Stripes

God is so good. His mercy and loving kindness endures forever (Psalm 136), and when you believe in Him you find that He is still very much around us, pointing out to us people who we need to love on.

Yesterday was no exception. At the end of the 1pm service at church, the band, being obedient, carried on playing and leading in worship the remaining few that decided that it was more important to love on God than to do anything else.

At the end of the following hour or so, we were all about to leave, and the Holy Spirit with the most precise timing as always, allows myself, my Wife and a good friend, a lady who was obviously having lots of pain walking. She had a cain, and she was wobbling side to side. The expression on her face said it all.

Indeed she could have stayed near the doors to the main sanctuary, but she came down the slope to the front row near the altar, knowing full well she would have to make the return trek up the slope to leave the church.

We asked if we could pray for her, and she agreed. She had spinal and other back issues including implants, and her hips were not aligned. Out of 10, her pain was the full 10.

We all laid hands, and of course, God not being a respecter of persons, went immediately to begin healing her, just as it says in the Word. She closed her eyes as she was overcome by the Spirit of God touching her.

After about 10-15 minutes, she began to walk around. She said the cane would no longer be needed, the pain was gone, and when she walked, the hobble was beginning to disappear. As she walked, just like the lepers, she was healed further and strength increased in her body, her ankles also being level now too.

What did it cost us? About 30-45 minutes, laying hands, talking to her, loving on her. Our friend had a Word from God about her family which blessed her tremendously!

30-45 minutes for us, God did all the healing, and took away 8 years of pain for the lady. 8 years …. 45 minutes…. It’s so simple. We must invest time for these people, we must not relent. We must declare the goodness of God upon this earth without delay. Just believe…. Only believe….

Luke 13:11 (NASB)

¹¹And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. ¹²When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” ¹³And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God.

Jesus suffered way more than the 39 stripes that we often hear during ill-informed conversations. Due to my own experience of re-communicating several times to large numbers of people the untruth that Jesus bore 39 stripes at the whipping post, it was not until after these occasions where I was corrected by someone who knew the truth. This brother in Christ referred me to Rick Renner’s book titled Sparkling Gems from the Greek: 365 Greek Word Studies For Every Day Of The Year To Sharpen Your Understanding Of God’s Word.

I need to do my part, not only to re-address the topic in the hopes that those who heard me misspeak can have the correct understanding, but to hopefully be a part of the growing number of voices who are trying to correct the fallacy that Jesus bore only 39 stripes at the whipping post.

My mistake was not that I listened to others, but that I took what I heard and accepted it as truth without validating it against the only Truth, the Word of God.

Jesus said for us to believe and not doubt in our hearts:

Matthew 21:21 (New American Standard Bible (NASB))

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.

However, we have the free will to believe whatever we want to believe. God loves us so much that he gave man and woman the power to choose freely. Therefore it is entirely possible to believe something that isn’t true. If we believe the wrong thing instead of what the Bible says about it, it has serious ramifications in our lives.

Furthermore, if we, believing what someone has told us, then pass that along to another person, who tells another person, the untruth continues to spread. Sometimes inaccurate statements sound plausible. Therefore it is paramount that we validate what we hear against God’s Word.

I personally made the mistake of broadcasting an untruth unintentionally several times to many radio listeners and I have a responsibility to correct this situation. In a subsequent broadcast this was corrected:
[sermons id=141]

I simply passed on what I had heard many times from others: that Jesus received 39 lashings on his back at the whipping post before he went to the cross. Also that it was 39 because it represented payment for 39 types of sicknesses and diseases.

Isaiah 52:14 shows how Jesus was to become “marred more than any other man”:

Isaiah 52:14 (New American Standard Bible (NASB))

Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men.

As if 39 wasn’t enough, Jesus suffered far more. So much so, based on Isaiah 52:14, he was marred (disfigured). Another misnomer that we hear often is that the stripes were on his back. However, you do not normally find a person is disfigured from looking at their back only. Typically someone is disfigured when you do not recognize them when looking at them from the front.

Secondly, it is from the more modern translations that speak that by His Stripes (plural), we were healed (emphasis mine):

Isaiah 53:5 (New King James Version (NKJV))

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

However, if we research the Greek text, we find that “Stripes” (Gr. mooloopi-mwlwpi) is SINGULAR. The Greek language requires so much accuracy that if two wounds had been visible the plural would be necessary. But, Christ was beaten so ruthlessly that only one wound was visible and it covered His entire body.

This makes the fallacy of the 39 stripes become even more of a contrast with the truth.

Jesus suffered so greatly, so that you would not have to. As we read in Isaiah 53:5, healing was purchased at the whipping post for all of humanity. This was before Jesus went to the cross to pay for all of creation’s sins, past present and future.

Our Lord and Saviour was marred beyond belief even before he went to the cross. The least we can do, myself included, is to get our facts straight before informing others based on hearsay.

In another article currently being written I will cover what the suffering at the whipping post by Jesus meant for all of us, and how our authority in the name of Jesus can deliver any person, saved or unsaved, from sickness, disease, or any form of oppression.

Tag: Stripes

Jesus Still Heals Today; Did Again Yesterday

Jesus Suffered More Than 39 Stripes

Matthew 21:21 (New American Standard Bible (NASB))

Isaiah 52:14 (New American Standard Bible (NASB))

Isaiah 53:5 (New King James Version (NKJV))