Joseph Prince - The Healing Power Of A Joyful Heart
Here we have a beautiful truth in Deuteronomy 25. It tells us this in verse 1 to 3, "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous", the judges will, "and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee".
Now, this is a Jewish law. A lot of things are different between the Jewish law in terms of scourging, compared to the Roman flagellum, the Roman scourging is different from the Jewish one. Notice, the Jewish one, the man will lie down on the ground and then they will beat him. And when they beat him, they don't beat him with a cat o' nine tails. They call it cat o' nine tails, the flagellum. Okay, it is a handle that you hold that the... I'm talking about the Roman flagellum. Roman flagellum is like an octopus, you know? And if everything strand there is hook, rusty hooks, and then there's crushed bone, and there's metal beads, and all that. And that's only one strand.
So, when one strand and one strand hits you, it's painful enough but when the entire strand grabs your back, it get embedded into your flesh. And then when they jerk, all the flesh is ripped off. Are you with me so far, all right? That's what the Roman flagellum is all about. They found it and they found it the Romans also is 40 times so that's what Jesus went through and 40 times, all right, the lashes came behind it. And don't forget, one lash causes the flagellum to, all the stripe. It's not just one stripe, it is many stripes, that's one stroke. Can you understand? And by his stripes, we are healed.
Isaiah 53, "Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed". God is healing people even now. Praise God. With his stripes, we are healed. Now, this is very interesting because when it's transferred to the New Testament, the Apostle Peter, who was crying, all right, from afar, he saw the flagellum. He saw the beating. He wrote this from Isaiah in his epistle.
1 Peter chapter 2 it says here, "Who his own self", referring to Jesus, his own self. I love this term, "his own self". In the Old King James, himself, who his own self. Himself took our infirmities. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven, himself, himself. Who gave himself for our sins, amen? It was himself, people. It wasn't one of his gifts. He gave himself. "Who gave his own self, who his own self bare our sins", where? In his own body, not in his Spirit. In his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.
Now, stripe there, molops, in the Greek is in singular. Stripes should plural like Isaiah is actually plural. With his stripes. In Isaiah, it's chabbuwrah, all right, chabbuwrah, the plural, chabbrod, all right? By his many stripe, we are healed. But in a New Testament it says by his single stripe, we are healed. So, why is it with his stripes, sometimes the Jew, the Jewish people use the word stripes to describe something violent, something great. They use the plural, right? But over here, you cannot say that because here, it is Greek. Greek is very exact unless they're using Hebrewism, okay? But this is not Hebrewism. So, why did he say, with his stripe, singular, with his stripe?
Now listen carefully, a Greek similar by the name of T.J. McCrossan, many years ago actually saw the problem. He said this, if the back of our Lord Jesus was beaten, was scourged in such a way that there was a sliver of skin left, there was even a sliver of skin, all right, the writer through, the Holy Spirit, cannot use the word singular stripe. But because there was not even a layer or even a sliver of skin left. It's just completely lacerated the back, there's no skin left. Then you can use the word "stripe" singular because there's one whole, big hole. You don't say, one big holes. It's just one big laceration at the back. Are you with me so far?
See what our Lord went through for our suffering. You say that, "Pastor Prince, 40 times how in the world can you get one big laceration"? So, for you sake, for those of you who asked that question just now, I prepared something for y'all to see, okay? Watch this. We're just speeding up here. And only 20 now, halfway through. And that covers the front. You cannot just estimate the back, it will probably hit the front as well, the face, 38, 39, 40. With his stripe, we are healed. With his stripe, we are healed.
Okay, go back to Isaiah 53, verse 4, 53, verse 4. "Surely", how many are glad he says surely? "Surely, he has borne our diseases". By the way the word down there is diseases. So, God knew that this will be a controversial issue even with his people. He knew that people like Pastor Prince, when he preaches on this, there'll be those who say, "Well, well, that is a view that you have and all that, but it's not true in the original". No, no, no, don't argue with the original because original says, surely. And the original here, griefs and sorrows, I want to say something here. I think Young's literal translation is very good for this. "Surely, he has borne our griefs", this is King James, "and carried our sorrows".
But the word here griefs is kholee and kholee, I've even asked a gentleman, a Jewish man in Israel, asked him what is kholee? Straightaway he says, disease, sickness. Until today, they use the word kholee for sickness, okay? There is a secondary word, grief. Okay, the word for carried our sorrows, the number one use of this word. The Hebrew word by the way is makov, say, "makov". And number one use of it is pain, pain. Now, secondary use, sorrow. But the problem with the King James translators here is that they put the secondary as the number one. They put the etymology as the first one. I'm gonna show you Young's Literal Translation. "Surely our sicknesses he has borne, and our pains he has carried them".
Okay, remember I told you just now, go back to Isaiah 53, it says surely he has borne our diseases and carried our pains, right? Am I right? But I didn't tell you the secondary use is the one the King James people use. They use the griefs and the sorrows, right? And they are right because when you study the word "kholee" for griefs or disease, the word, number one application is disease, you find the root word there is actually the word "kholee" comes from, kholee is a noun. It comes from carried khalah, khalah. This is khalah, okay? Kholee, this is how kholee is spelled. It's sickness and grief, but it comes from the word "khalah" and khalah is actually to be worn down in strength. Isn't that interesting?
The root word of sickness is to be worn down in strength. Wow, when I saw this, and then you know how you're worn down in strength? You study further, grief. The devil shoots you with something that grieves your heart, something that makes you worry, something that makes you anxious. It wears you down. How many of you know that there are days whereby you are anxious for a lot of things and you find yourself getting very tired? All right, so the word is "worn down". The devil doesn't... it's like a drip, drip, drip. He doesn't use dynamite to blow up the huge piece of rock, he just drip water, drip, drip, drip to wear you down. One of the works of the Antichrist in the last days, the spirit of Antichrist, is to wear out the saints of the Most High, drip, drip.
Now, it's very interesting, are you worn down or are you relaxing? God wants you relaxing. By the way, the Hebrew word for heal, to heal is the word rapha, say, "rapha". You look at the root for heal is the word raphah, relax, relax. Now, there's a fine line between worn down because you are tired and relaxed. Are you doing things when Pastor Prince teaches on rest, for example, and you say, "Yeah, yeah, I'm just worn down". No, worn down is not rest. Jesus said to those who are worn down, "Come to me all you who are weary, worn down, and I will give you rest". Rest is empowerment. Rest is replenishing.
Okay, so, go back to the word "borne our brief". So, the word "griefs" is there, it's there, actually, but it's the secondary usage. It should not be used here in Isaiah 53. It should be, "Surely, he has borne our diseases", okay? But the diseases come from being worn down. We are going in for the root, amen? Some of you don't even know when you started having this condition.
Doctors tell me that you can be suffering from stress, the stress that you suffered one week ago, two weeks ago when you handled something major and you don't even know. Now the stress is showing up in your body. Now you have an anomaly in your heartbeat, you know, or arrhythmia or whatever. You have a condition and you don't understand why but you are undergoing a stress period. You were worn down in strength. Now, we zero in, we're gonna close that gate. We're gonna close that door, in Jesus's name, amen?
Amen okay, the next one is carried our sorrows is makov, makov, again, the word should be, what? Number one meaning, pains. Pains that's caused by physical pains, physical pains, amen. But the secondary word, the etymology come from the word "sorrow".
Okay, I want to tell you something here, all sorrow in the world is dangerous. It will kill. But by nature of the fact that we are in a fallen world, there is sorrow. And sorrow of the world works death. Even in New Testament, Paul by the Holy Spirit says, "Only one sorrow is good. For Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation". Now, he's writing to Christians. So, salvation here is not saved from hell, it's not saved from a life without God. Salvation in him must refer to health, wholeness, healing.
So, Godly sorrow, in other words, if I say something that hurt you but you learn from it, that's Godly sorrow. Now, your mind change. You have right believing now. You have right thinking, therefore right believing, therefore right living, and hopefully, right results, amen? So, the thing is this, repentance is change of mind, amen?
Godly sorrow works changing of your mind, that produces sozo, soteria, that produces wholeness, deliverance, health, cool? It's not salvation, salvation as for sinners, okay, because he's writing to Christians. And this salvation, this health, not to be regretted. Once you experience it, you won't regret it. He's telling you that. This kind of changing of mind, Godly sorrow, I may tell you things, I may tell you something you don't like. When I counsel you, I tell you something you don't like, whatever it is, but if you learn from it, change your mind, amen, then you experience wholeness, emotional wholeness, mental wholeness, and then that wholeness is something you'll never regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, do you hear that? Did you hear that? Sorrow of the world produces death. Mmm, no wonder. What comes to your mind right now? You go to Israel, every time they have a feast day, they have a festival, they have a celebration, one of the first things they go to you and say, what do they say? Come up, come on, bro. Sit down there for so long, come. Shake hand, amen. Chag Sameach, right? Chag Sameach. You know what's Chag Sameach? That means it's not just congratulations, be joyful, be of good cheer, be joyful. Like the word in Greek, kara from charis, from grace, all right, be joyful.
And Proverbs 17, verse 22 says, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine". You think God is joking? It's a medicine that's not chemical. There's no chemicals. It's a medicine that has no side effects. But watch this, a broken spirit, whoa, a broken spirit, dries your bones! And so many medical conditions are caused by bones that are dried up, osteoporosis, osteoporosis, yeah. Arthritis all the itis is inflammation and there's no more moisture. What is growing old? Moisture gone already. So, how is the spirit broken? How is the spirit broken? And there are those people, "Well, Pastor Prince, I have a merry heart".
You know in ancient Britain when the king arrives back into the castle, the flag is always like half mast when he's out. He's not in residence or there's no flag, okay? Not half mast, no flag. But when the king is in residence, the flag is up. "Pastor Prince, that's flag but I tell you, don't go by my face. I have a merry heart". No, you cannot say you have a merry heart and it doesn't notify your face. Your face is the pole, all right, the flag, okay? "Well, I will not believe that. You show me Bible". Okay, don't ever challenge me with the Bible, all right?
Proverbs 15:13, "A merry heart makes a cheerful continence". Hey, cheerful face, lah. So, what causes your spirit to be broken? Here it tells you also. "But by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken". Just now we read broken spirit, right? Now it tells you how the spirit is broken, sorrow, makov, right? Surely, he has borne our diseases, the sorrow. Here it's etseb, which is another word for sorrow, the same principle. Now, let's go back to the verse that we opened with, Deuteronomy 25, start with verse 1. We started with this, right?
Notice, "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked". It's the wicked that gets the beating, right? But then, God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteous, the righteousness of God in him. So, who takes the place of the righteous now? You and I. Who takes the place of the wicked? Jesus at the cross, right? So, who is justified by God? You and I, am I right? Am I right or not? My first question, are you taking the place of the righteous for you to enjoy what the beating is all about? Are you taking your place, or are you taking the place, "I'm guilty, I'm this and that".
If you want the benefits of the stripe, you need to acknowledge that you are the righteous 'cause Jesus acknowledged, all right, himself as like, you know, identified with sin so that he'll take the stripes. You identify with the healing. With his stripes, we are healed. Are you with me so far? Okay, many of you partake of the Lord's Supper, right?
All right, I give you this last verse in Ecclesiastes 9:7, "Go eat your bread with joy". How you eat your bread? With joy. And many a times, okay, let's finish. "And drink your wine with", how? "A merry heart, for God has already accepted your works, amen. Let your head lack no ointment, and let your garments be white and your head lack no oil. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love".
Now, the first part there, we all know is Communion in the context of the New Testament, right? And yet, the Communion is called, what? Eucharist, thanksgiving. How many times have you attended a Communion service and it's very somber, it is very heavy? Search your heart. By the time you finish searching your heart, you don't want to take already, amen? You're afraid, right? It's called Eucharist, thanksgiving. It's joy. It's thanking the Lord. So, eat your bread with? And drink your wine with? A merry heart, amen. I think that's where we are missing it. It's not flowing in people's life because they look at the Communion as a very somber time. it is like rejoice, praise the Lord.
"Joy is the flag flown, let it fly in the sky". Now it's time for Communion, amen? Eat your bread with joy. Drink your wine with a merry heart. And then what? Your garments are always white. We know that, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. Your head will lack no oil, no anointing, amen? And you live joyfully with your spouse, hallelujah, amen?
Rejoice, amen. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. He loved you, man. And for the joy set before him, he endured the scourging. No wonder he fell and got up and fell again all because he loved you. But he saw you, that's why he got up again, amen? And he went all the way to the cross. He will not die until he's on that cross because there's another payment on the cross. On the cross, he redeemed us from the curse, amen? He was wounded for our transgressions. Can I have a good amen, people? Are you worn down in strength? Jesus says, "All you who are weary and are heavy laden, come unto me and I will give you rest", amen? Praise the Lord.