Christ's Healing as Symbol of Spiritual Restoration

Isaiah's prophecy of the coming LORD encompasses multiple layers of fulfillment, yet Maclaren identifies the supreme manifestation in Christ's mission and work. The prophet envisions a transformation so complete that the wilderness itself becomes verdant, streams break forth in the desert, and the lame leap like deer. But these are not mere poetic flourishes. Maclaren insists that "bodily diseases here enumerated are symbols, just as Christ's miracles were symbolical."…