A message excerpt from Pastor Jonathan Morgan
why did Jesus heal them all?
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever so what we see Jesus doing in the Bible is exactly the same today.
When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Matthew 8:16,17
Here's a question that I want to ask based on this scripture: why is Jesus healing them all? I'm not asking why he healed the sick but according to this scripture why did he heal them all?
Because if there's a reason Jesus healed them all, that's based in the scripture, then I know that it includes me and it includes you. I can have faith and you can have faith and we can expect Him to do the same in our life just like He did in the lives of these people right here.
So, why? It says He healed all that were sick. Why did He heal all that were sick? To fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. So, if Jesus had only healed some people, it would not have fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. The fact is He healed all that were sick in order to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. The prophecy is that Himself, Jesus, took our infirmities and He bear our sicknesses. Now, where is He quoting from Isaiah?
That's Isaiah chapter 53. Now, the book of Isaiah chapter 53 is the chapter that talks about redemption. It's almost like the Gospel prophetically recorded by Isaiah.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:4 KJV
The Holy Spirit gives us divine commentary on the real meaning of that verse in the ministry of Jesus by saying he healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled, which is spoken by Isaiah in Matthew chapter 8. when you read it in Isaiah, it sounds like he's only talking about grief or emotional pain. God is moved with compassion toward your emotional pains and your broken heart. Jesus healed the broken hearted. But that's not really what this verse is saying according to what the Holy Spirit said in Matthew 8:17.
grief — the Strong's number 2483, that comes from 2470.
sorrow — the Strong’s number 4341
how is that word translated everywhere else in the Bible?
In Isaiah chapter 38, the Bible gives us a story of King Hezekiah. King Hezekiah is a good king. He's a righteous man in Israel, but the Bible records that he's sick.
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.
Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord,
And said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying,
Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
Isaiah 38:1-5
The point here that I’m making is I want to look at the words “sick unto death”. We know that sickness here is a sickness that and Hezekiah is near to the point of dying of the sickness. The word sickness is 2470, which is the root word of the same word that's used in Isaiah chapter 53 translated as grief.
The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness: Isaiah 38:9
the word sickness is used twice in that verse. He said he had been sick, that's the Strong's number 2470 and was recovered of his sickness, that's 2483.
Okay, so what point am I making? When you study the Hebrew words, without even going and getting a Hebrew dictionary or talking to a Hebrew scholar, if I look at the words and how they are used in the Bible, I understand their meaning.
In Isaiah 38 it is sickness or sick, but when you get to Isaiah 53, they change the translation. Everywhere else in the Bible, when it uses that word, it's translated sickness or disease until you get to Isaiah 53 and suddenly it's translated as grief.
So I can conclude, the word in Isaiah 53 doesn't mean emotional pain. The word in Isaiah 53 “sorrows” doesn't mean emotional pain. It's talking about sickness and disease.
the work of redemption
Surely he, Jesus, bore our diseases and he carried our pains in his own body. That's his work of substitution. That's his work of redemption. That was when he was nailed to the cross.
We understand that when Jesus was nailed to the cross that God took all of our sins. He took every one of our sins and he laid them on the body of Jesus. Jesus took them from us and he died in our place so that we could be saved, so that we could be forgiven.
He redeemed us from our sin. But what Isaiah 53 prophesies is that Jesus at the same moment that he took our sins, he also took our sicknesses. He took our diseases. So here's God from eternity looking at the timeline of your life.
The day you were born all the way to the day that you go to heaven. God sees the whole timeline of your life. God sees every sickness, every disease that you'll ever encounter in that timeline of your life and God does what? God takes that from you and he lays that on Jesus on the cross so that he pays the price. He redeems you from your sickness. He redeems you from your disease. Hallelujah.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt 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 53:10
Now again, the word grief is used there, but it's like verse 4 - the Hebrew word in the Strongs concordance is for disease. So it would be translated like this: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he, God, has made him sick.”
In other words, Jesus on the cross, he bore your disease, he bore your sickness, he bore your pain, he was made sick with your sickness. He was suffering your sickness on the cross in the same way that he bear your sins on the cross.
When did he bear your sickness? When did he bear your disease? He said, he hath put him to grief. He hath made him sick when you make his soul and offering for sin. At the same moment Jesus became an offering for sin, he also was made sick with our sickness.
Now think about that. Jesus bore your sin so you could be made righteous. Jesus suffered for your sin so you could be forgiven of all your sins. In the same way Jesus bore your disease so you could be healed. He bore your pain so you don't have to suffer pain. He did it in your place. That is a truth of redemption. Jesus did it for you, so now you don't have to do it.
Jesus redeemed you from your diseases. He redeemed you from your sicknesses. Think about how much God wants to heal you. God knew you before you were ever born and God knew every pain you'd ever have, every sickness you'd ever have. Jesus on the cross, God took those diseases and laid them on Jesus. Now that's the reason why Jesus healed them all. He healed them all.
Matthew 8:16,17 — He healed them all to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah.
Jesus took our infirmities and he bear sicknesses. That's how I know God wants to heal everybody. That means he wants to heal you because the disease, the pain, the sickness you're suffering with right now, Jesus took it on his own body. He redeemed you from it. Now that thing is illegal and it has to leave you. That's the gospel. That's the good news of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!