BY HIS WOUNDS WE ARE HEALED

This sermon was preached by George Müller at Bethesda Chapel, Great George Street, Bristol, England on April 25, 1887. 

Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:1-4, NIV)

This chapter was written by the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah, 740 years before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. All that we read here regarding Him was fulfilled in His life and in His atoning work. This is yet another amazing truth out of many thousands: that the Word of God is its own proof. It is not at all necessary to have external evidence that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God! They themselves are proof of its truths!  The beginning of the chapter plainly indicates that multitudes might hear and read what is revealed by the Holy Spirit in this portion, and yet the message of God isn’t received. “Who has believed our message?” A relatively small number! “To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The Lord Jesus Christ is called here “the arm of the Lord.” Even as our arms are  great instruments in our bodies, so the Lord Jesus Christ was God’s great instrument in His plan, and therefore He is called “The arm of the Lord.”

“He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” This speaks of the outward appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ and His lowly position in the world. In the first place, it is stated, “He grew up before him like a tender shoot.” A tender plant, a very little plant, is just something springing up out of a tree cut down—yet there is a little life in the root, so a tender shoot comes forth. This refers to the Lord Jesus being connected with the House of David, the Son of David. The might and power and wealth and riches, seen in the days of Solomon, were all done with His mother, after the flesh, so poor that she was unable to bring a lamb for an offering, but had to be content with a pair of doves. He was not merely a tender plant, but “a root out of dry ground.” Water is needed for plants to grow, but this one grew from dry ground.

“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him.” All the representations of the Lord Jesus Christ as an exceedingly beautiful man are only man’s representations. They are not true depictions, so far as His outward appearance was concerned. There was “no beauty or majesty” found in Him. There was “nothing in his appearance that we should desire him,” for it was on purpose that our eyes wouldn’t notice attraction or majesty. 

“He was despised and rejected by mankind.” This was His standing in the world. Instead of being honored and sought after by everyone, it was the very opposite. He was despised and rejected, “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.” This is one reason why there was nothing attractive in His appearance, because of the sorrow that was continually found in Him, on account of the ungodliness all around Him. This filled His heart with grief; therefore, no beauty was found in Him. “Like one from whom people hide their faces,” because of there being no attraction at all to nature. He was in unity with God in His perfect holiness, rejecting that which was hateful to God. Those who were not like-minded with Him hid their faces from Him. “He was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.” Great crowds of people regarded His suffering as a criminal getting his just due. On account of His “wrongs,” they considered Him “stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (KJV). But the next two verses tell us the reason why. 

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth (verses 5-9)

I won’t speak on the first two verses just yet, but keep them in your mind.

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” The meekness, the gentleness, the patient suffering, and the passing through heavy trials and afflictions without fretting or complaining, far less murmuring, are here brought before us. One of the descriptions, “as a sheep,” is very remarkable. I have seen again and again, with my own eyes, when sheep are shorn, that instead of resisting and making a noise, they very patiently bear it. And thus is the word fulfilled. “As a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.” 

“By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.” This points us to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of what He endured and accomplished through His suffering, He has been given a countless multitude of believers—His spiritual family that no one can number. He was “cut off from the land of the living,” not because of His own sins, but because of ours: “For the transgression of my people He was stricken.” He took our place, bore our punishment, and suffered as our substitute.

“He was assigned a grave with the wicked,” that is, if He had been an ordinary man, and especially if He had been a wicked man. “And with the rich in his death,” referring particularly to the splendid grave He had, in being buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a grave cut out of the rock, and therefore exceedingly costly. “Though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth,” yet He had to die and to be buried, just as if He were a sinner like us. 

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors. (verses 10-12)

“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him.” This crushing Him refers to the greatness of His agony and suffering in His atoning death. It was also the Lord’s will to make Him suffer. “And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” All this is now being fulfilled! The soul of the Lord Jesus, His very life, has been made an offering for sin. God sees His children, the numberless millions who have been brought to the knowledge of Jesus since His crucifixion, and oh, the thousands upon thousands, and the tens of thousands upon tens of thousands, who are continually being brought to believe in Him; He shall prolong His days. He is living now after His resurrection. Though more than 1,860 years have passed already, He is the Living One, and when thousands upon thousands of years more have gone by, He will still be the Living One. And thus the fulfillment of the Word, “He shall prolong his days.”

But this is not all, for “The will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” The atoning work has been carried on for thousands of years and will be carried on till completion, till Satan has been entirely defeated and all his plans have been completely destroyed. Thus, the atoning work has been going on, and thus the fulfillment of the prophecy, “The will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” Satan has fought to resist it but has been frequently foiled, and the work of the Lord, in the midst of all the opposition of Satan, still goes on! 

“He will see the light of life and be satisfied.” There are not a few present this very evening who are reborn by the power of the Holy Spirit, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the fulfillment, “He will see the light of life and be satisfied.” And this very day, we have reason to believe that multitudes, considering the whole number of human beings on earth to whom the gospel has been proclaimed, have been brought to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, further fulfilling this word.

“By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many.” God’s Righteous Servant is a title given to the Lord Jesus Christ. By knowing Him, many shall be justified, that is, brought into a state through faith where God counts them just and righteous, though unjust and unrighteous in themselves. That is the meaning of being justified. “He will bear their iniquities.” By reason of these individuals having a Substitute who, in their place, fulfilled the law of God and who, in their place, bore the punishment of the law, so that they are justified. 

“Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong.” Satan, the angels of Satan, the powers of darkness, these are the strong ones here referred to; but the Lord Jesus Christ gets the victory, takes the prey out of their hands, and therefore gets the glory to Himself.

“Because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” This has also been fulfilled, and it will be fulfilled again in our day, and will be fulfilled when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Verses 5 and 6 show us most clearly the sacrificial sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. He stood in our place as our Substitute—not only fulfilling God’s law, which we have broken times without number, but also bearing the punishment we deserved for our many sins. That is why these verses are so precious. We must keep them alive in our hearts and our faith, remembering them in both our inner life and outward conduct. As we apply them daily, we will find that—even in all our failures and weaknesses—so long as we are not willfully walking in opposition to God’s will, we can still enjoy “peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Back in verse 4 is this amazing word: surely. “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering”! Surely “we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted”! Surely “he was pierced for our transgressions [and] crushed for our iniquities”! When we think about the sufferings of Christ, we should not set them at a distance, as though they belonged to someone else. Instead, we should see them personally—as if He endured all of it for us, and for us alone. The more we are able to apply His atoning work to ourselves and truly take it to heart, the more we will experience the comfort, peace and joy that come through the Holy Spirit.

If our thoughts generalize it, we miss out on the full measure of blessing. We need to take Isaiah 53:5 personally—almost as if we were writing our own name into it. Each of us should be able to say, “He was pierced for my transgressions. He was crushed for my iniquities. The punishment that brought me peace was on Him—so that I could have peace with God. And by His wounds, I am healed.” By making it personal, our hearts will overflow with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; but if we see the sufferings of Christ as a “general” thing, not taking it to heart, then the peace and joy from the Spirit will be less and less.  

“He was pierced for our transgressions.” We must not lose sight of the fact that it was not merely physical pain and suffering that our Lord Jesus experienced—though, unquestionably, that was exceedingly great—but He passed through the hour of darkness, and His holy, righteous soul also suffered. No, we must never lose sight of the fact that the Father did not deliver Him at that hour so that, really and truly, He might pass through all the sorrow, misery, agonies and pain and suffer in body, mind and spirit that we deserved because of our countless sins. All this we must carefully consider to get the least idea of the greatness of the sufferings through which our blessed Lord had to pass. Then it is further stated, “He was crushed for our iniquities.” Ground, as it were, in the mill to powder by His sufferings—something like this is brought before us by the expression “Crushed for our iniquities.” Oh, the vastness of the sufferings, the greatness of the agonies, through which our Lord had to pass! This should make us hate ourselves on account of sin, for our sins brought all this on our Lord. Had we been free of sin, had all humans been perfectly free from sin, this atonement wouldn’t have been needed. But because of the fall, sin was introduced into the world, and all mankind have sinned, guilty of sinful deeds, sinful, unholy words, and sinful, unholy thoughts, desires, purposes, and inclinations. Therefore, so we might be reconciled to God, so that we might be cleansed from all our numberless sins, the Lord Jesus Christ had to endure suffering so that we could be saved finally. “He was crushed for our iniquities.” I ask, affectionately, my beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, to meditate on this word, “crushed.” 

“The punishment that brought us peace was on him.” That is, He was punished so we could have peace in our souls and be reconciled to God. He endured all that we deserved. If we put our trust in Him, if we look at Christ’s atonement for ourselves, then we shall have peace in our souls and be at peace with God. What the Lord Jesus Christ endured, He endured for us, on account of our numberless transgressions. “By his wounds we are healed.”  The moment we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He becomes our spiritual Physician. We are under His care and are placed in a kind of spiritual hospital, and there we remain, under the care of this infinitely great Physician, who watches over us, who looks after us, and who does not discharge us as incurable ones, as so many are from the hospitals in the world. Not at all! This great Physician remains through the whole life we spend on earth. And as our great Physician, we are under His care and keeping physically and spiritually.  In His own great, precious spiritual hospital, we are kept till we are perfectly cured and perfectly healed. The moment we believe in Jesus Christ, He becomes our Physician. The moment we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are placed under His care, kept until we’re perfectly healed. We are entered in the hospital of the Lord Jesus, and there we are kept and looked after, attended to by the Great Physician who won’t ever let go till we are perfectly healed. 

“By his wounds we are healed.” Through the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are cured. The atonement He made is God’s great instrument of curing us, for there would be no spiritual cure found regarding anyone all over the world were it not for the atonement of Christ. But through pondering more and more of what He did and suffered in our place, little by little we become more and more free from sin, and little by little we become more and more cured. He has ransomed us for the purpose of curing us, and He will not let us go until we are perfectly cured—that is, until we are as spotless, as holy, as free from sin, and as heavenly-minded as He Himself is! And this we should firmly grasp by faith! It is completely impossible to grasp it in our carnal nature, and even at the beginning of the divine life, it is very difficult to do so. 

I found it myself here over seventy years ago, due to the evil habits I had formed before I turned to Christ. It was exceedingly difficult to put them aside. I had been passionately fond of the theater and was there day after day. I had been found at the ballroom and at the card table until late into the night. And when I was converted, though I never touched a pack of cards again, though it was all over with the theater, though I never went anymore to the ballroom, yet these evil habits, these evil natural tendencies, were very difficult to overcome. I began to pray that God would give me power and victory over them, but after I had been praying a good while, it seemed as if I never should lose my love for these things, as if continually they would come back to my mind and desire. But little by little, I got complete victory over them! 

Don’t despair, young Christians! Don’t think you can’t endure trials or that they will never be able to live for the glory and honor of God. The Lord Jesus is your physician. He has taken you under His care. You are in the spiritual hospital of the Great Physician. He is ready to help you. Fix your eyes on Him! Expect great things from Him! “Open your mouth wide, and [He] will fill it” (Psalm 81:10, NIV).  He will provide what you truly need and answer your prayers.

How blessed is the position we have as believers! All those who trust in Jesus for salvation, who are born again, and who have spiritual life will one day be perfectly holy. What a blessed hope! We will be so completely heavenly-minded that any command our God gives, our hearts will instantaneously say, “Yes, I delight to do my heavenly Father’s will!” And with great eagerness, we will carry out our Father’s will. There won’t be any slowness, no hesitation, no questioning of His will. As quickly as the command comes, we will be ready to carry out His will. All of this is why God has ransomed us in Christ Jesus. We will not be dismissed from the care of the Great Physician as if we were beyond hope. Instead, His healing work will be completed, and in the end, we will be made fully like Christ. This is the meaning of the promise: “By His wounds we are healed.” The cure has already begun, dear brothers and sisters, and one day you and I will be as holy as our Lord is. We are not there yet, but the work is in progress—and it will be finished when the Lord brings us safely home to Himself.

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray.” It doesn’t say just some who have gone astray. It says ALL—without exception! Anyone who desires to enter heaven must come to this point: in the deepest part of their soul,  they must admit before God, “I am the guilty sinner who went astray.” Those who think they deserve God’s favor because they’re not bad but good, excellent people are in very great error.

They think, on account of their own goodness, to enter heaven. But actually, on account of our own goodness, we can go to hell! There is not one among the innumerable saintly spirits where one individual entered on account of his or her own goodness. I repeat: on account of our own goodness, we can go to hell—not heaven! We have no goodness of our own. There is nothing, nothing, NOTHING good in us by nature, but instead everything that is contrary to the will of God! And the worst of it all is we do not even see it is so bad—that is, in our natural condition. But there is the fact: the Word of God declares it. We have only to read the first three chapters of Romans and Ephesians 2 to see inexhaustible proof of our fallen natures.

Though we all have strayed like sheep, and we’ve all turned to our own way, there is yet hope of salvation for our souls. For the greatest of all sinners, for the oldest of all sinners, if only they accept God’s provision in Jesus Christ, there is hope, not despair.  “Each of us has turned to our own way.” Take particular notice of this—"our own way." That is the great sin. Not that everyone is a drunk or a thief or a habitual liar. This won’t be the case for all. There are people who have never drunk too much, who have never stolen so much as a pin, and whose lives, in many outward ways, appear respectable and blameless. But here is the heart of the matter: our sin is that, by nature, we go our own way instead of God’s way. We live to please ourselves rather than to please Him and do His work. Doing what pleases us and going our own way is the sin every person is guilty of. And we must come to see this. If we do not, we can have no true confidence that heaven will be our home.

But while what is said about us is true—that we’ve all, like sheep, gone astray, that we’ve all turned to our own way—it is also added: “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” What a costly comfort. Had this not been added, I’d have no comfort in my soul! I would have no hope for heaven and eternal glory. He added it for each of us, weak and insecure, for our benefit. For my wasted hours seeking entertainment, chasing after worldly amusements, and seeking happiness and value in what the world has to offer, my worthy Jesus was punished. For the money, time, and abilities I squandered on myself instead of using them as a steward of God—for all this, my worthy Lord Jesus bore the punishment. He willingly and fully took my punishment upon Himself. And now, trusting in Him, I stand as a forgiven sinner. My brothers and sisters in Christ, trusting in Him the same way, are also forgiven.

Oh, how precious is this grace! We must make it our goal to take this truth to heart. Write your name in the verses: “The Lord has laid on MY Lord Jesus Christ MY sins. He stood as MY Substitute and paid for MY sins by His death. They have been completely paid for—there is not a single sin of MINE left unforgiven. MY heavenly Father is fully satisfied with what MY gracious Lord Jesus has done for ME, and for the countless multitude who believe in Him.” This is the heart of it all. How wonderful it is to make this personal! Let no young believer think, “That may be true for Isaiah, or Daniel, or Jeremiah, or the Apostles—but not for me.” Yes, it is for you, my weak brother or sister, my young brother or sister. It is for everyone who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Our sin has been completely punished, completely atoned for—and not a single sin will be held against us in the end.

So once again, we should thank God for His indescribable gift and rejoice in Christ Jesus, with deep gratitude for what God has done for us in Him!