He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows—Easter Part 4
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:4
Surely our griefs He Himself bore…
Not only was this One acquainted with human grief (see Isaiah 53:3), but He also bore our griefs—our very real and personal griefs. FreeDictionary.com defines “grief” as a “deep mental anguish, as that arising from bereavement; a source of deep mental anguish.” He took on all of that, surely. However, the Hebrew word for “griefs” is choliy, and shockingly, this word quite simply means “sickness” (see http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H2483&t=KJV).
When Isaiah wrote “our griefs He Himself bore,” he was prophesying that the Suffering Servant would bear our sicknesses and not just those things that bring deep mental anguish. Since some folks have difficulty with that interpretation, take a look at three other verses which use the word choliy:
- Moses taught the farmacia online generica cialis Israelites concerning the promises of God for obedience: “You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle. The Lord will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you” (Deuteronomy 7:14-15). “Sickness” in verse 15 is choliy. The suffering Servant bore our sicknesses.
- The widow of Zarephath who fed the prophet Elijah during a time of severe drought had a son who became mortally ill. “And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him” (1 Kings 17:17). “Sickness” in verse 17 is choliy. The Messiah bore our sicknesses.
- King Asa was a good king who sought God throughout much of his reign. Until the thirty-fifth year of his reign, there was no war (see 2 Chronicles 15:19). However, after this, Asa began seeking out human counsel and not the counsel of the Lord. Chaos and war ensued. “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians” (2 Chronicles 16:12). “Disease” in verse 12 is choliy. Jesus bore our diseases.
He bore our sicknesses. The Hebrew word for “bore” very graphically describes this act of the Servant. “Bore” is nasa’ and means “to lift, bear up, carry, take”. The Servant bore our sicknesses—He lifted them up, and carried them away. Is it a coincidence that the USA’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration is called NASA? For decades Americans watched as NASA’s rockets were launched into the stratosphere and beyond. Very few things are as spectacular to view as a spaceship taking off: five…four…three…two…one…zero…ignition…LIFT OFF!
According to Isaiah’s prophecy, the day our Messiah bore our griefs was “lift off day” for our sicknesses. How far did He remove your sins? As far as the east from the west (see Psalm 103:12). How far away did He carry your sicknesses? If you can picture a NASA blast off, that’s how far away He bore your sicknesses.
… and our sorrows He carried…
“Sorrows” refers to pain, both mental and http://www.citation.fr/levitra-acheter-en-ligne-suede/ physical (see http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H4341&t=KJV). The Servant of God was a Man of sorrows (see verse 3), and He carried our sorrows—every sorrow and pain experienced by the human race.
Cabal is Hebrew for “carried”, and indicates the heaviness of the sorrows He carried, for it means “to bear a load or drag oneself along” (see http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H5445&t=KJV). You can witness the heaviness of our sorrows and pains piled upon Jesus as you envision Him shouldering the cross, struggling under its weight, and dragging it up to Golgotha.
…yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
More than once Isaiah contrasted the wholehearted commitment of the Suffering Servant to the clueless, self-absorbed assumptions on the part of those He died for. The media of our day, instead of seeking for facts, so often polls for opinions. What people think about what happens far too often trumps the naked truth in our culture. Guess it wasn’t much different in Jesus’ day.
However, despite the erroneous estimation of those in His day or the skewed consensus of today’s popular culture, the truth stands firm: Jesus bore our sicknesses and griefs; He carried our sorrows and pains.
And I love Him for it.
Dorothy
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” Matthew 8:16-17, NKJV