"By His Wounds We are Healed"
Isaiah 53:4-6 "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. 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."
Today, I want to take a walk with you and Jesus to
Calvary. We'll begin at Gethsemane and the betrayal.
It was Thursday night, Judas had brought the religious
authorities to the garden where Jesus had been
praying that perhaps the Father would let this cup
pass. Judas kissed Jesus on the cheek which was a
sign to let them know He was the one.
Jesus was just arrested in the garden that night. They
took Him to the High Priest and the elders. They were
hoping to find evidence that would allow them to put
Jesus to death but they found nothing.
The High Priest stood and said: "Are you the Christ, the
Son of God?" Jesus said, "Yes I am."
When Jesus said this the High Priest began ripping his
own clothes off and he yelled "He is worthy of death!"
Ah, they finally had Him. Jesus had done the what is
unthinkable, He had proclaimed Himself to be the very
Son of God. This was blasphemy in it's highest form, at
least that's what the Priest and Elders believed. They
said "No man can make such a claim and live!"
Then they spit in His face and some of them covered
His head and began to hit and slapped Him. Mocking
Him telling Him to "prophesy Jesus, if you are the Son
of God, who it was that was striking you".
This went on late into the night. By early Friday, Jesus
was handed of to Pilate.
As He stood before Pilate, the Priest and Elders falsely
accused Him of all kinds of things. They lied over and
over and yet, Jesus never opened His mouth.
Pilate, in attempt to satisfy the Jews, had Jesus
flogged. This special beaten was done with a whip with
pieces of metal or bone tied to the ends of the straps.
This was so when they beat Him it would rip deep into
the flesh tearing away the muscle from the bone. Many
didn't survive this type of beating.
When this beating was over, Pilate escorted Jesus out
before the people to seek their will. Pilate wanted to set
Jesus free, he knew He was free of guilt.
Three times he said, "I find no basis for a charge
against Him." But still the crowd shouted "Crucify Him!
Crucify Him!"
Finally Pilate called for a bowl of water and he washed
his hands in front of the crowd saying, "I am innocent of
this man's blood."
Still the crowd cried out, "Take Him away! Crucify Him!
His blood be upon us and upon our children." So,
Jesus was taken and prepared for crucifixion.
Are you still with me on this journey? I know it's difficult
to continue our walk but we must.
After they beat Jesus some more, they stripped Him
and put a purple robe on him. They weaved a crown of
thorns and pushed it deep into the flesh on His head.
Then in an attempt to humiliate Jesus even more, the
soldiers bowed before Him and cried out "Hail, King of
the Jews!"
As part of the preparation, they tied the cross to the
arms of Jesus then He was made to carry this cross to
Calvary where they would crucify Him.
Why did the sinless, Son of God endure all this
suffering and shame? The Bible says that Jesus did all
that He did for you and for me even though we don't
deserve this ultimate sacrifice He made.
The Bible tells us that He didn't do this because we
loved Him, remember, He loved us while we still
enemies of God in our sin. Listen to what God's Word
in 1 John 4:10 "In this is love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins."
In the old testament there were many prophetic
examples of Christ's death on the cross. The story of
Abraham when he was told to sacrifice Isaac was a
great example of this.
God told Abraham in Genesis 22 to "Take you son,
your only son Isaac, whom you love". Abraham's love
for his son Isaac is a picture of the love of God the
Father for His Son, Jesus Christ.
This was the first time the word "Love" appears in the
old testament.
The first time it appears in the new testament is in John
3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son..."
So Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac was a kind of
prophetic picture of all the sacrifices that were yet to
come until, God the Father would offer His only Son so
that He could be the perfect sacrifice and once and for
allSavior of the world.
Not only does the old testament tell of Christ death to
come as a sacrifice for our sins, but over and over
again the new testament also explains the reason for
Christ's death.
The Apostle Peter says 1 Peter 2:24: "He Himself
bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we
might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His
wounds you were healed."
And again in 1 Peter 3:18 "Christ also died for sins
once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might
bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh,
but made alive in the spirit"
Then Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21 says; "He made Him
who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Jesus' death on the cross provided a total payment for
all our sin once and for all. It provided an opportunity
for a healing of the rip in our relationship with God.
When Jesus offered himself for our sins, He sat down
at the right hand of God, showing that His death fully
and forever satisfied God as the payment for our sins.
Ok now, back to our journey with Christ to Calvary.
Jesus walked that road to Calvary's hill through the
same streets He entered the city of Jerusalem.
The same people who welcomed Him into the city now
lined the streets where He carried His cross, they
cursed Him and spit on Him as He walked by.
When they arrived at the top of the hill, the soldiers
placed Jesus on that terrible cross and they drove nails
through His wrist and one through both heals to hold
Him there as they lifted Him up.
It must have been devastating to the Christ followers
standing below to look up at their deliverer dying on
that cross as a common criminal.
They nailed a sign just over His head that read, "This is
Jesus, King of the Jews."
Something else was nailed to the cross that no human
eye could see. The Bible says that all our sins, past,
present and future were nailed to that cross with Christ.
All of them, every one even the secret ones, nailed to
the cross forever.
The cross is the only healing for the sins in our life. It is
only by His wounds we are healed.
Last week, we had two people decide that it was time
for a life change. They put their trust fully in Jesus and
His saving sacrifice to enter into a love relationship with
Him.
I can't tell you what joy that brings to my heart. And I
know that in Heaven, there was a celebration going on.
The Bible says in Luke 15:7; "I tell you that in the same
way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous
persons who do not need to repent."
That's the main reason for the existence of Grace Bible
Chapel, we wish to seek out the lost and bring them to
Jesus. We would like to see Heaven become a not
stop celebration the lost becoming found.
I wonder, are you trusting in Jesus Christ and His
healing wounds as your hope for salvation? Can you
say, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I
cling"?
Don't think that for whatever reason you can't come to
a saving relationship with Jesus Christ today. Jesus
said "Who So Ever Believes".
That whoever is you. Remember though, there's
nothing you can do to gain forgiveness on your own. It
is only by His wounds you are healed!
If you have never trusted in His wounds to heal your
personal situation, or maybe you believe but you
haven't really allowed this healing to take place in your
life, you can do it today.
You can know that your sins are forgiven, forgotten,
forever, Amen!
