Many believers disagree on whether mental and physical healing were included in Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross. I actually grew up believing that if something happened to you, including injury or sickness or disease, it was our task to accept it as the will of God for your life. We didn’t expect God to actually heal us. However, when I discovered that healing was still something God offered to His people today, I wanted to really understand the whole package of what Christ paid for on the Cross. I wanted to know exactly what was included in the work of redemption for you and for me, so I went to Isaiah chapter 53, and with the help of scholars, I began to dive into the Hebrew text.

I have now been studying this passage for more than 50 years, and what I discovered shows indisputably that when Jesus died on the Cross, He paid for the forgiveness of sin, for the freedom and liberation from guilt and shame, for peace of mind, and for healing — real physical healing of the body and mind. This is important to all of us, so I want to take you through Isaiah 53:3-5 word by word and show you the truth that I have discovered while studying this passage.

Isaiah 53 was written 700 years before Jesus was born, and yet it prophetically describes in great detail the sufferings He would endure for humanity: 

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

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.

— Isaiah 53:3-5

First, it says, “He is despised and rejected of men.” The word “despised” describes disdain and scorn. It means to hold in contempt. All four Gospels vividly illustrate how Jesus was subjected to extreme derision by religious authorities, soldiers, and political figures. When you study the whole public ministry of Jesus, you see three years of religious leaders relentlessly despising and scorning the Lord, but the zenith of this horrible treatment occurred on the night Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. There they wrapped a rope around His neck and led Him away like a lamb to the slaughter. They brought Him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the religious leaders of the Sanhedrin were gathered, and they slapped Him, spit on Him, ripped His beard out, and treated Him with disdain and scorn beyond our imagination.

He was also “rejected of men,” a Hebrew word that means abandoned, forsaken, or shunned. It describes one who is isolated and avoided by society. This was especially true when Jesus was on the Cross. He was abandoned by those He had walked with during His ministry, even His disciples. In fact, He cried out on the Cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), so we know that in that particular moment, He was even separated from God the Father. This is a moment of abandonment that we cannot fully comprehend.

Isaiah continues to say He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

The word “sorrows” depicts physical torment, deep anguish, acute pain, and profound suffering. It is derived from a root that means to grieve or to be in pain. It’s similar to the Greek word that depicts the scourge used by Roman soldiers to torturously rip open the human body and shred it to pieces. Furthermore, the word “sorrows” in this verse also encompasses emotional and physical torment.

The word “acquainted” is so important because it means intimately acquainted by personal experience, and we see that what He was acquainted with was “grief,” meaning both physical and mental afflictions — diseases, illnesses, and sicknesses of the body and the mind. While some try to spiritualize this phrase, the Hebrew word clearly points to tangible, physical, and mental suffering. This means Christ personally experienced and tasted physical and mental disease in His redemptive work on the Cross. Again and again in Isaiah 53, we see that Jesus dealt with the full experience of humanity — body and mind as well as soul — and He took those things upon Himself so that we might be freed from them.

Isaiah 53:3 continues, “and we hid as it were our faces from Him.” You may ask why people would hide their faces, and the answer is found earlier in Isaiah 52:14: “As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.”

The word “visage” refers to His visible appearance, and “marred” means His body was disfigured as a result of the harrowing ordeals that He experienced. The words “more than any man” lets us know that His condition was unparalleled, surpassing any suffering endured by another human throughout all of human history. His condition was so horrific that people could not bear to look at Him.

I remember when our Church in Moscow watched the film The Passion of the Christ. This marvelous movie depicts the final hours of Christ’s life, but when it came to the scene of the scourging and then the crucifixion, it was so horrific to look upon that people covered their heads or shut their eyes. Even to this day, no one wants to look upon what Jesus endured — but my friends, He did it for us!

Isaiah 53:4 begins with the word “Surely,” meaning categorically, definitely, emphatically, or truly. Isaiah is making an unquestionable declaration: “Surely He has borne our griefs.”

“Borne” describes one who lifts a weight from another’s shoulder and bears it himself, and the word “griefs” again refers specifically to physical and mental afflictions, diseases, illnesses, and sicknesses. This means it is absolutely certain, indisputable, and undeniably true that Jesus lifted physical and mental disease from us and took it upon Himself!

Matthew 8:17 confirms this when it says, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Jesus lifted the immense weight of physical and mental sickness, and on our behalf, He carried it by Himself on the Cross.

Finally, Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions.” The word “wounded” means pierced or deeply injured, pointing forward to the piercing of His hands and feet. “Transgressions” refers to violations of God’s commandments and nature — sinning, rebelling, and turning against God.

The next phrase, “He was bruised for our iniquities,” is similar. “Bruised” means crushed, beaten to pieces, and destroyed, and it emphasizes the profound suffering Christ endured, and “iniquities” includes guilt, moral failure, perversity, and shame. In these phrases, we see forgiveness of sin and liberation from guilt and shame, which we all usually think of when we consider what was purchased on the Cross.

Then the verse continues, “The chastisement of our peace was upon him.” The word “chastisement” refers to punishment for past actions, telling us that Jesus bore the punishment we deserved, and the word “peace” comes from shalom — not just tranquility, but wholeness, completeness, health, safety, security, prosperity, and soundness of mind. Jesus paid the price so we could experience peace in every part of life!

Isaiah concludes this verse with these words: “And with his stripes we are healed.” The word “stripes” tells us of the bruises and welts left by severe whipping, and then very clearly at the end of the verse, Isaiah says they paid for us to be “healed.” This word comes from the Hebrew word rapha, and it absolutely refers to physical and mental healing.

My friend, when Isaiah 53:3-5 is carefully examined, it declares what Jesus did for us. He was beaten, crushed, and destroyed for the removal of our iniquities. His blood was shed for our guilt, moral lapses, depravity, perversity, and shame. The punishment we deserve for our past activities was laid upon Him, and we’ve been given peace in its place — not just tranquility, but an all-encompassing state of wholeness and completeness so that we can peacefully thrive in every part of our lives. Finally, because of the severity of the torture He endured when those terrible stripes were laid upon Him by the Roman scourge, the Bible says that we are now healed from all manner of physical and mental disease, illness, and sickness.

Make no mistake, Jesus paid the price so we could experience restoration in every part of life — including our bodies and minds! Receive that sacrifice today and walk in the fullness of life that His redemptive work made a way for you to experience. Be healed in Jesus’ mighty name!