What a shame that a new person shares a well written and deep, and true insight into God and his workings, and a certain person abducts the post with his ranting heresies, bashing many people along the way.
I took you off ignore Denalii, and now you have made me regret it!
Here is my challenge to you, Denalii! Read Isaiah, from start to finish. You can find out what the book is about in the first chapter.
"4 Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him." Isaiah 1:4
But before you start to read, look up the word "metaphor" and then think about how some of what Isaiah was saying was a metaphor. A kind of comparison, but without the use of "like" or "as" which is a simile. For instance, in Matt 20:1, Jesus says, "For the kingdom of heaven is LIKE..."
A metaphor is not some imagination or fantasy, as someone accused me of saying in another thread I posted showing how wrong Word Faith is. In fact, a metaphor is a way to illustrate things, which was a very common figure of speech in both Hebrew and Greek.
So:
"5 "Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil." Isa. 1:5-6
Please note how the metaphor starts here in verses 5 and 6. Isaiah starts by calling out the SINFUL nation of Israel in verse 4! Then he talks about being beaten and in rebellion, and compares it to the entire body being hurt, damaged, wounded, with open sores and unclean. But this is NOT about healing of the body, but a way that helps us understand how broken and sinful Israel is.
That is a descriptive metaphor, or comparison of SINFUL Israel. Isaiah wants to create a vivid picture of the state of SINFUL Israel in the minds of his readers. Now, I suppose he could have just listed their sins. And he does do that later on, including his own sin, in chapter 6, where he records the amazing events around God calling him as a prophet.
"18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Isa. 1:18-20
Isaiah resumes the literal prophecy of the SINS of Israel in the above verses. "Though your sins are scarlet, they shall be white as snow!" This is the prophecy concerning the coming of Jesus, who would redeem Israel, and all humanity from our SIN sickness.
The book of Isaiah is a book where God calls the prophet to call Israel to repentance for their sin. Isaiah uses many metaphors to illustrate this, just as other prophets like Jeremiah, who lay on his side, and let fruit grow rotten to illustrate the rottenness of Israel, because of her SIN.
Well, truly, the whole Bible has just one purpose! And that is to reveal Jesus Christ, who came to save his people from their sins.
So when you get to Isaiah 53, in context of the chapter, and the book, and the Bible, Isaiah is prophesying that Jesus would heal our SIN sickness by his stripes, and ultimately on the cross.
That is called CONTEXT! It means looking at what Isaiah, in this case, was writing about in the book and the chapter! In fact, just look at this "by his stripes we are healed" phrase in context.
"4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 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.
6 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." Isa. 53:4-6
Notice how this line, (This is the NIV, but stripes is also right!" Is contained in the middle of 3 verses about SIN. Words like:
transgressions
iniquities
punishment
astray
turned our own way
These are all about the sickness of SIN. Verse 5d recalls the vivid metaphor in chapter 1 and elsewhere, of a broken diseased body of Israel - the nation. The prophecy is that Jesus will redeem, ransom, and in verse 5, he will heal us our our wounds/stripes which result from SIN.
Stop listening to your Word Faith videos, and reading Word Faith books, and go back to reading the Bible in contexypt. Read Isaiah, all of it! Memorize Isaiah 53:4-6 and every time you want to say, "by his stripes we are healed," instead say the whole three verses. Or for that matter, memorize more of Isaiah 53, and realize that physical healing is not what Isaiah was prophesying, but rather heading from the broken wounds if sin sickness!