Does atonement include the liberation from physical suffering?
No – not before the rapture (or death). Some have drawn a wrong conclusion from a verse in Is. 53:5 “with his stripes we are healed”. However, this verse speaks of ‘our iniquities’ and ‘our peace’ so that the context makes it clear that ‘healing’ has to do with the sin problem, the terrible illness of sin, and not with physical ailments as such. Similarly, verse 4 of the same chapter has been misunderstood: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows”. This verse does not refer to atonement but to the Lord’s healing miracles as the quotation of this verse in Mt. 8:17 shows. We are still “waiting for the adoption, …, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23).
