption, faith is trusting and relying on the truth. In the meantime one should continue to pray for healing. But when God does not heal, we must understand he is not angered at us, nor have we fallen short of having “enough faith”, as some claim and make us guilty. Trials can increase our faith, if we submit to them with the right attitude, our faith grows into maturity by our circumstances. It allows us to endure sickness for God’s glory. Expect God to be with you. You can still be used for His kingdom, in fact maybe more used than a healthy person because of the obstacle in your life. Don’t be discouraged, but be encouraged as your reward awaits you.
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