Surely

Surely he has borne all our griefs;
Surely he has carried our sorrows;
Surely healing for yesterday;
Surely He gives hope for tomorrow.

He seemed to be beaten,
Forsaken, afflicted;
Shamed on the cross,
Condemned, rejected;
Surely healing for yesterday;
Surely He gives hope for tomorrow.

Wounded for all the things we have done;
Bruised for the lies, the webs we have spun;
Peace between us and our God has been won,
As the guilt of us all was paid by the Son.

Surely he has borne all our griefs;
Surely he has carried our sorrows;
Surely healing for yesterday;
Surely He gives hope for tomorrow.

By his Blood, our forgiveness was sealed;
By the furrows ploughed on his back, we are healed;
By his stripes we are delivered and free;
He conquered death, gives us victory.

Surely he has borne all our griefs;
Surely he has carried our sorrows;
Surely healing for yesterday;
Surely He gives hope for tomorrow.

copyright 2012 M.Scott-Branagan

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Isaiah 53:4-5

"Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,
Yet we considered Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted;
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities:
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And His stripes you are healed."    

Of course, this is a favourite text for Easter messages, and has been the subject of some beautiful songs/hymns over the centuries. 

The message is simple, yet profound.

OUR punishment, because "All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory", was taken by Jesus Christ on our behalf.  He was the only one who could take it for us.  Only he was the sinless Man, completely man, yet completely God at the same time.  Because He took our punishment, we are NO LONGER GUILTY!  When God looks at us, He doesn't see the horribly disfigured sinful heart that He could see, but He sees us forgiven and free from guilt. 

* Wounded for OUR wrong choices and wilful behaviour.
* Beaten up by soldiers as punishment for our iniquity.
* Chastised (beaten with rods) so He could bring PEACE between us and our heavenly Father.
* Flogged 39 times with a whip made of 9 cords, so we can be saved, delivered and HEALED.

Interesting points here:

* When we do what is wrong, there must be punishment for our transgression...  Think of when your children were wilfully disobedient.  When you smacked the guilty child, it helped break his/her rebellion and made them sorry (either sorry they got caught, or sorry they did what was wrong) because the smack HURT.  The chastisement called them to account.  When my Jessica was small, she knew this very well.  When she did something wrong, she would be tormented by it until she came and confessed, ASKING me to smack her.  When I had smacked her, she would cry, apologise, and BE FORGIVEN.  Did she want the pain of the smack? NO!!! But she wanted the restoration of PEACE that she knew would come quickly afterwards.

* "By his stripes you are healed".  Two important things to know about this:

1)  In the New Testament, the Greek word "sozo" (and its various derivatives) that was used in this verse for "healed" in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, has 3 meanings that are unable to really be separated.  They are all applicable to this text, and to most other texts that use the word.  Sozo means healing on THREE levels - Salvation (as in, saved), Delivered (set free from the power of the demonic realm), and Physical Healing.  So when God says that the whipping received by Jesus HEALS us, He means that complete healing - Spirit, Soul, and Body, is available because of that whipping.

2)  Isaiah says that "By His stripes we are healed": note the tense of the word - we ARE healed.  That is a present tense, ongoing promise.  We can keep hanging onto a promise like that.  But also then note that God takes it to an even better level.  God inspired Peter to quote (1 Peter 2:24) it slightly differently: "... and by His stripes you WERE healed".  Why the change in tense?  Because Peter was speaking AFTER the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  Our healing is both NOW, and established in the PAST.  It is declared by God, "who cannot lie", that your healing for whatever you need was DONE by Christ and is available NOW because it has been won for you.

Why do some people not receive healing?  I don't know - I don't profess to be God.  Why did my father, who loved God, die of cancer NOT healed?  I don't know.  But it didn't stop him loving God, and it doesn't stop me believing and proclaiming that God HEALS.  Why do I need glasses?  Why do I have other ailments?  I don't know.  But all I can proclaim is that "By His stripes you both WERE and ARE healed".  This is his promise to you.  Please don't argue with it.  Just receive it.  Maybe He is just waiting for you to stop resisting Him and receive.  I don't know.  I will keep believing, whether He heals me or not, because I know His Word does not lie. 

By His stripes you were healed.

Be blessed today, whoever reads this.

http://michaelsb.opendrive.com/files/M18xMjY0MjAzX3IzaW1y/Surely%20(Band%20arr%202)%201.mp3