Have you ever suffered a terrible bruise on your body?
I tend to bruise easily. Sometimes, I will notice a bruise on my body and not have any recollection of how it got there.
According to Google, a bruise happens when a part of the body is injured and blood, from the damaged blood vessels, collects under the skin. Although the injury is under the surface of the skin, the bruise is visible in a variety of colors. Upon impact, the bruise will appear to be red or pink, but as the bruise heals, the skin will appear blue, purple, or black. It appears its worst (blue, purple and black) as the majority of the healing takes place.
As the mending process continues toward completion, the bruise will appear a yellow or light brown color then, soon disappear.
Depression is like a bruise. It is an internal wound; a would of the soul.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This scripture reveals to us that God created every human being with three parts:
1. Spirit – which is one’s heart
2. Soul – which is one’s mind, emotions, feelings, will, and intellect
3. Body – which is one’s flesh
Depression can occur in the soul of the individual whose body has been injured.
Unfortunately, many have been violently abused by being physically beaten, molested, or raped; and as a result, depression manifested in their soul.
Depression can occur in the soul of the individual whose soul has been injured.
This can occur in a variety of ways, such as verbal abuse, the death of a loved one, or the loss of something significant; and as a result, depression can manifest in one’s soul.
Like the colors of a bruise visible on one’s skin, depression is visible in a variety of ‘colors’:
1. Absence of joy
2. Persistent feelings of sadness
3. Loss of interest or pleasure in social activities
4. Excessive sleeping
5. Loss of appetite or excessive weight loss
6. Excessive appetite or excessive weight gain
7. Decrease in energy
8. Thoughts of suicide
9. Consistent anxious thoughts
10. Frequent panic attacks
11. Social isolation
12. Extreme emotions
13. Excessive crying
14. Lack of concentration
15. Insomnia
16. Thoughts of hopelessness
17. Feelings of immense guilt
18. Thoughts of hatred or rejection toward self
19. Self-harm
Depression can also occur in the soul of the individual who's spiritually dead.
A person who has never accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior is spiritually dead. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
If you have rejected God's Son, Jesus, you have rejected life and embraced death for your spirit, soul, and body, for all of eternity. Depression can manifest within the soul of the spiritually dead person because depression is a byproduct of spiritual death.
God created the earth and everything within it out of His nature of life in Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1:7 says, “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” God's life was present within the spirit (heart), soul (mind, emotions, feelings, will, and intellect), and body of Adam and Eve, the first two humans God created.
God said to Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:16 and 17, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
But Adam and Eve sinned and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and as a result, death entered into their spirit (heart), soul (mind, emotions, feelings, will, and intellect) and body (flesh).
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.”
Depression is a byproduct of this death.
Through this death, you begin to see the ‘colors’ of depression in Adam and Eve:
1. Absence of joy – Genesis 3:10
2. Persistent feelings of sadness – Genesis 3:10
3. Loss of interest or pleasure in social activities – Genesis 3:8 and 9
4. Change of sleeping patterns – Genesis 3:7-13
5. Change of appetite – Genesis 3:7-13
6. Decrease of energy – Genesis 3:10
7. Consistent anxious thoughts – Genesis 3:10
8. Frequent panic attacks – Genesis 3:7, 10
9. Social isolation – Genesis 3:8 and 9
10. Extreme emotions – Genesis 3:10
11. Lack of concentration – Genesis 3:12-13
12. Thoughts of hopelessness – Genesis 3:7
13. Feelings of immense guilt – Genesis 3:10
14. Thoughts of hatred or rejection toward self – Genesis 3:7
15. Self-harm – Genesis 3:7
Death and sin nature is passed to all the generations after Adam and Eve. This is evident in Genesis 4 when Adam and Eve’s first son, Cain, murders his innocent, younger brother Abel.
In Greek, Abel’s name means mourning, lamenting, wailing, crying, or the one who sorrows. All of these are ‘colors’ of depression.
But just like a bruise goes through a healing process, God had a healing process for humanity to go through.
The latter half of Romans 6:23 reveals the process, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus conquered spiritual death over 2,000 years ago. Therefore, depression was conquered over 2,000 years ago.
ISAIAH 53:4 and 5 is a passage of scripture that reveals how, “Yet he (Jesus) was the one who carried our sicknesses and endured the torment of our sufferings. We viewed him as one who was being punished for something, he himself had done, as one who was struck down by God and brought low. But it was because of our rebellious deeds that he was pierced and because of our sins that he was crushed. He endured the punishment that made us completely whole, and in his wounding, we found our healing.”
The phrase “struck down” in this passage is used for one who is struck with leprosy.
According to Google, Leprosy, commonly known as Hansen’s disease, is a chronic infectious disease that mainly causes skin lesions and nerve damage.
In Biblical times, a person who had leprosy would be referred to as ‘unclean’ physically and spiritually. They would live a life of rejection and isolation; the same lifestyle a person experiencing depression would live.
It was a requirement for the leprous one to show themselves to the Jewish priest to be examined. Once examined and found leprous, the priest would perform animal blood sacrifices for the leper as a payment for his sins and spiritual ‘uncleanliness.’ (Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin is death.")
Jewish Rabbis have concluded from the passage Isaiah 53:4 that the Savior of the world will be called “the Leper of the House of Rabbi.” They understood that he would not be an actual “leper” but that he would carry the “spiritual leprosy” of the people, as a leper carries his affliction.
Jesus was stricken with leprosy in His spirit, soul, and body for all of humanity.
Jesus, who is God Himself, who is clean, holy and sinless, was made ‘unclean’ spiritually by becoming sin. He received the nature of sin in His spirit. He bore the weight of every sin ever committed and every sin ever to be committed as if it was Him who sinned in Genesis 3.
When Jesus was crucified, He took from you every one of your sins and bore them as if He was the One who did it.
Jesus was made ‘unclean’ soulishly by becoming depression, bearing every mental illness, anxiety, fear, guilt and shame in His mind, emotions, feelings, will, and intellect. Leprosy is a disease of the ‘nervous’ system. ‘Nerves’ are manifested in the soul through anxiety, depression, fear, guilt, and shame.
When a bruise manifests into the color blue on your skin, that is when it looks to be the worst.
Isaiah 53:5 says, “But it was because of our rebellious deeds that he was pierced and because of our sins that he was crushed. He endured the punishment that made us completely whole, and in his wounding, we found our healing.”
The Hebrew word for ‘wounding’ here means: “blueness of the wounds.”
When Jesus was crucified, He took every one of your WORST anxious thoughts, panic attacks, mental illnesses, suicidal thoughts, depressive emotions and feelings, mental disability, hopeless thoughts, chronic sadness, apathetic feelings, thoughts or actions of self-harm, hatred, and rejection of self and fears, to bear them as if He was the One responsible for the entrance of depression into the earth.
Jesus was made ‘unclean’ physically by becoming every sickness, disease, physical ailment and handicap. That is why in Isaiah 52:14 it says, “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness.”
Jesus did not have the appearance of a human because He bore cancer in every fiber of His body, every skin disease, heart disease, every sickness, disease, physical ailment or handicap that body could have. This would have made his humanity unrecognizable due to the aggression of such sickness, diseases, ailments, or handicaps.
ISAIAH 53:4 and 5, “Yet he (Jesus) was the one who carried our sicknesses and endured the torment of our sufferings. We viewed him as one who was being punished for something, he himself had done, as one who was struck down by God and brought low. But it was because of our rebellious deeds that he was pierced and because of our sins that he was crushed. He endured the punishment that made us completely whole, and in his wounding, we found our healing.”
In Hebrew, the word ‘whole’ is Shalom which means peace, prosperity, wholeness, success, well-being.
Jesus has provided healing, shalom and restoration of God’s life and nature, back to the entirety of our well-being; our spirit, soul, and body. The healing, shalom of the life of God, has come to us through Christ’s sufferings.
When a leper would come to the High Priest and be examined, a lamb was chosen as an animal blood sacrifice to innocently die in place of the guilty leper. The lamb’s innocent blood would be a payment for the sins as well as the spiritual, soulful, and physical uncleanliness of the leper.
You are the unclean leper.
You have sinned but spiritual, soulful, or physical death doesn’t have to be your destiny for eternity. Jesus became the Lamb of God and was slaughtered in your place so you could be spiritually alive spirit, soul, and body!
Isaiah 53:7-8, “He was oppressed and harshly mistreated; still he humbly submitted, refusing to defend himself. He was brought like a gentle lamb to be slaughtered. Like a silent sheep before his shearers, he didn’t even open his mouth…. He was cut down in the prime of life; for the rebellion of his own people, he was struck down in their place. Although He had done no violence nor spoken deceitfully, they gave Him a grave among criminals, but instead, He ended up in a rich man’s tomb.”
The Good News is that He was not just slaughtered; rather, He was BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE!
God raised Him from the grave and now, to those that embrace Jesus Christ as their Savior, will too be BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE!
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!”
1 Peter 1:3
If you would like to be restored to life in Christ say this prayer out loud:
“Heavenly Father, I believe in my heart Jesus Christ is Your Son. I believe Jesus died for my sins. God I’m sorry for all my sins and I ask you to forgive me. I believe that you raised Jesus from the dead and I say with my mouth Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Now I am saved, I have chosen life and I am Heaven bound. In the name of Jesus, Amen.”
If you said that prayer out loud and meant it, you are now spiritually alive in your spirit (heart). All your sins have been forgiven, paid for, and you stand before your High Priest Jesus and your Heavenly Father, clean, holy, and sinless!
Isaiah 61:3, “As for those who grieve over Zion, God has sent me to give them a beautiful crown in exchange for ashes, to anoint them with gladness instead of sorrow, to wrap them in victory, joy, and praise instead of depression and sadness. People will call them magnificent, like great towering trees and standing for what is right. They stand to the glory of the Eternal who planted them.”
Jesus has exchanged your depression and sadness for victory, joy, and praise! Jesus has restored you to shalom! Peace, wholeness, and prosperity, spirit (heart), soul (mind, emotions, feelings, will, and intellect), and body!