Jesus tells John the Baptist how He is fulfilling Old Testament messianic prophecies by healing the sick. What are these Old Testament messianic prophecies? We will look at them and how Jesus fulfilled them in His ministry.

In my last post, I talked about the healing ministry of Old Testament prophets to kings. In this post, I want to look at messianic prophecies that deal with healing and how Jesus fulfilled them.

Hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth, the prophets in the Old Testament were proclaiming His arrival. They gave predictive prophecies about what Jesus would do. One type of those messianic prophecies was the way He will heal people with different afflictions.

I want to dive into these messianic prophecies and see how Jesus fulfilled them. They are proof that Jesus is the Messiah proclaimed by these prophets. Messianic prophecies are about the Anointed One God would send to Israel. Jesus fulfills all the messianic prophecies, but we want to specifically look at ones about healing.

Isaiah – The Messianic Prophecy Prophet

One particular prophet gave prophecies about the Messiah healing people. Isaiah is the rock star prophet of the Old Testament who gives the most messianic prophecies. He also speaks about the healing of the Messiah the most.

We will look at specific prophecies he gave about the Messiah and healing. Even Jesus references him when John the Baptist asks if he is the Messiah or if you should look for another one. Jesus’s answer is that He is healing people in just the way predicted the messianic prophecies of Isaiah. Although other prophet spoke of healing that will more, all the prophecies for the healing of the Messiah come from Isaiah.

The Suffering Servant Messianic Prophecy

The first place we will go is probably a place you already know or have heard of. Isaiah 53:5) the middle of the suffering servant song that shows a vivid image of Jesus on the Cross. Isaiah specifically says that Jesus’s wounds are for our healing.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5, ESV)

That last line of Isaiah’s prophecy is the key. Isaiah says that by His wounds we were healed. The word for “wound” can also mean slash, which may be the way Peter describes it when he refers to this verse (1 Peter 2:24).

After comparing Peter’s wording in Greek, I am convinced he is using the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) as his reference to Isaiah. The words for “wound” and “healed” are the same. The verb tense indicates a past action, so translated best “you were healed.” At the same time Jesus suffered wounds, stripes, slashing, healing was granted.

The Blind Will See Messianic Prophecies

Here are prophecies in Isaiah that talk about the Messiah opening blind eyes

“In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.” (Isaiah 29:18, ESV)

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened…” (Isaiah 35:5, ESV)

“to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 42:7, ESV)

Here are the events were Jesus healed the blind doing His ministry: Jesus heals two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31; [Jericho 20:29-34]; [1 blind man Bethsaida Mark 8:22-26]; [Bartimaeus at Jericho Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:42]; [man born blind John 9:1-7]; Ananias heals Saul Acts 9:17-19.

The Deaf Will Hear and Mute Will Speak messianic Prophecies

Here are Isaiah’s messianic prophecies about the death and the mute.

“In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.” (Isaiah 29:18, ESV)

“… and the ears of the deaf unstopped…and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” (Isaiah 35:5–6, ESV)

Here are the times during Jesus’s ministry when He healed the deaf: Jesus heals a deaf man in Decapolis (Mark 7:32-35). Jesus restores a man’s ear (Luke 22:50-51).

Here are the times during Jesus’s ministry when He healed the mute: Jesus heals a mute man (Matthew 9:32-34; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:14-15); Jesus heals a bad of a mute spirit (Mark 9:25-26); Jesus heals a man I made blind and mute spirit (Matthew 12:22); a boy who has a spirit that makes him mute (Mark 9:14-21)

The Lame Will Walk Messianic Prophecy

Isaiah 35 also has a messianic prophecy about the lame walking. “then shall the lame man leap like a deer…;” (Isaiah 35:6, ESV)

Here are the events we Jesus heals the lame during His ministry:

Jesus heals a paralyzed man (Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26). Jesus heals the blind and the lame at the temple (Matthew 21:14-16); [paralyzed for 38 years John 5:1-8]; [lame from birth Acts 3:1-10; 14:8-10). Jesus heals a man with dropsy (Luke 14:4).

I know that’s a quick fly-by of Jesus’s healing ministry, and that’s just scratching the surface. We will continue to study each of these in coming posts as I continue to talk about healing through this series. I will devote entire posts to these events.

Praying for Your Healing

After seeing all this evidence of Jesus as the Messiah, the Anointed One sent from God to heal the afflictions of the world, and knowing that He still does it today, let me pray for you and me.

Mighty Jesus, I thank You for my brother and sister in Christ. I thank You for their continued faith in Your healing promises. We know You are the only one who can heal us. I cry out to you on behalf of my brother and sister in Christ who is going through the afflictions of blindness, deafness, muteness, paralysis or crippled/lame symptoms, and any other affliction I have been named. We ask you to heal us in Your powerful and matchless name. We thank You now for what You will do in our bodies and lives. You are worthy of all praise and we gladly give it to You! In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen

Up Next

We have seen messianic prophecies Jesus fulfilled that had to do with healing. Next, we will look at Old Testament words for healing.

Image by Brigitte Werner from Pixabay