BEARING GRIEFS

BORE GRIEFS

“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. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”

The physical healings that Jesus performed in His earthly ministry were a fulfillment of Isa 53:3-4. That sounds strange for if that was the fulfillment of it not many people have benefited from the work of our Lord Jesus Christ because He is gone and He is not healing people now as He did then according to Matthew 8.

        Isa 53 says "He bore our griefs", he is speaking of all those who have ever lived who have trusted in God and therefore enter into a substitutionary work called "bearing".  He carries; He bears in His own life, in His own ministry, the full impact and implications of our physical need. The Bible is clear that He did not come to this earth over 1900 years ago merely to heal human bodies and make people feel better. And we know from the N.T. that your faith in God does not determine how physically well you are or how free of physical diseases and sicknesses and how healthy you are. That is a distortion today that often parades under the guise of faith healing. Most of the people that Jesus healed did not have faith and surely when He said to Lazarus in the tomb come forth, Lazarus did not have any faith but came out anyway. Jesus healed ten lepers and only one of them believed and thanked Him while the nine unbelievers were healed anyway. In some cases Jesus used the test of faith, an encouragement to faith, but it had no necessary connection at all. Matthew 9:1-6 pictures this statement.

(For the correct use of the meaning of the word bare in this quote see my note above concerning Isa 53:4). This word takes us beyond the teachings of our Lord, to a record of the marvels which He wrought. As we read we are impressed, and rightly so, with the ease with which He dealt with all the need and suffering of men. In these words, quoted from Isaiah, Matthew suddenly reminds us of another side of truth concerning these doings of the Lord. If His word and touch brought instant deliverance to men, it was because in a great mystery of grace He suffered in order to save. Every wonder of healing was made possible by the profounder wonder of atonement. Our infirmities pass from us, and our diseases cease to vex us, because He takes our sins, and bears them. This is a truth that we should always bear in mind. The giving of God to us is bounteous and super-abounding, but it is never cheap. The blessings we receive from Him are most precious, because most costly. They are hallmarked with Blood. The water from the well of Bethlehem is the red wine that comes from Calvary. It is as we remember that tremendous fact that we are able to render to Him, our adorable Redeemer, the praise and honor due to His Name. When we drink the wine and eat the bread, let us never allow ourselves to forget the wormwood and the gall! When our pains are eased, let us reverently remember the pains which He bore. Thus shall we always render Him the worship which is His due.