The Meaning of "By His Stripes We Are Healed" in Isaiah 53:5

"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." ~ Isaiah 53:5 NKJV

The book of Isaiah is full of prophecies about Jesus Christ, foreshadowing aspects of His incarnation. As this Bible verse, "By His stripes we are healed", points to Christ's crucifixion.

Seeing Jesus in the Book of Isaiah

Let's go through the 53rd chapter of Isaiah and explore the meaning of its text in relation to Jesus Christ.

O Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:1-4)

"He has no form or comeliness" relates to Christ as He sat upon the foal of an ass; He was despised among the people and humbled Himself even unto death.

God became dishonored, for Christ assumed a true human nature. "O marvel at the loving-kindness of the Word, that for our sakes He is dishonored, that we may be brought to honor." (Athanasius the Great)

We are Healed by His Stripes

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. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:5-7)

Christ, who was free from sin, took our chastisement and gave us peace. By His bruise, we are saved from an eternity of suffering and estrangement from God.

The Lord, God the Father, delivered Him, God the Son, to die for our sins. This is the message Apostle Paul proclaims in 2 Corinthians: Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. ( 2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

"The shepherd of Israel, and now of the whole world also" (Gregory of Nazianzus) became "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

Christ Defeated Death by His Death

He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked-- But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. (Isaiah 53:8-10)

Christ was led to death, yet death could not hold His perfect, sinless body. "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it." (Acts 2:23-24)

Christ committed no lawlessness; "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)

The Lord, God the Father, cleansed Him, God the Son, of His wound because His body could not remain subject to corruption and death. The offering made by Christ enables man to receive the same healing and eternal life.

Easter Hymn of Ancient Christianity

Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,
and on those in the tombs bestowing life!

He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11)

This was the great, redeeming work of Christ, to bear our iniquities and reconcile us to Him.

"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." (1 Peter 2:21-25) Amen!