THREEFOLD REDEMPTION

Isaiah 53:4 says, ''Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.''

''Borne''- The Hebrew word means ''to bear a burden'' for another. [ It is often spoken of the bearing of sin], in the sense of substitution, to take upon the penalty for another. Significantly, it means to ''bear on the body'', for another.

''Carried'' - The Hebrew word means to ''carry away'' or ''remove''.

Both words are synonymous in meaning, conveying, however, the separate ideas of substitution (borne), and total removal (carried).

''Griefs''- This is literally ''sicknesses'', or as the Masoretic text says, ''illnesses''. [i.e., literal physical sicknesses and diseases.]

''Sorrows''- This can be translated as physical diseases, but 11 out of the 16 OT references have to do with mental suffering and anguish. Metaphorically it is the pain of the soul as opposed to the body or spirit. It can be literally translated as ''pain''.

Therefore, ''sorrows'' are pains of the mind, while ''griefs'' are pains of the body.

In Isaiah 53:12, the word ''borne'' is used in the exact same semantic form, to state that, ''... He bore the sin of many...'' and the root is used in verse 11 to say that, ''... he shall bear their iniquities.'' The Messiah ''bore'' our sicknesses and diseases, once for all, to the same degree that He ''bore'' our sins and iniquities, once for all.

Traditional Jewish understanding of Isaiah 53:4, was that the Messiah would be He who would be able to bear, for us physical diseases and carry away our sorrows, or mental disease.

There was, from the literal interpretation of the Hebrew, the understanding that the Messiah would actually be sick! In fact the Messiah was called, ''The leper of the house of Rabbi''. This led to the erroneous speculation that many ''holy'' rabbi might be the Messiah, because they were sickly and diseased most of their lives.

Jesus not only delivered us from our sins, but in His death and resurrection delivered us from mental anguish and physical sickness and disease in the body. In other words, redemption is three fold; spirit (sin); soul (sorrows); and body (sickness).