1 Peter 2:24 says that Jesus “Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”
Jesus paid for our sins and He also paid for our sicknesses. Let me expound on this a bit more so you will understand better.
When Jesus was sentenced to die by Pontius Pilate, the Bible says that he was handed over to the Roman soldiers to be flogged.
He (Pilate) ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. (Mark 15:15, NLT)
The word “flogged” does not have that much of an impact until we realize what it truly means. The flogging was what the Jews called the “near death”—equal to 39 lashes. The lash went to the back of Jesus. As it did, bits of flesh tore loose. Again and again they did this until the wound got deeper and deeper… and then the bones possibly started to appear too. Everything was just an open wound in Jesus’ back.
If you will think about it, if it was just our soul’s salvation that Jesus was concerned about, He could have offered His life and die by crucifixion and we would have been saved—we who will trust in Him. But why the need for this flogging?
It is because the prophecy declared that it will be by His wounds that we will be healed.
…The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
It is thus through the flogging that our healing was purchased. Through His wounds caused by the flogging we were healed, and through His death by the cross we were forgiven and saved. What love!
If we believe that Jesus paid for our sins, then we must also believe that He also paid for our sicknesses. We cannot choose one and not the other. This is a package that Jesus offers to all who will believe in Him.
