2014-04-17 - Bruised for Our
Transgressions
Isa 53:5 (AMP) But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to
obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that
wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
This is an oft quoted verse as Easter approaches. These words are written
hundreds of years before being fulfilled. They echo the words from the book
of Genesis where the serpent is promised that his head would be crushed while
the heal of the promised Messiah would be bruised. They hint at the coming
of the Christ child as Messiah took on our humanity. Tonight we focus on
that bruising in the events leading up to the cross.
Jesus was to be arrested in the garden. When the Lord asked those who came
who they sought, knowing the answer already, He displayed a glimpse of His
power in humbling the crowd. He spoke His name, I AM. Those who had come
to arrest Jesus stumbled backward. There should have been little doubt
Who was in control. He went willingly with them for our sakes.
Before the Sanhedrin every one of the answers Jesus gave was truthful, yet
those who should have recognized Messiah were blind guides. He was punched
and convicted in a trial that broke the Law in several ways. Jesus allowed
all these things without protest for our sakes.
Pilate tried multiple times to let Jesus go free. Finally, caving in to political
pressure he handed Jesus over to be beaten and crucified. The beating at
the hands of the Roman guard was so severe that His face was almost
unrecognizable. A crown of two inch thorns was jammed into His scalp as the
Lord of Creation was mocked by His creation. The forty lashes given with
whip with multiple lashes with bone and glass tied into them that removed
flesh and muscle with each stroke and could cause massive blood loss was
not often survived by the recipient. Jesus survived and walked to the cross,
for us.
Finally the Creator was nailed to a cross by His creation while His mother
Mary and a few of His friends watched helplessly as the final few items foretold
were accomplished. The Father turned his back on the Son because of the sin
the Son had taken on Himself. I'm not sure the loneliness of that moment
will ever be understood. When everything else had been completed He said,
"I thirst." Jesus cleared His throat with cheap wine and loudly declared
- It is finished! Then He willingly released His spirit to the Father and
died. The Son, the second person in the Trinity tasted death so that the
price for our sins would be paid by His blood as the perfect sacrifice.
Consider today the price that was willingly paid for our needful sakes to
repay a debt we could never pay. He paid for those who beat and mocked Him,
for the men who hammered in the nails into His hands and feet and drove the
spear into His side, for the Sanhedrin, for Pilate, for the crowd that called
for His death, for His mother Mary and step-father Joseph, and disciples
including those who ran an hid and Peter who denied Him, for all of fallen
mankind - including ourselves.
Selah.
Grace & Peace,
Mike
jmhoskins@gmail.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
http://www.redcross.org
All verses are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless
otherwise noted.
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