January 10, 2023

There Is Healing in Communion

“That evening, they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8:16–17, ESV)

Why is there healing in receiving communion? God put it there... for us! In Isaiah 53:5, we read, “And by His stripes, we are healed.” Isaiah prophesied these words nearly 700 years before Jesus was born. The passage states that we are healed by His stripes or the wounds he took upon His back.

Seven hundred years later, Matthew is writing his Gospel after watching Jesus heal everyone who was sick. He remembers the words of Isaiah the prophet, or perhaps Jesus took him to the words of Isaiah. Matthew discovers, this is that which was written by Isaiah the prophet. Now Jesus heals everyone to prove the word of Isaiah to be true.

Paul states in 1 Cor 11:30 that many in the church are sick because they have not discerned the body of Christ. They failed to see Jesus as God’s sacrificial Lamb. They did not understand that salvation, healing, and deliverance were all provided by Jesus at Calvary. Jesus took 39 stripes upon His back as Pilate scourged him, so we could walk in health.

Peter picks up this theme in 1 Peter 2:24, “By His stripes we were healed.” Isaiah looks ahead and sees the cross. Peter looks back and sees the cross. Jesus goes to the cross, taking with Him our sicknesses and diseases! Yes, my friends! There is healing in the communion. As you receive communion today, believe He heals you by the stripes he took upon His back!