THE KEY TO ANSWERED PRAYER
CHAPTER 7
by Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
THE SECOND REASON JESUS WILL HEAL US IS BECAUSE HE HAS ALREADY PAID FOR
OUR HEALING! HE WAS SCOURGED, CRUCIFIED, AND NALED TO THE CROSS FOR US!
Yes, my friend - Jesus has provided for the forgiveness of our sins and
the healing of our sicknesses! The Bible says, "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". (Is. 53:5)
Jesus was scourged by cruel Roman
soldiers, with the vicious cat-o-nine-tails (a whip with 9 pieces of
leather on the end, to which were tied sharp pieces of bone or small metal
balls with nails protruding from them).
HIS BACK BECAME LIKE A PLOWED FIELD AS HE PAID FOR
OUR SICKNESSES!
“The plowers plowed upon my back; they
made long their furrows.” (Ps. 29:3). Apparently, Medical
Science claims there are 39 major deadly diseases in the world from which stem
other sicknesses and diseases. Jesus took at least 39 stripes on His back
to pay for every sickness and disease.
Each time the whip fell on His back, He received 9 wounds instead of one
because of the nine pieces of leather and the pieces of metal on the end of the
lash...Therefore He received at least 351 wounds on His back to pay for our
healing!
Some church fathers and historians
state that the Romans, who were not bound by Jewish law, could have whipped
Jesus many more than 39 times!
The Romans who had their own code of justice and method of punishment
often scourged prisoners who were to be crucified, until they
fainted. Since Jewish leaders were pushing for Jesus' death, the
Romans had no reason to "go easy" on Him!
The more the victim was beaten during the
scourging, the weaker he became - thereby cutting down on the guard duty at the
cross, for the Roman soldiers! Either way, Jesus suffered enormous pains for us
as He paid for our sins, fears, sicknesses and diseases!
There is a possibility that Jesus
received far more than 39 stripes on His precious back. He may have been
beaten 50 or 60 times, as the only pre-requisite for the Roman soldiers was to
keep a condemned man from dying on the whipping pole, so that he could be
crucified!
WHEN JESUS TOOK OUR PLACE AS OUR RIGHTEOUS
SUBSTITUTE, HE PAID FOR ALL OUR SINS, SICKNESSES, DISEASES, PAINS, GRIEFS, AND
SORROWS!
St. Paul emphasized, "Of the Jews received I forty
stripes, save one". (2 Cor. 11:24) Jesus was striped by
the Romans, whereas Paul was striped by the Jews! Historians
declare that Jesus’ body was like a bloody pulp - Not only His back, but legs,
ribs, neck and back! The original Hebrew states, "Surely He
hath borne our sicknesses, and carried our pains: yet
we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted". (Is. 53:4)
The Norwegian Bible translates the
above scripture properly, as does some of the great Hebrew scholars of the
English Bible! Unfortunately the King James Version and a
number of other translations have greatly erred in their rendering of the Hebrew
words choli and makob, erroneously
translating them "griefs" and "sorrows"!
When people are sick however, they do
have a lot of grief, misery, and death to deal with. And pain is usually
accompanied by trials and sorrows. The correct translation however,
is "sicknesses" and "pains"! Jesus bore
or carried them away like the scape goat carried or bore away the sins of
Israel on the Day of Atonement.
Ignorant of the scriptures, some well-meaning Christians in North America have said that
Isaiah 53:4-5, does not refer to physical healing, but only to spiritual
healing. GOD'S WORD HAS THE ANSWER, AS THE
SCRIPTURES ARE THEIR OWN BEST COMMENTARY! St. Matthew
quotes Prophet Isaiah when he gives the prophetic significance of the great
miracles and healings which Jesus performed upon the sick.
"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 Esaias the prophet,
saying, HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES, AND BARE
OUR SICKNESSES". (Matt.8:16-17)
Due to the fact that a lot of
non-Pentecostal, Evangelical preachers and J.W.'s - who are biased against
divine healing and the full gospel message in general - have done damage to the
Kingdom of God by their stubborn and often ignorant approach to this subject,
we at this point interject the following documentation from the book "Christ
the Healer" by Rev. F.F. Bosworth.
HE CARRIED OUR PAINS
Before quoting from this chapter, may I
state that the Hebrew words "choli" and "makob" have been
incorrectly translated griefs and sorrows.
All who have taken the time to examine
the original text have found, what is everywhere acknowledged, that these two
words mean, respectively, "sickness" and "pains",
everywhere else throughout the Old Testament.
This word, choli, is interpreted
disease and sickness in Deut. 7:15; 28:61; 1 Kings 17:17; 2 Kings 1:2; 8:8; 2
Chron. 16:12; 21:15; and other texts. The word makob is rendered
"pain" in Job 14:22; 33:19, etc. Therefore the prophet is
saying, in this 4th verse, "Surely He hath borne our sicknesses
and carried our pains". The reader is referred to any
standard Commentary for additional testimony on this point; but there is no
better commentary than Matt. 8:16-17.
AN INSPIRED COMMENTARY
That Isaiah 53:4 cannot refer to
disease of the soul, and that neither of the words translated "sickness" and "pain" have
any reference to spiritual matters but to bodily sickness alone, is proven by
Matt. 8:16-17 - "...and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed
all that were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias, the
Prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our
sicknesses".
This is an inspired commentary on this
4th verse of Isaiah 53, plainly declaring that the prophet refers to
bodily ailments, and therefore the word "sickness", choli,
must be read literally in Isaiah.
The same Holy Spirit who inspired this
verse quotes it in Matthew as the explanation of the universal application by
Christ of His power to heal the body. To take any other view is
equal to accusing the Holy Spirit of making a mistake in quoting His own
prediction.
I will here quote the learned
translator, Dr. Young, in his version of the Bible:
3.
He is despised, and left of men,
A man of pains (Heb. makob), and acquainted with sickness (choli)
And as one hiding the face from us,
He is despised and we esteemed him not.
4.
Surely our sicknesses (choli) he hath borne,
And our pains (makob) he hath carried them,
And we - we have esteemed him plagued,
Smitten of God and afflicted.
5.
And he is pierced for our transgressions,
Bruised for our iniquities,
The chastisement of our peace is on him,
And
by his bruise there is healing to us.
6.
All of us like sheep have wandered,
Each to his own way we have turned,
And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him
The punishment of us all.
10 And
Jehovah hath delighted to bruise him;
He
hath made him sick (choli);
If his soul doth make an offering for guilt,
He seeth seed - he prolongeth days.
12.
...With transgressors he was numbered,
And he the sin of many hath borne,
And for transgressors he intercedeth.
Dr. Isaac Leeser, the able translator of the Hebrew English Bible, renders these verses as follows:
3.
"He was despised and shunned of men:
A man of pains and acquainted with disease.
4. "But
only our diseases did he bear himself,
And
our pains he carried.
5. "And
through his bruises was healing granted to us.
10.
"But the Lord was pleased to crush him through disease."
Rotherham's
translation of the 10th verse is "He hath laid on Him
sickness".
FROM YOU AND ME TO CALVARY
In the 4th verse, the word "borne" (nasa) means
to lift up, to bear away, to convey, or to remove to a distance. It
is a Levitical word, and is applied to the scapegoat that bare away the sins of
the people. "The goat shall bear (nasa) upon him all their
iniquities unto a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the
wilderness". (Lev. 16:22)
So Jesus bore my sins and sicknesses
away "without the camp" to the cross. Sin and sickness have
passed from me to Calvary - salvation and health have passed from Calvary to
me.
Again, in this 4th verse of the Redemption Chapter the Hebrew verbs for "borne" and "carried" (NASA and SABAL) are both the same as are used in the 11th and 12th verses for the substitutionary bearing of sin.
“He shall bear (carry) their iniquities and He shall bear the sin of
many.” Both words signify to assume as a heavy burden, and denote actual
substitution, and a complete removal of the things borne. When Jesus bore our
sins, our sicknesses and our pains, He bore them away, or removed them. Both
these words mean substitution, one bearing another’s load.”.
On this point, permit me to quote from 'JESUS OUR HEALER', a splendid tract written by the Rev.
W.C. Stevens, published and sold by the Biola Book Store of the Torrey
Bible Institute, Los Angeles, California. He says, "This
prophecy presents healing as an integral part of the vicarious Atonement...Now,
whatever be the sense of these two Hebrew verbs (nasa and sabal), the same
sense must be applied in both cases, namely, of sin-bearing and
sickness-bearing.
“To pervert the sense in one case would
give liberty to pervert it in the other. And that the sense of the verbs
as relating to sin, not only here in this prophecy, but everywhere else in the
Old Testament, is strictly vicarious and expiatory, no evangelical student
disputes. This prophecy, therefore, gives the same substitutionary and
expiatory character to Christ's connection with sickness that is everywhere
given to His assumption of our sins.
AN INSPIRED TRANSLATION
We are accordingly shut up by the
Spirit to the redemptive sense of Christ's bearing of sickness. This
interpretation is fully sustained by Prof. Delitzsch's exposition
of Isaiah 53:4.
“Freely but faithfully does the Gospel of Matthew translate this text, ‘Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses’. The help which Jesus rendered in all kinds of bodily sickness is taken in Matthew to be a fulfilment of what in Isaiah is prophesied of the Servant of Jehovah.
The Hebrew verbs of the text, when used of
sin, signify to assume as a heavy burden and bare away the guilt of sin as one's
own; that is, to bear sin mediatorially in order to atone for it.
“But here, where, not sins, but our sicknesses and
our pains are the object, the mediatorial sense remains the same. It is
not meant that the Servant of Jehovah merely entered into fellowship of our
sufferings, but that He took upon Himself the sufferings which 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.
Here, then, the best results of rigid exegesis show that the bearing
and removal of human disease is an integral part of redeeming work, a provision
of the Atonement, a part of the doctrine of Christ Crucified; that Jesus is the
Saviour of the body as well as the spirit, and that: He comes to make His
blessings flow Far as the curse is found!”
Aren't you glad we don't have to listen
to biased, prejudiced and unlearned preachers, but we can
listen to the words of Jesus (the Holy Bible) and be led by the Blessed Holy
Spirit? (John 16:13.). Jesus answered
those who did not believe in the supernatural manifestations of God,
thusly: "Do ye not therefore greatly err, because ye know not the
scriptures, neither the power of God". (Matt. 22:29)
The reason unbelieving, skeptical
preachers do not believe in divine healing through faith in Jesus Christ is:
#1 - THEY DO NOT KNOW THE SCRIPTURES AND #2 - THEY
HAVE UNDERESTIMATED OR DO NOT KNOW THE POWER OF ALMIGHTY GOD!
Anyone who has had vital contact with
the Lord Jesus Christ's saving power through His precious
blood and who knows what the Bible teaches, should have no difficulty believing
in Christ's ability or willingness to perform miracles today!
The scripture says, "Himself (Jesus
Christ) took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses".
Here is another confirmation: "Who His own self bare our sins
in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness, By Whose stripes ye were healed". (1 Pet.
2:24)
Isaiah speaking 750 years before the
cross said, "By Whose stripes ye are healed". St.
Peter, speaking many years after our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection made
the positive statement, "By Whose stripes ye were healed".
WE HAVE BEEN HEALED! THE PRICE HAS BEEN
PAID! ALL WE NEED TO DO IS BELIEVE IT AND WE CAN GO FREE!
A threefold healing through Christ's
substitutionary death on the cross and atoning work on Golgotha is revealed by
Prophet Isaiah.
The scripture says, "He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities (to
bring healing to our spirit), the chastisement of our peace was
upon Him (to bring healing to our soul or mind), and
with His stripes we are healed (to bring healing to our body)." (Is.
53:5)
When they platted the crown of
Jerusalem thorns (the Arabian Nebulae), with more than 100 spicules
(4 inches long and sharp as a needle) and placed it on our Saviour's
head, He was paying for our peace!
When the soldiers beat that crown of
thorns into His head until the blood came pouring out, and His head swelled to
twice its normal size, they were trying to drive Him insane.
He did not lose His sanity however, but
rather paid for our total peace and mental health! No wonder Jesus said,
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid". (John 14:27)
Jesus bore the curse for us, since "the thorns" were a symbol of the curse! (Gen.3:17-18). In paying for our sicknesses, Jesus bore them upon Himself so that we wouldn’t have to bare them or be sick with them.
As He paid the price for
our total salvation by taking our sins upon Himself to free us from the mastery
of sin, so He also identified with our sickness and disease in order to pay for
our physical healing as well!
TETELESTAI – IT IS FINISHED! "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It
is finished: and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost." (John
19:30)
When Jesus cried "IT IS FINISHED", He was declaring our Liberty. He had purchased our complete
salvation by His suffering and death on Calvary! Jesus spoke in Greek when He made that statement.The words "It is finished" in the
Greek is "tetelestai", taken from the verb
"teleo", having 3 essential meanings:
1. "To bring to an end,
finish or complete something." Jesus had
finished His work, having met the demands of divine justice. He had
completed His mission! Redemption was now a reality! He had also
brought to an end the ‘devil's dynasty of terror’. He had
shed His precious blood for the sins of the world. A fountain of blood
had been opened “for sin and uncleanness”. (Zach. 13:1)
Jesus had broken Satan's
strangle-hold upon mankind! St. John wrote, "For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of
the devil." (1 John 3:8)
The Bible declares,
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is,
the devil; And deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb.
2:14-15)
Through His vicarious death on the
cross, Jesus destroyed Satan and his evil power over humanity. That
spells CHRIST'S VICTORY, SATAN'S DEFEAT AND OUR LIBERTY!
2. "To carry out,
accomplish, perform, fulfill." Salvation is
now complete; nothing needs to be added: "For by grace are ye saved
through faith." (Eph. 2:8-10)
He was saying, "My
blood is flowing, sins can now be washed away and sicknesses healed...because
God's great salvation is now operational!"
Jesus fulfilled 332 prophetic
scriptures referring to the ‘Coming Messiah’.
Among these were 61 major prophecies and Jesus fulfilled them all!
According to the scientific - Law
of Probabilities – Dr. Peter Stoner has proven
conclusively that, for any other man to fulfill just 8 of the major prophecies
which Jesus fulfilled, he would have only 1 chance out of 10 to the 17th power. THAT IS 10 WITH 18 ZEROS AFTER: (10,000,000,000,000,000,000).
In order to understand the
magnitude of that figure, Dr. Stoner calculated that it would be necessary to cover
the face of Texas with American silver dollars two feet deep! Out of
those millions of septillions of silver dollars, only one would be marked with
an X. All would then be vigorously stirred together.
A man would be blind-folded and
told, "You may walk across the State and dig as much as you
like, but the first silver dollar you pick up must have the X on it!"
Jesus performed and executed to the
letter every demand of the law! He fulfilled every Messianic
prophecy! No other person could come close to doing that! He
stated, "Think not that I
am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfill". (Matt. 5:17)
3. "To pay what is
owed." We were guilty of sin. Our
future was doomed for "the
scripture hath concluded all under sin". (Gal. 3:22) The
Bible says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God". (Rom. 3:23)
God's Word declared, "FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH; BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE
THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD". (Rom. 6:23) No wonder the apostle states, "Thanks be
unto God for His unspeakable gift". (2 Cor. 9:15)
JESUS PAID THE AWFUL COST OF REDEMPTION!
The Bible says, "How
much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit offered
Himself to God, purge your conscience from dead works." (Heb.
9:14)
"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain
conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot:" (1 Peter 1: 18-19)
St. Paul declared, "For
ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God's". (1 Cor. 6:20)
The Bible says, "The
Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin". (1
John 1:7) "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:
"That the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Gal. 3:13-14)
“And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him,
having forgiven you all trespasses. Blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way,
nailing it to His cross.” (Col. 2:13-14)
The statement of guilt, shame and debt
has been removed by the victorious death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ! The Norwegian Bible states, The letter of debt…was
nailed to His cross!
THE STATEMENT THAT DECLARED ME BANKRUPT, GUILTY,
DOOMED TO SINFUL BEHAVIOUR, SICKNESS, FEAR, DEATH AND ETERNAL DAMNATION HAS
BEEN LAID ON JESUS CHRIST AND NAILED TO THE CROSS! THE STATEMENT THAT DECLARED
ME BANKRUPT, GUILTY, DOOMED TO SINFUL BEHAVIOUR, SICKNESS, FEAR, DEATH AND
ETERNAL DAMNATION HAS BEEN LAID ON JESUS CHRIST AND NAILED TO HIS
CROSS! I AM NOW FREE. HALLELUJAH! I AM NOW FREE. HALLELUJAH!
An old hymn says:"Jesus paid it
all, All to Him I owe.Sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as
snow".
"It is
finished" and we are recipients of His finished work on Calvary.
And the blood is still flowing today! THERE IS COMPLETE
HEALING FOR THE COMPLETE PERSON, THROUGH THE ATONING WORK OF THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST!
NO. 3 - THAT GOD MAY RECEIVE GLORY!
The third reason God will heal you, is
so that He may receive glory for Himself through the miracle! Jesus said, "And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do
that the Father may be glorified in the Son". (John 14:13)
If we make no
requests to God, He receives no glory "because of answered prayer"! JESUS SAID THAT IF WE PETITION THE FATHER IN HIS
NAME, HE WILL DO IT - "That My Father may be
glorified in the Son".
When a miracle is performed by our
Lord, many people rejoice and give glory to God for the miracle. If no
miracle is done, there is no thanks or glory given to God for the miracle,
since there was no prayer made and therefore no miracle!
However, if you pray to the Father in
Jesus' Name and He answers your prayer, you will glorify God for His goodness
and mercy toward you! Amen.
Max Solbrekken World Mission Box
44220 RPO Garside Edmonton, AB T5V 1N6; Email: [email protected];
comehometojesus.ca; Blog: MSWM; Facebook; Youtube; Donations can be made by
e-Transfer; Make your donation to [email protected]; Thank you very much
and may the Lord bless you! Amen.
