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"By His Stripes We Are Healed" is Commonly Misused
by Gregory John Monroe Oftentimes a preacher aims to instill faith in us when it comes to being healed from a sickness. It is said that if we claim "by His stripes we are healed," it is a done deal; that we will be healed because of the promise of God's word. But reality proves that isn't always the case. Instead of getting better, sometimes we even die. And this happens after much prayer. What's going on? Does God not watch over His word to perform it; to make sure that it doesn't return to Him void? Of course He does. It's just that this particular word of His doesn't apply to the physically and mentally ill. If it did, then for the believer, every physical and mental illness would be healed. Every time a believer was dying, and is prayed over to live, then that person would get to live forever. That's not going to happen in our mortal, sinful, corruptible bodies. We need to explore His word a little more closely and carefully "And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross. So that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His stripes (or wounds) you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." I Peter 2: 24. The reason for the stripes has to do with the punishment and death for our sins. It is our spiritual sinful condition He bore. The healing that comes from His stripes has to do with Jesus saving us from our sins through our confession and repentance of those sins. The healing has to do with God cleansing us of unrighteousness and imputing and imparting to us His righteousness. Our healing is that we having been reconciled to God because of the punishment and death of His Son. That it is the sickness of sin from which we've been healed is confirmed by the point made in Isaiah 53: 5 "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by his scourging we are healed." So, indeed, God's word in terms of physical healing is being misapplied. The only way this word of God can be applied to physical healing is on the other side of eternity when we receive our glorious, incorruptible, immortal bodies in an existence that doesn't have any sickness or death (Revelation 21: 4). As for this side of eternity, physical healing is left up to the will of God through the prayers of faith coming from a righteous person (James 5: 14-16). Many will be shocked by Gregory's book, The Three Angels' Message. It ID's Antichrist and the "mark of the beast," and the role both are playing today in the end-time issue of worship. The book's biblical & historical proof can't be denied. Get more info now at http://www.tinyurl.com/6pk3pyq Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |