The Isaiah 53:5 Error

One of the worst misunderstandings of Scripture is the idea that Isaiah 53:5 means physical healing. Closely examining the verse shows that it's a spiritual healing of the rift between sinners and God.

Isaiah 53:5 (BBE) reads, "But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well."

The whole chapter is a prophecy about Christ's atonement. Certainly verse four speaks of him healing physical illnesses when he was incarnated. But the next verse uses healing as a metaphor of closing the gap between us and our holy God.

Look at the verse logically. The first part of it talks about Christ taking on the punishment for our sins. And as with Hebrew writing, the second part amplifies the first half. Therefore, his punishment healed the wound of our relationship with his Father. It has nothing at all to do with the physical healing in the previous verse.

This error of incorrectly reading Hebrew literature has caused believers to use Isaiah 53:5 as if it were some magic mantra that invokes God's healing. This is in fact putting God to the test.

Matthew 4:7 (BBE) reads,  "Jesus said to him (Satan,) Again 'it is in the Writings, You may not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

This quote comes from Deuteronomy 6:16 (BBE) which commands, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did in Massah."

As I've written before, some Christians tend to use verses as magic spells to make God give them whatever they want. This is blasphemy, as the above verse shows. Israel doubted God, even as these charismatics doubt the Father's ability to provide what they need.

I'll be writing about this error in You Think You're Going to Heaven? Trying to force God to give us whatever we want is disrespectful to his nature.

On Saturday, I'll post about China and the spiritual darkness in that oppressed land.

How Not to Misquote Scripture

I wrote earlier how naive I was as a new believer and how I craved mentoring. Doubtless pastors dream of having congregants like I was in their churches. In fact, I was so ignorant of the scriptures that I thought, "God helps those who help themselves," was in the Bible. It's actually a saying by Benjamin Franklin.

This is one of many reasons we must study, not just read, God's word.  As Moses said in Deuteronomy 32:2 (BBE), "My teaching is dropping like rain, coming down like dew on the fields; like rain on the young grass and showers on the garden plants:" We know that his doctrine came from God, not his own mind.

But we also know that Satan is the master of scripture twisting. While trying to tempt Christ, he caught on to the fact that Jesus quoted verses for his answers. So Satan misappropriated Psalms 91:12 (BBE) which says,"In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone."

But Christ was wise enough to come back with a correctly-applied verse. Instead of taking the Devil's dare to throw himself off the temple, he answered in Matthew 4:7 (BBE), "Jesus said to him, Again 'it is in the Writings, You may not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

And as I've pointed out before, knowing the scriptures helps us answer any accusation or question non Christians have. Knowing our Bibles also prevents us from falling for Satan's scripture twisters. As 2 Peter 3:16 (BBE) says of the Apostle Paul's  admonitions,  "And as he said in all his letters, which had to do with these things; in which are some hard sayings, so that, like the rest of the holy Writings, they are twisted by those who are uncertain and without knowledge, to the destruction of their souls."

Satan is always perverting God's sayings. The Pharisees received Christ's harshest condemnation for their lies and hypocrisy, as we see in John 8:44 (BBE). "You are the children of your father the Evil One and it is your pleasure to do his desires. From the first he was a taker of life; and he did not go in the true way because there is no true thing in him. When he says what is false, it is natural to him, for he is false and the father of what is false."

Properly quoting and understanding God's Word is my motivation for writing my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Unless we use precision to discern and apply the truth, we'll be as misled as the Pharisees and those trapped in Christian cults.

On Saturday, I'll post about the Resurrection. This is no mere fable but the very core of our hope. This too is what Satan attacks and minimizes.