The phrase “by His stripes we are healed” comes from Isaiah 53:5 in the Bible. This verse is part of a passage talking about the Suffering Servant, a mysterious figure who endures great suffering but brings healing and restoration as a result. Many Christians believe this passage is a prophecy about Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross.
So what does it mean that “by His stripes we are healed”? Let’s break it down:
1. The “stripes” refer to the wounds inflicted on Jesus when He was flogged and crucified.
Flogging was a brutal form of punishment used by the Romans. It involved being whipped with a multi-stranded whip that had bits of metal or bone embedded in its leather straps. This inflicted deep cuts and bruises all over the victim’s back, shoulders, and legs. The prophet Isaiah foresaw the suffering the Messiah would endure hundreds of years before Jesus’ crucifixion:
“I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” (Isaiah 50:6)
The physical wounds Jesus endured during His passion are the “stripes” Isaiah refers to. The severe scourging Jesus underwent before His crucifixion would have left His back utterly shredded and mangled.
2. It was through His suffering that Jesus brought us healing.
How exactly do Jesus’ stripes or wounds heal us? To understand this, we need to think about the purpose behind His suffering. Isaiah makes it clear that the Servant’s suffering was on behalf of others:
“He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
Jesus endured brutal punishment, taking the wrath and judgment that should have fallen on sinners. God allowed His perfect, beloved Son to suffer in order to pay the penalty for sin and rebellion against God (see Romans 5:8). Because of Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross, those who place their faith in Him can be forgiven and reconciled to God. The wounds Jesus bore have brought healing to our souls.
3. Christ’s sacrifice brings healing from sin.
The primary healing Jesus provides is spiritual healing from sin. Sin is a fatal condition that infects all people, leaving them damaged, lost, and separated from God (Romans 3:23). Through faith in Christ, sin’s penalty and power can be broken:
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
When we repent and believe the gospel, receiving Christ’s sacrifice for us, we are healed from sin’s corrupting influence over us. We’re cleansed from guilt and set free to obey and serve God. This inward, spiritual healing is possible because of the outward wounds Christ accepted on our behalf.
4. Christ’s sacrifice also brings physical and emotional healing.
In addition to healing from sin, Christ’s sacrifice opens the door for healing in other areas of our lives as well.
When Jesus began His ministry, He healed multitudes of people from sickness and affliction:
“That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.’” (Matthew 8:16-17)
Here Matthew quotes Isaiah 53, showing that Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy by healing sickness and disease through His ministry. Jesus demonstrated God’s compassion and power by relieving suffering.
While physical and mental healing are not guaranteed in this life, Christians can pray with hope for relief, knowing Christ has dealt the decisive blow against suffering and death. Through His resurrection, He has power over disease and pain.
Christ can also bring emotional healing from anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and inner turmoil. We can cast our cares on Him, knowing He experienced the depths of human pain and sorrow (Isaiah 53:3-4). He understands our weaknesses, and His Spirit comforts and renews us inwardly (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Romans 8:26-27).
5. Complete healing will come when Christ returns.
Though we get glimpses of healing now, full healing will not come until the culmination of God’s kingdom. When Christ returns, He will transform our weak, pain-ridden bodies into glorious, immortal bodies that will never suffer again (1 Corinthians 15:52-57). The curse of sin will be completely reversed.
Revelation 21:4 describes this beautiful healing that awaits all believers:
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
What an incredible promise! Christ’s death paved the way for this glorious renewal of all things. The healing that began with His sacrifice will culminate when He returns to make all things new.
6. We participate in Christ’s healing work as His body.
Not only does Jesus bring us healing, but He calls us to be agents of healing in a broken world. Jesus commissioned His disciples to continue the healing work He began:
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.” (Matthew 10:8)
As Christ’s body, the church is called to provide spiritual, emotional, and physical healing:
“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.” (James 5:14-15)
The gifts of healing are given to build up the church and demonstrate God’s power and mercy (1 Corinthians 12:7-9). As we repent and believe the gospel, we become agents of the same healing that Christ obtained for us through His sacrifice.
Jesus’ death provides the foundation and power for Christians to bring gospel healing to a hurting world. We can point others to Christ’s healing love that covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).
7. The healing Christ provides transforms our relationships with others.
An important effect of the healing we find in Christ is that it repairs broken relationships. Isaiah states, “In his wounding is healing for us.” The Hebrew for “us” actually uses a plural pronoun, indicating a collective community.
Through Christ, we are healed from the self-centeredness that leads to strife. As we receive mercy, we can extend mercy (Matthew 18:21-35). We can forgive others as we’ve been forgiven (Ephesians 4:32). Even racially and socially divided groups can come together through the unifying power of the gospel.
Jesus’ unjust wounds provide the means for wounded people to find healing in their relationships. As 1 Peter 2:24 states, Christ’s wounds free us from sin “that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Being healed inwardly by grace enables us to live outwardly in justice and community with others.
Christ creates a community of healing out of broken, divided people. His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). The Holy Spirit produces healing fruit in believers, like gentleness, patience and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These virtues enable communities of Jesus-followers to witness to the unifying power of God’s love.
So Christ’s healing work has horizontal effects, bringing reconciliation between people across barriers and binds up society’s wounds. The healing He obtained for us transforms how we relate to others who are different from us.
8. Healing will be completed when Christ returns to make all things new.
The full experience of healing will come when God’s kingdom reaches its climax. The day is coming when sickness and pain will be eradicated forever. Physical healing during this age is only partial and temporary, but the resurrection life to come will far surpass what we experience now.
Revelation 21:1-5 provides a breathtaking vision of the glorious healing and restoration that awaits all of creation. God’s dwelling will be with humans, every tear will be wiped away, there will be no more death, grieving, crying or pain. The old, sin-corrupted order of things will have passed away. The effects of sin will be completely reversed. Broken relationships between God, humans, and creation will be healed.
The wounds of Christ provide the basis for this radical healing of all things. His stripes purchased full reconciliation with God and total restoration of creation.
Isaiah prophesied that through the Messiah’s suffering, “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). Christ’s anguish led to satisfaction because His sacrifice accomplished exactly what it was meant to do. All those covered by His wounds will participate in the resurrection healing He will bring when He returns.
9. We can find hope in Christ’s wounds, even when we don’t understand all the reasons for our suffering.
Because of sin, sickness and suffering will remain realities of life this side of eternity. We may go through acute health crises or live with chronic conditions that last for decades. Along with the physical pain is often emotional anguish, questions, and spiritual turmoil.
In mysterious ways known only to God, our suffering can produce perseverance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-4). But we should be careful not to quickly attribute every instance of suffering to God’s direct action.
Yet even when we cannot make sense of all the reasons for our pain, or see what good God plans to work from it, we can still find comfort in the wounds of Christ. His stripes remind us that God understands the depths of human affliction. He fully experienced the hostility of unjust suffering. He is with us in our deepest agony.
When life feels overwhelmingly painful and confusing, we can anchor our hope in Christ’s sacrifice for us. We can be assured that God cherishes us as a loving Father and identifies with our weaknesses and wounds. He will carry us through the darkest valleys. The Christ who bore the stripes for our healing understands our feeble frame. In our pain, we can turn to Him for mercy and grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
10. We can have joy in our sufferings because we know Christ’s wounds will ultimately heal all wounds.
Knowing that this fallen age is not the end of the story infuses our pain with purpose. No matter what loss, grief, or affliction we face, we have hope beyond the grave. The distress is producing an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). In Christ all sorrows will be reversed forever. His wounds will heal every wound.
This eternal perspective helps us rejoice even in our sufferings:
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
Because His Spirit lives in us, we can face pain with defiant joy. We know Christ endured the cross for the joy to come (Hebrews 12:2). Since He secured victory over sin and death, we are more than conquerors. No amount of agony or injustice can steal the hope Christ’s wounds have guaranteed us.
The healing He obtained for us through His sacrifice empowers us to rejoice in suffering. His stripes give meaning to our wounds.