Three Gifts from Calvary
Exodus 23:25 And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
The Bible gives us a promise here of freedom from sickness and for long life. Notice that this is part of the law of Moses, or part of what is referred to as the Old Covenant. But do you recall that Jesus said, “Not one jot or tittle of the law shall pass away till all be fulfilled.” So if the Old Covenant has passed away, which the New Testament teaches us that it has, then this part of the Old Covenant must have of necessity been fulfilled in Christ.
God said, And I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. From the midst of whom? From the midst of His people. This is a collective promise to the people of God, declared by a prophet of God.
Did you know that Moses was a prophet? We don’t think of him that way very often.
Deuteronomy 18: 15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
A prophet like me, Moses said. Moses went up into the mountain, God spoke to him, and he in turn conveyed it to the people. That’s what a prophet does. And the books he wrote were prophetic books. The law of Moses was not just a book of rules and regulations. It was a book of prophesy, prophesy that was fulfilled in Christ.
Jesus said, “I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it.”
Let’s look at another scripture from another prophet that deals with God taking away sickness from the midst of His people.
Isaiah 53: 3 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. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 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.
Now there’s much more to this passage, but we’ll just look at this part for now. This section of scripture is loaded with words that can be a little vague on the surface in a casual reading of them. But if you look them up in a good concordance, such as Strong’s Concordance, the meanings become clearer.
Despised and rejected mean to be set to scorn and made destitute. The word “Sorrows” used here means anguish, affliction and pain, either physical or mental. So then at least one of its meanings is physical pain. The word “Grief” is translated sickness 12 times, disease 7 times, grief 4 times, and sick 1 time. It means sickness and disease.
Surely He has borne our griefs. That’s the same word. It means sickness and disease. And carried our sorrows, our physical as well as mental pains. “Borne” means to bear up and carry away. “Carried” means to drag oneself along under a heavy load. I know this is tedious, but it will help us to get the real picture of what the prophet is describing.
The chastisement of our peace, or the discipline for our peace, was upon Him. The word “peace” is the Hebrew word Shalom, which means completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety, and prosperity. Shalom means much more than just peacefulness. It means welfare, prosperity, blessing and completeness. He took the punishment that would allow us to have welfare, peace, safety, and prosperity. That’s part of what Christ did at Calvary.
We don’t have time to give the definitions of all these words. Take time to look them up. But I’ve taken the definitions of the words and reworded this passage to make it a little clearer.
Isaiah 53: 3-5 (a paraphrased rewording by the author based on the definitions of the words used.)
Isaiah 53: 3 He is set to scorn and disdained of men; a man of anguish, affliction and pains, having knowledge of sickness and disease: yet we hid our faces from Him; He was scorned, and we gave Him no esteem. 4 But in fact He has lifted up and carried away our sickness and disease, and has dragged Himself along bearing our heavy load of afflictions and pains. But we considered Him punished, violently struck down, beaten and wounded of God, and made to stoop in public humiliation. That’s what we thought. 5 But the fact is that He was defiled, pierced and violated for our rebellion, not His. He was beaten to pieces and crushed for our mischief, not His own. The discipline needed for our safety, welfare and prosperity was taken upon Himself. And with His black and blue stripes and gaping wounds we are mended, cured, healed, repaired and made whole.
Aren’t you thankful for Jesus? Notice that Jesus did three things at Calvary: He was wounded, defiled and violated for our rebellion and mischief. He bore our sins. He has lifted up and carried away our sickness and disease, our afflictions and pains. He bore our sicknesses. The discipline needed for our safety, welfare and prosperity was taken upon Himself. He took away our insecurity, our lack of peace, and gave us shalom; safety, welfare and prosperity.
He gave us righteousness, He gave us peace and blessing, and He gave us healing. And in doing so He met every human need that we could ever have. Paul said:
1 Corinthians 2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
What had Paul been preaching? It says he preached the gospel. He preached Christ, and Him crucified. Christ crucified was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53.
But many will argue that what Christ did at Calvary was spiritual only. But Matthew makes reference to Isaiah 53 when describing a time of physical healing in Jesus' ministry.
Matthew 8: 16 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: 17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Jesus ministry of physical healing was a fulfilling of Isaiah 53:4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Matthew quotes it as: Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. So it was being fulfilled even before Jesus went to Calvary.
It was fulfilled every time Jesus healed someone. It was fulfilled every time His disciples healed someone, because they did it by His authority. It was fulfilled every time Paul or Peter healed someone in the Book of Acts. And it's fulfilled in you and me every time we receive divine healing. Peter spoke of Isaiah 53 in 1 Peter, chapter 2.
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
He’s referring again back to Isaiah 53. Healing, as well as salvation, is a fulfillment of scripture. Jesus came to fulfil what God had spoken. God said He would send His word and heal their diseases, and that He would take away sickness and disease from among them. He fulfilled that in Christ. Jesus did three things at Calvary. He bore our sins, He bore our sickness, and He bore our poverty. Sin, sickness, and poverty are all three works of the devil. And Jesus came to deliver us from the oppression of the devil.
Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Many Christians take the forgiveness of sin, but leave deliverance from sickness and from poverty on the table. Jesus purchased all three. But all three must be apprehended by faith. We’ll talk more about that in another lesson.