Isaiah 53:4-5 (NIV): 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.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, some of the jeers of the Pharisees and teachers of the law centered on a gross misunderstanding: they believed that Jesus had run afoul of their rules and had ended up on the cross because He was a heinous sinner who deserved death because He lied to people and led them astray. They sincerely believed that God Himself was set against Jesus, and was in complete agreement with their punishment of this man whom they had judged a blasphemer.
But they were ignorant not only of God’s real standards, but even of their own Scriptures; Scriptures that contained these very verse that truly and completely told the truth about what was happening. Jesus was dying on the cross NOT because God’s judgment was leveled against Him, but because it was leveled against those mocking Him, those who had condemned Him. The fuse on the cannon of God’s wrath had been lit, and Jesus placed Himself between God and those who were the rightful and just targets of His judgment. And Jesus received the full blast Himself. He was pierced for their transgressions, taking on Himself the painful penalties of their sins. He was crushed for their iniquities, enduring the soul-searing separation from God that they deserved to suffer for all eternity. By receiving the wounds that they had earned, He provided the potential for their healing and wholeness.
The sad part is, people both then and now, millions of people for whom Jesus took all of that pain into Himself, reject the gift that He paid so high a price for. He has been written off as a fool by some, as a fraud by others, and even as a figment of someone’s imagination by still others. But all of those people don’t realize that, in writing Him and His sacrificial death off like that, they are not only tearing up the pardon for their sins, signed in His blood, so that they WILL have to suffer the horrible penalty for their sins; they are adding to their list of sins the most heinous sin of all: purposefully rejecting God’s self-sacrificial love for them.
Father, the depth of Your love and mercy leaves me breathless. How can we ever thank You enough, thank Jesus enough, for all that You have done to save us from an eternity of suffering and agony! Amen.