The Verse of the Day

-August 8, 2020-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-Jesus Died In Our Place On The Cross-

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

(Isaiah 53:5)

The Father sent His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to die for us on the cross. Our Savior was perfect, sinless, and holy, and He bore our sins and the sins of the world in His body on the cross. He paid our sin debt so that through faith in Him we have eternal life and the forgiveness of sins. Isaiah 53 shows the greatest detail of what Jesus went through.

We notice in our text there are four key words Isaiah employs to demonstrate the substitutionary death of Christ: wounded, bruised, chastisement, and stripes. Each brings to bear a different aspect of His suffering in the cross for us.

1) Wounded – Normally when we hear the word wounded we think of wartime. In the case of Christ, He was wounded as our sin bearer. He fought all the forces of Satan and the powers of evil and darkness, and He defeated them. Zechariah 13:6 speaking of Christ, says,”And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’”

2) Bruised – Bruises to the body are very painful and can take quite a while to heal. Just as wounded is used in military terms, bruised is more of a medical term. A deep bruise can cause the skin turn black and blue, and if there is some internal bleeding, purple. Our Savior was bruised for us. He bore every beating, and was nailed to the cross for us.

3) Chastisement – The word chastisement is a word the evokes of punishment for wrong doing, our’s not His. Here Isaiah says, “The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” The Roman soldiers scourged Jesus with a severe beating. The Jews limited beatings to 40 lashes, the Romans had no such limit. What a price Jesus paid to give us peace with God.

4) Stripes – By Jesus’ sufferings, He set us free from the power of sin and death. Isaiah tells us, “By His stripes we are healed.” He willingly endured and suffered for us. Every stripe that He bore in His body was meant for us. The hymn writer said, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

When we meditate on on these four words: wounded, bruised, chastisement, and stripes, it makes us fall at our Savior’s feet and worship Him. The symbols of the bread as His broken body and the cup as shed blood mean so much to us. We miss the Breaking of Bread so much.

Have a blessed day worshipping and praising the Lord. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean