I was feeling a bit burdened by my sin as I was reading the Word tonight and thinking of how often I let down my Savior, and every time I feel that way it is quickly the Lord who encourages me through His Word. We truly serve a God who meets us directly where we are at! I love this passage in Isaiah where he writes...
Isaiah 53:5-6 (New International Version)
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
There is so much truth and good stuff in this scripture! It presents the beauty of what Christ did for us in a way that is redeeming!! It just really captures what Christ did for us, HIs children. Think about these words in the way we use them today- first the word pierce: we use that to describe something painful, for example if there was a piercing noise- it is a painfully scratchy or screechy noise! Or we say, "he pierced her ears" which describes the event of puncturing or creating a hole in the flesh which is exactly what happened to Christ! He had painfully taken punishment for our transgressions!! The second word- crushed: we say crushed if someone got dominated in athletics, or crushed if something got trampled on or something...once again the punishment Christ took upon Himself for us was to be crushed for our sin, for our iniquities. WoW.
Then it continues to say the punishment that brought US peace was upon Him, He provided peace for us by taking our punishment that we rightfully deserve and because of HIS wounds, his scars, his bruises....WE ARE HEALED!!!!
Verse 6 is great as well! It reinforces the first part of verse 5, but first it makes it very clear to us that we ALL, like sheep, have gone astray meaning we have strayed from the way of Christ into our own perverse lifestyles...each of us has turned to our own way forgetting Christ, and God says...the Lord has laid upon Him, the iniquity of us all...He has laid upon Himself the punishment we deserve, the sin we commit is deserving of death, but because of Christ, we are forgiven and receive by the Grace of God eternal life!!!
What a great God we serve, what an encouraging verse, what a beautiful picture of Salvation!!! Praise the Lord!!
Be Blessed,
Toes
