The Bible says we are healed by Jesus’ stripes. I have prayed and asked God to heal me. Why am I not healed from my sickness?
Thank you, my dear friend, for your good question, and I am praying that our blessed Lord will comfort your soul through His Word. In Isaiah 53:5 we read: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” I believe that we must understand that this chapter of Isaiah is prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it clearly describes His sacrificial death and His resurrection from the dead, which through faith in His finished work on the cross will lead to salvation. In this sense, I believe that the focus of the verse you cite speaks of the healing of our souls, though physical healing is certainly not excluded. I feel that this particular chapter of Scripture, in its primary application, is prophetic in that it expresses the hearts of the faithful remnant of Israel, when in the latter day, when Christ Jesus returns to the earth at the end of the Great Tribulation, the faithful of Israel will receive Christ Jesus as their King and Lord. I believe that the healing spoken of here mainly refers to the healing of their souls and of Israel’s restoration as a nation. This One whom they had scorned and rejected when He first came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem was indeed Christ the Lord, their Messiah and King. But, as much as this speaks of the faithful of Israel in that latter day, it truly applies to Christians today in terms of the healing of our souls, our salvation and the sure hope of heaven. Now, as we read the verses of Isaiah 53, we can detect a note of sorrow in this prophetic voice of the faithful, because Israel failed to recognize their Messiah when He came to earth the first time, and indeed, they had wrongly seen in His crucifixion a criminal being justly punished (verses 3-4). But now, at long last, they realized that this One whom they had scorned was indeed their Christ, and that He suffered to take away their iniquities (verse 5). Verses 6-11 elaborate the history of Israel’s falling away from the true worship of God and obedience to His commandments, leading to God’s judgment upon their nation, and how they would at length realize Christ Jesus as their Messiah who would bear their iniquities. Now, while this prophetic word expresses the thoughts of the future faithful remnant of Israel when they realize just who Jesus of Nazareth truly was (and is), the only begotten Son of God, I believe that it also can express our own hearts when we sinners today have our eyes opened to the truth of who Jesus is and why He came into the world, this being to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). We learn that He came to open our eyes to the true light and to take away our iniquities (John 1).
My dear friend, I do not want to overlook the suffering you are experiencing in your illness, nor to reduce in any sense your faith in the power of prayer. God can certainly heal our bodies, and through prayer, He often does. But we must realize that we live in a fallen world, a world ruined by sin, and we know that the root cause of all sickness and death is sin. Christ Jesus died on the cross to free us from the deadly effects of sin for our souls. And yet, the Bible never promises us that Christians will never experience infirmities or other tribulations. The Lord Jesus said in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (see also Ephesians 6:12). We cannot assume that believers on the Lord Jesus Christ will always be immediately delivered from our physical illnesses when we pray, though we realize that God does hear us and does have our best in mind (Psalms 34:15; Psalms 139; Jeremiah 29:11; 1 Peter 5:7; James 5:16). Sometimes, our troubles or illnesses may arise from a certain sin in our lives, but this is not always the case (John 9:2-3). Nor is the fact that we are not always healed in the way which we expect after we pray always the result of a lack of faith on our part. The Apostle Paul, who through the power of the Holy Spirit healed many, was unable to have his personal thorn removed though he prayed three times about it (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). He identified the source of his issue, the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him in verse 12. Some feel that Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was poor eyesight. I myself have been blind for around 35 years, and I received the diagnosis of progressive blindness just after, not before, I was saved. God’s answer to Paul, and I believe for me also, is found in verse 9 where we read: “…My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness….” My dear friend, we do know that God can heal our bodies, and He often will act through faith and fervent prayer. And if the infirmity does in fact result from some specific sins in our lives, we are definitely encouraged to confess our sins and pray (James 5:16). And yet, sometimes, I believe that the Lord might leave us with our infirmity (at least for a time) so that we might better learn to depend on Him wholly, and that our faith will grow and that we might be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29; James 1:2-4). I believe that in fact, Christians will experience all manner of tribulations in this scene, but through Christ Jesus, through faith in the many promises of His Word, we can have peace in our hearts come what may in this life (John 14:27). God can certainly heal our bodies of infirmities; but, even if He does not, we can always know that as true believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can endure come what may. And, for all true believers, we know that whether alive or dead when He comes, we will be caught up to meet our Lord Jesus, will be given new bodies which will never be sick and week, glorified bodies like unto His glorious body. And, from that point on, we will be with our dear Lord Jesus where He is, and that forever. (SF) (645.2)