My friend and I have asked these questions of each for a little while now. He’s a doctor who is Charismatic Christian. I am an Evangelical Christian and a nurse. We both trust in Jesus’ mercy and power, and see sickness all around. But we approach these questions very differently.
My friend reckons Jesus offers total wellness to those he saves, and Christians with enough faith should claim this blessing from God. He sees sickness as an evil to be cast out in the name of Christ. I reckon Jesus offers Christian total forgiveness, but we may or may not be blessed with physical wellness. I see sickness as part of this fallen world and something which God gives us sometimes, in his wisdom, goodness and purpose. But sickness is not inherently a good thing and, ultimately, God will abolish it in the new heaven and the new earth. How should Christians think of sickness and healing? What does the Bible say?
Translating Isaiah's Servant Song
Isaiah 53:4-6 is very interesting:
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows
yet we considered him stricken by God,
Smitten by him and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
The punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep have gone astray
each of us has turned his own way
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
(If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, you may want to crack open a Bible and read all of the Servant Song in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. The song is about God’s chosen man, The Servant. The New Testament reveals Jesus to be that man. So when we read the Old Testament, we are trying to work out what it’s saying about Jesus and his life.)
Is this song about Jesus bringing physical healing?
Translators of 53:4 have to make a tough call. Should they go with:
Surely he took up our infirmities
… as they did in the NIV? That is, Jesus came to relieve us of our physical ailments.
or:
Surely he has borne our griefs
… as they did in the ESV? That is, Jesus came to relieve our sufferings.
Either translations are possible from the Hebrew word. The word primarily means sicknesses, but it can also mean general suffering (our “groanings”!). The more specific or the widely encompassing? The difference may seem small, but if you go with the “infirmities” you’d be expecting physical healing from God.
What's the Servant Song about?
The whole Servant Song gives us more clues (52:13-53:12). First, it introduces Servant’s role (52:13-15). Secondly, it goes through Jesus’ life (53:1-12): from the start (“he grew up like a tender shoot” 53:2), to how he was treated through life (“he was despised and rejected by men” 53:3), to the significant events of his life, focusing squarely on his death (53:4-9). Thirdly, it explains why those things happened (53:10-12). Overall, the Servant Song is about Jesus’ life of suffering and death.
Why did Jesus live and die? The main thing Isaiah sings about is Jesus’ death on the cross: “he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted” (52:13). This is a Bible way of talking about the cross which was raised in crucifixion. Other verses enrich this theme: stricken for the transgression of my people (53:8), his soul makes an offering for sin (53:10), he shall bear their iniquities (53:11). The end of the song throws all the emphasis on his death: “he poured his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (53:12). The song crescendos and climaxes in Jesus’ sufferings and death. The song is mostly about Jesus suffering and dying to deal with our sin.
... Sickness or Sufferings?
Back to our question. How does our sickness / sufferings fit in the overall picture of Jesus’ carrying other people’s burdens and death? How are we to understand, “By his stripes we are healed” (53:5). Which translation is better?
Amazingly, the Bible itself tells us!
In Matthew 8:14-17, Jesus goes around Capernaum, casting out demons and healing people. Matthew points out that, “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” (v17). (My Charismatic friend graciously showed me this verse when I had my ‘atonement’ blinkers on and failed to see the fuller picture).
So here’s our answer! Matthew reads Isaiah 53:4 as physical healing. That is, Christ’s coming has brought physical healing, casting out of evil and forgiveness of sins. Negatively, Isaiah shows that Jesus has taken on all the rubbish that was on us and dealt with it all on the cross. Positively, the Servant Song points to how Jesus brings about our fullness by taking care of all our rubbish.
Jesus brings the “Shalom”! This Hebrew word means wholeness, wellness, full health, abundantly blessed, wealth, prosperity, joy, peace between two parties (e.g. man to man, God to man, country to county). So for Christians, we have every blessing in Jesus. He fills our cups to overflowing. And he brings this fullness to us in his life and death.
What can we expect?
But do we see these things fulfilled now? We can fully enjoy one of the aspects of the Shalom today. As we’ve said, his life and death’s focus was on our sin and Jesus’ climatic death on the cross was to deal with our sin and its consequences. Jesus offers forgiveness of sins here and now, when we trust that Jesus has died for us. (Romans 3:21-24) Wow ~ he deserves all our praise for fulfilling our deepest need!
But what about illness? Even Christians get sick. If Jesus has taken on that burden in his life and death, shouldn't we expect to be healed?
Our question is actually one about timing (it’s an ‘eschatological’ question). We should add one more question: “When are we going to be completely well?”
When can we see God's promises fulfilled?
Before Jesus became flesh, human history was marked by suffering and death. The Bible announces that when Jesus first came to earth, he begun a period called the ‘new age’. At the end of this period, Jesus will return to judge and renew all things on the “last day”. That will be the end of human history and we will see the fulfillment of all of God’s promises. But at the moment, we are living at a time when these two ages overlap: we see both the suffering / death and some of the promises fulfilled.
Living in the overlap of the ages is a bit strange. There’s a “now and not yet” tension. We have Christ and his promises now, but they are not yet in their fullness. We have some healing, but we don’t have a full physical restoration (i.e. we are still waiting to get new, perfect bodies).
What now? The bad news is that we can expect things to get much worse. In fact, things are going to go straight down hill before Jesus comes back to renew all things and set things right. (Mark 13) So, it’s unrealistic to expect things to be perfect now, you’ll just be disappointed. God asks us to hope for the future. That’s how we are to express our faith (Romans 8:18-25 is helpful on this point).
What about now?
Some say healing can be yours, for those who have enough faith. That physical illness is a sign of weak faith or sin. I’m not sure that this is what the Bible says. Lots of godly people with strong faith in Bible suffer from illnesses (e.g. Paul the apostle and Timothy). We shouldn’t be quick to say that illness is the result of sin (as Job’s friends did, who were condemned by God. When my mum was diagnosed with cancer, someone said that it’s because of her sin or weak faith. This kind of comment only adds to the sick person’s sufferings, and fuels their daughter’s wrath!).
God will do away with sickness and death on the last day (Revelation 21:4). Hooray!! But to get there, we have to follow Jesus’ footsteps. The path to blessing is a narrow and steep road, filled with suffering and hardship. We cannot take a short cut. But we can take comfort in knowing that we are going with Jesus. Isaiah's Servant Song takes us down this path which leads to the glorious end.
~ Isaiah 53:10-11…it was the Lord’s will to crush him
and cause him to suffer
and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering,
He will see his offspring and prolong his days,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.
