promise of perfect health? Jesus’ death on the cross took away our sins, but did it also remove all our disease?
Isaiah 53:4 states, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrow He carried.”
These two words, griefs and sorrows, are crucial to understanding what Jesus accomplished on the cross. He bore both of these and took them to the cross, putting them under His blood. What are our griefs and sorrows? The Hebrew word here for griefs is kholHee. This word is used 22 times in the Old Testament and only twice in Isaiah 53:3-4 is it translated grief or griefs; every other time it is translated sickness, illness or affliction. The second word sorrows is makHobe and its root word kā.ab, as you might have guessed, also has duel meanings and can be translated as such. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament notes that of the 16 times this word is used 12 of them are for mental anguish or sorrow, while four of them deal with physical issues. Only four usages of kā.ab refer to physical pain, however, it is impossible to separate the mental and physical anguish as far as this word is concerned. A case in point would be Exodus 3:7 where God’s compassion for his people’s affliction is expressed. Surely they were suffering physical pain, but their total situation was cause for anguish as well. My point is quite simple, these words describe sin’s impact as both physical and mental, which means Jesus carried our griefs and sorrows as well as our sickness and pain to the cross. This position is clearly supported in the New Testament when in Matthew 8:14-17 the writer references Isaiah 53:4 when discussing Jesus’ healing of both Peter’s mother-in-law and all those brought to Him who were ill: When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him. When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”
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