By His Wounds - Experiencing His Compassionate Wholeness Series

OPEN: This week, on Thursday the 22nd, the Red Cross will be having a blood drive at the Knights of Columbus Hall over on 17th???

Several years ago, the Red Cross in small Oklahoma town posted signs all over town with these words:

I gave my blood - Christ gave his.

I gave a pint - He gave all.

The needle is small, sharp - The nails were large, dull.

The table soft, restful - The cross rough, painful.

The nurses kind, gentle - The soldiers cruel, mean.

The crowd applauds my sacrifice.

"They that passed by reviled him."

Mine is for O Positive.

His for positively all.

Mine, at best, will prolong a life for a while.

His, without doubt, can save all forever.

APPLY: In Isaiah 53:5 tells us “by His wounds we are healed”

I. That’s an interesting phrase – “by His wounds we are healed”

Note that it didn’t say “by His words you are healed.” In His earthly ministry, Jesus would often heal people by simply saying something. Like the time when He healed a paralytic:

"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Luke 5:24

Other times, Jesus healed people by His touch, like the time Jesus healed Peter’s Mother-in-law.

Matthew 8:15 tells us “He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.”

He spoke and brought physical healing. He touched people and they were physically healed…

But Isaiah doesn’t tell us that “by His WORD you are healed” or “by His TOUCH you are healed…”

He said: By His wounds we’d healed!”

What is it about His wounds, that would heal us???

Isaiah 53 goes into great detail about Jesus’ wounds. Look again at verses 4-5:

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 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.”

Look again at those words:

stricken by God,

smitten by him,

afflicted.

pierced for our transgressions,

crushed for our iniquities

Those are the wounds that bring us our healing

How many of you have seen the movie: “The Passion?”

In that movie, you saw His wounds in graphic detail.

You saw the gross and horrid whipping of Jesus by the Roman soldiers

You saw the blood dripping from his lacerated body and smeared across the stones of the courtyard where he’d been chained.

And what struck me was how much attention was paid to the blood. So much so that Mary - the earthly mother of Jesus - mopped it up with a cloth she had with her.

More than one commentator complained about how much blood there was in the movie

One author described it as being pornographic

William F. Buckley (a devout catholic) was asked about it in a Time interview and even

he stated that he felt it was excessive.

II. But then… the Bible is bloody book

Just take a short reading through some of the Old Testament books that describe how God expected His people to worship, and you become overwhelmed by how much blood was involved in asking God to forgive the people their sins.

So, it’s little wonder that the writer of Hebrews tells us: …the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22

The Bible is a “bloody” book

ILLUS: Back in 2003 Russel Moldovan wrote an article in the Lookout magazine, and he said that in their church’s sanctuary, there is a cross that stands 15 feet tall and it’s 8 feet wide.

It weighs about 300 pounds.

Years ago the men of the church hewed it from two enormous logs. It stands erect in the middle of their sanctuary. Each year their congregation reenacts the passion of Christ with Jesus hanging from that… cross.

Today where Jesus’ head would have been, there is a large red stain. It was left over after their last performance - when some of the imitation blood of Jesus had rubbed off.

Recently one of our drama directors made this observation: . She explained that one Sunday morning during Communion she looked up and noticed the blood on the hewed cross and thought to herself, “What a mess. Why didn’t I see that before? I need to get a ladder and clean that off.”

Then it hit her. “I can’t do that. Why am I trying to clean up the cross? It is not mine to clean. The cross belongs to Jesus. The blood of Jesus belongs there."

Why does Jesus’ blood belong there?

It belongs there because it was His wounds (the wounds that Jesus endured) that shed that blood