Podcast Introduction Our reading today is Isaiah 51-55, and I’m calling the episode “The Healing.” Comments on Isaiah 53  Did you notice that there were several references to the coming Messiah in today’s reading?  Chapter 53 talked quite a lot about Him. I’m sure you’ve noticed that in most every depiction of Jesus, His appearance is very attractive. He looks like someone who could draw a crowd from just His looks, right? But verse 2 says, “He had no special beauty or form to make us notice him; there was nothing in his appearance to make us desire him.”  So what drew people was not his appearance. It must have been his message. Go figure!  But that’s not what I really want to focus on today. I want to look at verse five. Here it is again, “But he was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment, which made us well, was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds.” Now, what I’m about to say would be very controversial in some Christian circles, especially with our Pentecostal brothers and sisters, but please hear me out. Reading scripture in context is imperative if you want to have a proper understanding. Would you agree with that? I hope so. So how does verse five begin? Isaiah says that the Messiah was wounded for our sins. He was crushed for our sins. This verse is talking about His being punished because of our sins. Right? What happens when we sin? Death. Punishment. But according to this verse, the punishment we deserve was given to Him.  So far, I expect that you’re all still with me. I can hear you saying, “Amen!” Now here is the controversial part. The verse ends with the words, “and we are healed because of his wounds.” Healed from what? Sin! Sin is our cause of spiritual death, but we are healed of sin because He took the punishment that was due us. So many people quote the end of this verse to say that we are physically healed because of His wounds. They like to quote the King James Version: By His stripes we are healed. And they then go on to teach or preach or claim healing from cancer and every other physical malady under the sun. Friends, that is not the meaning of this verse. This verse, and much of the chapter, is about sin. There is nothing about physical illness. Am I saying that God will not heal our bodies? Absolutely not! He is the Great Physician. He is the One who formed our bodies. He can and He does heal miraculously today. I have seen it in my own family. Of course He heals. But not always. Sometimes disease takes its course, and people die. But the healing talked about in verse five is successful 100% of the time. That is the healing from the punishment Jesus took upon Himself on our behalf. NO ONE who accepts Him as Savior must take the punishment of death because of their sin. No one.  You see, God is much more interested in your spiritual health than your physical health. Sometimes it takes a horrible illness to bring someone to the point of accepting the forgiveness Jesus offers. And if that’s what it takes, God, in His loving kindness, will use that. If a person’s time on Earth is cut short so that they can spend eternity in the presence of God, don’t you think it’s worth it? If I were given a choice of living a hundred years in perfect health but die without God, or die today with the assurance that I would be in His presence forever, I would jump at the chance. Wouldn’t you? Today’s Bible Translation Bible tran