Click to Play
0 plays
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…”
— Isaiah 53:4
Let us look at what the Word of God says, as quoted in the lyrics from Matthew’s Gospel:
> “When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”
> — Matthew 8:16–17
The central theme is this:
The healing touch of Jesus is the direct fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.
His touch is not sentimental. It is legal, covenantal, and powerful. It is backed by His atonement.
The picture we are given is very simple:
Then the scene widens:
So we are dealing here with the practical outworking of the cross in the physical bodies and souls of men and women oppressed by sickness and demons. Healing is not a side issue. It flows from the very heart of the atonement.
### Isaiah’s Prophecy
Isaiah ministered in Judah in the 8th century B.C., preaching to a covenant people who had broken the covenant. God’s judgment loomed over the nation. Yet, in the midst of warnings, God gives one of the clearest revelations of the coming Messiah in all of Scripture: the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13–53:12).
Isaiah 53:4 is set in this context:
> “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…”
> — Isaiah 53:4
The chapter describes a Servant:
The Servant’s suffering is substitutionary. He suffers not for His own sin, but for ours. The Holy Spirit unveils a mysterious exchange:
He takes what is ours, that we might receive what is His.
### Matthew’s Application
Now come forward 700 years to Galilee in the days of Jesus.
Matthew 8 follows the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has just:
Then Matthew gives a summary:
> “When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”
> — Matthew 8:16–17
Notice: Matthew does not say this will be fulfilled at the cross only. He says it is fulfilled as Jesus:
Matthew, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, connects Isaiah 53:4 not only with forgiveness of sins, but with:
This is vital. Scripture interprets Scripture. The Holy Spirit Himself is our commentator.
The One Isaiah saw in prophetic vision is now standing in Peter’s house, touching a sick woman, commanding spirits, healing all. The prophecy becomes history in the person of Jesus.
Let us consider two key Hebrew words from Isaiah 53:4, then see how Matthew renders them in Greek.
### 1. “Griefs” – Hebrew: חֳלִי (cholí)
Isaiah 53:4 (literal):
“Surely he has borne our griefs…”
The word cholí does not primarily mean “emotional grief.” It means:
It is used this way many times in the Old Testament. For example:
So Isaiah literally says:
“Surely he has borne our sicknesses.”
### 2. “Sorrows” – Hebrew: מַכְאֹב (mak’óv)
“…and carried our sorrows…”
Mak’óv means:
It is used of bodily pain and affliction (Job 33:19), as well as inner anguish.
So the phrase could be translated:
“Surely he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.”
### Matthew’s Greek Rendering
In Matthew 8:17, the Holy Spirit interprets Isaiah’s words for us:
> “He took our infirmities (Greek: astheneías) and bore our diseases (Greek: nosous).”
Matthew does not weaken Isaiah’s language into something merely emotional. He intensifies it in the physical realm: infirmities and diseases.
So we must say:
This deepens the meaning of the lyrics. They do not merely describe a kind act of Jesus. They reveal an atoning act. Every touch of Jesus is backed by Isaiah 53.
We will walk through the narrative described in the lyrics and relate each part to the wider teaching of Scripture.
### A. “When Jesus came into Peter’s house…”
Here we have a simple domestic setting. Jesus does not restrict His power to the synagogue or the temple. He enters a house.
In Scripture, the house represents:
Jesus is not distant. He comes into the house. He enters:
In Acts 10:38 we read:
> “…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.”
Notice: healing and deliverance are described as doing good. Many Christians today consider healing a luxury. The Bible calls it good and necessary.
When Jesus enters a house, He confronts the powers that have ruled that house: sickness, fear, oppression. His presence is an invasion of the kingdom of God into the kingdom of darkness.
### B. “He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever.”
This is a picture of:
The fever immobilizes her. She is in the house, but she is out of function.
This is how Satan works. He might not remove us from the church, but he will seek to remove us from effectiveness through:
Jesus “saw” her. He does not overlook suffering. He observes it with intention.
Psalm 103:2–3 says:
> “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
> Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases.”
In God’s covenant provision, forgiveness and healing are linked. When Jesus sees sickness in a covenant house, He responds according to the covenant.
### C. “He touched her hand, and the fever left her.”
Here we come to the healing touch of Jesus.
Several key points:
1. He touched.
In the Old Testament, touching the unclean made you unclean (Leviticus 5:2–3). But with Jesus, the direction is reversed. He touches the unclean, and they become clean. He touches the sick, and they become well.
2. It was personal.
He did not treat her as a case, but as a person. He touched *her hand*. His healing is intimate.
3. The result was immediate.
“The fever left her.”
The word “left” indicates a departure, almost like an enemy retreating. In Luke’s account, the fever is “rebuked” (Luke 4:39). This suggests that, in some cases, sickness is not merely mechanical; it may be tied to a spiritual presence.
This aligns with Luke 13:16, where Jesus speaks of a woman bent over for eighteen years:
> “…whom Satan has bound…”
Not every sickness is demonic in origin, but Scripture shows that some are, and Jesus discerns and deals with both:
### D. “So she got up and served him.”
This is a crucial detail. Healing is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end: service.
Healing should result in:
If we seek healing only to be more comfortable, we have missed the purpose. Peter’s mother-in-law is a pattern: healed, then serving.
Romans 12:1 says:
> “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
When God heals our bodies, we must present those healed bodies back to Him in service.
### E. “When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons.”
The day moves to evening. The whole town is stirred (Mark 1:32–33). The miracle in Peter’s house becomes a testimony that draws others.
Two categories appear:
1. Those possessed with demons (demonized)
2. All who were sick
The crowd itself illustrates a key truth:
We live in a world under spiritual oppression and physical corruption.
Jesus is not overwhelmed by the number. The text simply says:
> “He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick…”
This is in exact agreement with 1 John 3:8:
> “…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”
Demons and sickness are listed here among “the works of the devil” that Jesus came to destroy.
### F. “He cast out the spirits with a word…”
Notice the method:
He cast them out with a word.
The Greek term for “word” here is logos. The same word that:
Jesus exercises authority by speech. This is kingdom authority. In Mark 1:27 the people say:
> “…with authority commands he even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
Deliverance is not primarily a power struggle. It is an authority confrontation. And His authority is expressed in words.
Luke 10:19 says to believers:
> “Behold, I give unto you power (authority) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy…”
We share in that same authority through His Name and His Word.
### G. “…and healed all who were sick…”
The word “all” is significant. There is no category of sickness here that Jesus refused to heal. There is no suggestion that He healed some and left others sick “for God’s glory.” On that evening, all were healed.
This does not mean all are healed in every situation, but it shows us the revealed will and nature of Jesus:
Hebrews 1:3 says Jesus is “the express image” of God’s person. If we want to know the Father’s will toward sickness, we look at Jesus:
### H. “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet…”
Now we come to the theological center.
Matthew is not merely reporting miracles. He is interpreting them. He says:
> These healings and deliverances are fulfilling prophecy.
And which prophecy? Isaiah 53:4.
> “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
Two key verbs:
This is substitution language. In the same way that:
He also:
At the cross, a divine exchange took place:
This does not mean believers will never die or never face sickness. We still live in mortal bodies in a fallen world. But it does mean there is redemptive provision for healing, grounded in the atonement.
The lyrics are not describing a mere historical episode, but a pattern of the cross applied:
The truth of Isaiah 53:4 and Matthew 8:16–17 demands a response. We are not to be passive spectators. We are to appropriate.
I will give four practical steps.
### 1. Acknowledge the Full Provision of the Cross
First, we must align our minds with Scripture, not with tradition.
We must say with the Word:
Refuse to divide what God has joined. Psalm 103:3 puts forgiveness and healing together. Isaiah 53 puts iniquities and sicknesses together. Matthew 8 applies Isaiah to physical healing and deliverance.
Prayer:
### 2. Renounce Agreement with Sickness as “God’s Will”
Second, we must renounce any inner agreement that says:
God may certainly teach us in sickness, just as He can teach us in any circumstance. But the New Testament never presents sickness as His instrument of sanctification. It consistently presents it as an enemy Christ came to overcome.
James 1:17:
> “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…”
Sickness is not listed as a gift from above. Instead, we see Jesus “healing all that were oppressed of the devil” (Acts 10:38).
We must explicitly renounce the lie that attributes the works of the devil to the character of God.
Say:
### 3. Come to Jesus Personally for His Touch and His Word
Third, we must come to Jesus as they did in that evening scene:
Two main ways we come:
1. For His touch – through the laying on of hands, prayer of faith, anointing with oil (Mark 16:18; James 5:14–15).
2. For His word – receiving the promises of Scripture as alive and active.
Proverbs 4:20–22 says:
> “My son, attend to my words…
> For they are life unto those that find them, and health (medicine) to all their flesh.”
God’s Word is medicine. We must:
Say:
### 4. Respond by Serving
Fourth, we must do what Peter’s mother-in-law did: rise and serve.
When healing comes:
Healing often requires a step of obedience:
Romans 6:13:
> “Present yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
Make a conscious presentation:
### Proclamation of Faith
Speak this aloud with faith:
“I testify today before God, before Satan, and before the world, that I believe the Word of God.
Jesus Christ is my sin-bearer and my sickness-bearer.
According to Isaiah 53:4 and Matthew 8:17,
He has taken my infirmities and borne my diseases.
On the cross, He carried my sins, my sicknesses, and my pains.
By His wounds I am healed.
He has destroyed the works of the devil in my life.
Satan has no legal right to my body, my mind, or my house.
My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,
redeemed by the blood of Jesus,
set apart for the service of the Lord.
I reject sickness as a work of the enemy.
I receive the healing touch of Jesus.
I choose to rise up and serve Him with all my strength.
Jesus is my Healer, my Deliverer, and my Lord.
Amen.”
### Prayer
“Lord Jesus Christ,
I thank You for the testimony of Your Word,
that You went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil,
and that this was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:
You took our infirmities and bore our diseases.
I come to You now as those people came that evening.
I bring before You every area of sickness, weakness, and oppression in my life.
I confess that You have already borne these at the cross.
I ask that Your healing virtue and delivering power
be applied to me now by the Holy Spirit.
Stretch out Your hand to touch me.
Send forth Your word to heal me.
Break every yoke of the enemy.
Drive out every unclean spirit that has afflicted my body, mind, or emotions.
And when You raise me up,
I commit myself to serve You.
Let my healed body, my renewed mind, and my delivered soul
be instruments for Your glory and for the blessing of others.
I receive, by faith, the healing touch of Jesus.
I declare that by Your stripes I am healed.
In Your mighty Name, Lord Jesus.
Amen.”
Deepen your worship with these related songs:
No more songs available