Thank you, my dear friend, for your good question. In Isaiah 53:4-5 (NKJV) we read: “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed 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 by His stripes we are healed.” I believe these verses to be the prophetic voice of the faithful remnant of Israel, when in the latter day, they actually receive the Lord Jesus as their Messiah and King. They and their land will be healed in that day! Of course, these verses should reflect the thoughts of our own hearts today as we consider our own personal salvation, and all that we have in Christ Jesus of whom these verses foretell.

And, what to these verses tell us about Christ Jesus? That Christ Jesus, when He went to the cross on our behalf, bore our griefs, in other words, our sins were laid upon Him, who knew no sin. Christ Jesus took the punishment for all our sins upon Himself as our substitute while on the cross, and as He shed His precious blood and died, He purchased our pardon. Through faith in His finished work on the cross, we who believe on Christ Jesus not only have forgiveness for our sins, but we are set free from the bondage of sin.  We are justified and glorified (Romans 5:16; Romans 8:30). We are given the Holy Spirit to indwell us and new life in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and we further have the certain hope of everlasting life in a place where there is no sin, sickness or death. Christ died to free us from the power of sin, but this does not mean that men will no longer become sick or that we will not die physical death in this life.  These things certainly continue to happen because we live in a world ruined by sin. Unless Christ returns in our lifetime, we will all die (Romans 6:23; Hebrews 9:27). But physical death is no longer to be feared by believers because of Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). However, we must recall that Isaiah 53:5 also refers to the healing of our souls. We will likely experience physical death, but believers will not experience spiritual death, the second death spoken of in Revelation 20. Christians, through faith in the power of Christ’s death and resurrection, have eternal life (Romans 5:21). Furthermore, through faith in Christ Jesus, all our current sicknesses and disabilities will be removed when Christ returns to the clouds to gather up His saints (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18) since at that time, our vile bodies will be “fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).

Now, I certainly believe that Isaiah 53:5 applies to our physical infirmities as well as to our sure hope of heavenly glory, but I don’t believe that this assures us that every sickness and infirmity in the lives of Christians today can and will be immediately removed in just the manner of which we might be desiring when we pray. God has His sovereign will, and His own will for us is always what we truly need. Certainly, God is quite able to heal, and through faith and fervent prayer, He can and often does respond quickly to our petitions, when this is according to His will. Sometimes, individual sins result in sicknesses and even death as we see in 1 Corinthians 11:30. But, regardless of the cause of our infirmity, the Christian is called upon at all times to confess our sins where needed, and to pray in faith (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Ephesians 6:18; Hebrews 4:15-16).

In James 5: 14-16 we read: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Still, I submit that there may be examples of persistent sickness and disease in the life of a believer which are not attributable to a specific, personal sin. the testimony of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 might be an example of such a situation: “…Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.” And yet, in verse 9 we see that while God did answer Paul’s prayer, the response did not deliver him from the thorn but was designed by the will of God for Paul’s greatest need during his walk in this scene. Paul’s faith was thus strengthened, despite the thorn, so that he might proclaim: “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  (SF)  (676.1)