“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.” I Peter 2:24

Here in I Peter we read that Jesus “bare” our sins on the cross of Calvary. Why did he do such a thing? Well, in direct context, so we could live in right standing (righteousness) with God! Aren’t you thankful for that?!

Here’s another question, though, whose answer has application in every aspect of our salvation, and that’s this: How did he “bare” our sins on the cross? He did it as our substitute, right? What I mean is Jesus paid the price for our sin and suffered the punishment for the sin of all humanity so we wouldn’t have to, right?

Jesus didn’t go to the cross just to be able to empathize with the sufferings of humanity, or just to see what death was like, or just to fulfill prophecy even. The Bible teaches that he died and went to Hell for those three days so we would never have to. The “Passion” of our Christ was a substitutionary work; it was him for us and him instead of us. What a wonderful Savior we have!

For six weeks now we have written concerning Jesus’ rightful position in the Universe. The Bible declares that it should be “first place,” yet we don’t see Jesus in first place in many lives, even many Christian lives. What’s the solution? According to the Scriptures, a key in Jesus being able to ascend to his rightful position in the hearts of humanity is the proclaiming of his gospel.

Now, the base understanding of the “gospel” in our area is the eternal life Jesus provides to all who will believe in him. Eternal life is most definitely a huge part of the gospel and part of what Jesus made available for us on the cross, but according to Scripture, both Old and New Testament, there’s more. There’s a fulness of the gospel that Paul spoke of in Romans 15:29, and this is a fulness that not many New Testament Christians are enjoying today.

Friends, Jesus most certainly died so God could forgive us of our sins and so we could have a home in Heaven one day, but he did more than that.

“What more?” you ask. The Bible declares that he also died for our sicknesses so we could live this life healthy! I know it’s preposterous to some to make such a claim. It’s so contrary to our modern education, most of our doctrine, and many people’s life experiences, but if we’re really resolved to believe God’s Word as the absolute truth, we need to reevaluate all ideas that are in opposition to what He says is true, and this is especially the case in the area of divine health.

The hard analytical truth of the matter (aka the Bible) declares that Jesus came to provide health to these physical bodies as well as the spirits inside them. Scripture after Scripture testifies to Jesus’ desire and ability to heal the whole man.

The last couple of weeks we’ve thought about the prophecy in Isaiah 53, and we’ve seen that a literal translation of verse 4 states that Jesus has “borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.” When you really dig down into the original meanings and intentions of this verse and many similar, God’s plan for man becomes clear, and it’s that we live well.

Now, in reference to Isaiah 53:4, many whose doctrine won’t let them believe that Jesus wants our bodies well will assert that Jesus suffered physically only so he could identify with the physical suffering of mankind and not so we could be healthy in this temporal life. Sounds reasonable, fits their worldview and life experiences perfectly, but there’s a huge problem with that. There’s that word “borne” and the word “carried” in verse 4 as well.

In the Hebrew those words are very specific in this application and mean “to bear in the sense of suffering of punishment for something” and “to bear something as a penalty.” Do you see it? Just like the idea conveyed in “bare” in I Peter 2:24, the fact that Jesus has “borne” and “carried” our “khloee” (griefs/sicknesses) and “makob” (sorrows/pains) means that he did it as our substitute—he suffered for us so we wouldn’t have to!

 Friends, if Jesus suffered as our substitute for the just penalty of our sins so we could go to Heaven one day, by the same Scriptural proof and application, he suffered so we could live healthy in this life.

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.