By His Stripes: What the Suffering Servant Carried for Us
Isaiah 53:4–5 (ISR2009)
Truly, He has borne our sicknesses
and carried our pains.
Yet we reckoned Him stricken,
smitten by Elohim, and afflicted.But He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our crookednesses.
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
and by His stripes we are healed.
Together, this verse tells the entire Gospel:
He was pierced for our rebellion,
Crushed for our distorted nature,
He took the discipline so we could walk in wholeness,
And by His wounds, we are restored.
Transgressions (*Hebrew: peshaʿ פֶּשַׁע)
Meaning: Willful rebellion; crossing a line; breaking trust or covenant intentionally.
Biblical nuance: Not just sin, but defiant disobedience against the authority of YHWH.
In this verse: He was pierced for our acts of rebellion—the ways we knowingly stepped out of His will.
Crookednesses (*Hebrew: avon עָוֺן)
Meaning: Twistedness, moral distortion, guilt, iniquity.
Biblical nuance: The inner corruption or depravity that leads to sinful action—even when we don’t realize it.
In this verse: He was crushed for our bent and broken ways, for the sin that deforms us from within.
Chastisement (*Hebrew: mûsar מוּסָר)
Meaning: Discipline, correction, instruction through suffering.
Biblical nuance: Often used of a father correcting a child or YHWH disciplining His people for restoration, not wrath.
In this verse: The discipline that brings us peace—our just punishment—was placed on Him instead.
Our Peace (*Hebrew: shalom שָׁלוֹם)
Meaning: Wholeness, harmony, restoration, health, welfare, completeness—not just the absence of conflict.
Biblical nuance: Shalom is everything being made right again—spiritually, emotionally, physically, and relationally.
In this verse: Yahushua bore what we deserved, so we could be made whole in every way.
There are some verses that don’t just speak to you—they stop your breath. Isaiah 53:5 is one of them. It doesn’t whisper truth—it bleeds it.
In just a few lines, the prophet Isaiah unveils the full weight of what Yahushua bore on our behalf.
This year, during our very first Passover, it deeply affected both me and my husband.
We read many verses aloud—none were new. But, my husband—still moved from watching The Passion of the Christ, just days before—paused at the image of Yahushua’s back being scourged. It stayed with him. So it was natural to stop and reflect for a moment on the full weight of Isaiah 53:5…
For the first time, we didn’t merely skim the verse; we stopped and deeply engaged with it. We asked, What does this really mean? We broke down the words, one by one. And when I heard the definition—when I really saw that He was scourged so I could be healed—I couldn’t unsee it.
I remembered how He had taken me to Heaven and healed me. And I realized… that healing came at a high cost of His wounds—those wounds, these wounds. Not in theory, not symbolically—but in blood. In stripes.
I had accepted that healing, and now I was finally seeing the weight of what it cost. And that… that is a lot to process on much deeper level than I’d seen before.
(And honestly the whole night was so crazy good, so this is just the first post of so many!)
Every word of Isaiah 53:5 is a doorway into a deeper understanding of sin, justice, mercy—and healing, we just have to be willing to engage. Let’s walk through it, slowly.
ABBA,
Give us eyes to truly see, ears to truly hear, hands ready to obey, and feet willing to go wherever You lead. Let us behold the beauty of the Gospel of Yahushua. Lift the veil from our eyes—reveal to us the radiant glory of Your Son and the wonder of Your offering. Restore us in Your sight. Reunite us with You in the fullness of Heaven. In Yahushua’s Name we pray,
Amen➕Amen!
Pierced for Our Transgressions
Transgressions (peshaʿ) are not just casual mistakes. They are willful rebellions—moments when we knew what was right and chose to turn away. He was pierced for every time we crossed the line, defied His covenant, or chose pride over obedience.
And He didn’t resist it.
He offered His body to be broken by the very ones He came to save. He stood in the gap where we rightfully should have stood, and the punishment that pierced Him should have pierced us.
Crushed for Our Crookedness
Crookedness (avon) is what sin does to us from the inside out. It’s not always loud. Sometimes it hides deep beneath the surface—twisting our desires, confusing our minds, bending the truth. It is guilt, inherited and cultivated, quietly deforming us.
He was crushed under the weight of that corruption—so we wouldn’t be.
What a scandalous exchange: our twistedness for His purity. Our secret shame for His open suffering.
Chastisement for Our Peace
Chastisement (musar) is correction.
It’s what a righteous King gives when justice must be served. But instead of us receiving the discipline our sins demanded, He received it.
Every stripe on His back was a declaration: I will take what they cannot bear.
He was punished… so we could be made whole.
Peace (shalom) here isn’t just the absence of war—it’s the presence of everything made right again.
We are restored because He took what we could never endure, but fully deserve. Body, mind, spirit, relationships, identity, eternity. Wholeness in the fullest sense.
By His Stripes We Are Healed
Every stripe wasn’t just a wound. It was a healing line written across time.
He didn’t only die for our forgiveness—He bled for our restoration.
This isn’t symbolic healing. It’s actual. Spiritual, emotional, physical—healing that restores the broken places, purifies the defiled ones, and binds up the pieces of our soul we didn’t know were scattered.
We are healed—because He was hurt.
We are restored—because He was rejected.
We are made whole—because He was broken.
But I hope you see, Yahushua is not just healing the sinner… He’s also healing the damage their sin caused—in themselves, in others, and even in the spiritual realm.
This is why Isaiah 53 is so powerful.
He’s not a Band-Aid for the broken. He’s the Restorer of all that sin broke.
Ge sets right ALL things that sin broke, not some things for a chosen few.
Let’s break that idea out a little more:
1. He Heals the Sinner
He redeems the rebel.
He forgives the transgressor.
He takes a person full of guilt, shame, and spiritual death—He transforms them, makes them new, clean, alive.
That’s personal salvation.
2. He Heals the Sin Itself
This goes deeper. Sin doesn’t just stain—it destroys.
Sin wounds our identity.
Sin breaks relationships.
Sin distorts creation, corrupts truth, and invites judgment.
And He took that on, too.
When He was crushed—it wasn’t just for the act of sin, but for the aftermath of it.
The mess.
The broken systems.
The inherited curses.
The emotional fallout.
The generational pain.
The ruin it left in its wake.
He bore it all. And through His wounds, He is mending what was shattered—piece by piece.
This is the Gospel in full.
Not just "You are forgiven."
But "You are being made whole."
Not just "You’re no longer guilty."
But "You’re being restored into glory."
So when we read, “He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our crookednesses,” we’re not just reading poetry. We’re reading the very act that split history in two.
Yahushua didn’t come to cover sin with ceremony—He came to carry it, crush it, and cleanse every trace of its presence. He took our rebellion. He absorbed our brokenness. And in doing so, He made a way for everything that was twisted to be made straight, and everything that was shattered to be made whole.
This is not just about forgiveness—it’s about healing the sinner and undoing the sin itself. Wholeness is not a future hope—it is a present offering, bought with blood, and waiting for us to receive it.
I pray you will, in Yahushua Holy Name, Amen!
G – Grounded in Scripture
Read: Isaiah 53:3–7
What do you see about Yahushua’s mission here?
How does this passage shape your understanding of the cross?
R – Reflect on Context
Have you considered the difference between sin and crookedness?
Do you see your past rebellion in the light of His mercy?
A – Apply to Your Life
What broken places in you still need His healing touch?
Are there areas where you’re still carrying guilt, even though He already bore it?
C – Commune with God
Father, You crushed Your Son to bring us peace. You poured out judgment on Him so we could be free. Let us never forget what the blood paid for. Let us live like healed people—bold, forgiven, whole.
E – Exalt God
We praise You, YHWH, for Your mercy that heals and Your love that carries what we could not. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!
Declaration
I declare that I am not bound by the past—I am healed by the stripes of Yahushua.
I will no longer carry what He already carried.
I stand whole, not because of my strength,
but because of His sacrifice.
I speak this in His Name, Yahushua ha’Mashiach.
Share Your Faith
Has Yahushua healed you—physically, spiritually, or emotionally?
Share your testimony below or send it to someone who needs hope.
Let the world know what His stripes have done.
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