By His Wounds We Are Healed

Jesus Christ is our sin substitute, our mediator between man and God. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people."

Jesus was the only person throughout history that was fully man and fully God. He was born of the virgin Mary, who was impregnated by the power of the Holy Spirit. Before His birth He was equal with God. But, God sent Him down to earth to take on the form of a man, to become our sin substitute. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) Philippians 2:6-11 speaks about the work of Jesus Christ,...

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

So why did Jesus have to be obedient to death on a cross? First of all, for someone to be qualified to take upon himself the penalty owed to us, he would have to be without sin. Otherwise, his death would be the due penalty for his own sin. Because, Jesus, the Son of God, is the radiance of God's glory and exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:3), He was perfectly obedient to the Father and without sin.

Jesus would also have to be willing to take upon Himself the penalty of the sin of others. "For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

Jesus also had to be cursed by God, to take upon Himself the curse of our sin. Jesus was cursed by God (for our behalf) because he was crucified on a cross (pole). Deuteronomy 21:23 says, "anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. Galatians 3:13 goes on to explain, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

Jesus is called the Lamb of God. When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, Moses was called by God to display the His power through ten plagues, signs, and wonders, which would gain the release of Israel and demonstrate God's sovereignty over the "gods" of the Eqyptians. In the last plague, God promised the death of the firstborn male of every household, but passing over the households of every Israelite who had sacrificed a lamb and smeared the blood on the door posts. This "Passover" event has been celebrated as the first Festival of the Lord ever since. The Festival not only remembers what took place in Egypt, that typifies the world, but also looks forward to the time when God's ultimate Lamb, Jesus Christ, would be slain on the cross for the sins of the world.

When the Israelites were on their 40 year journey from Egypt where they had been slaves to the land God had promised them, they grew impatient and complained against Moses and God. So God sent venemous snakes among them. Then the people acknowledged their sin and asked Moses to pray for them. Moses prayed for them.

"The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived." (Numbers 21:8-9)

Jesus explained that what happened back in the desert typifies the work of Christ on the cross.

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” (John 3:14-15)

On the cross, Jesus paid the due penalty for the sin of everyone who places their faith in Him. There is a double exchange going on in the spiritual realm. My sin is placed on Jesus who bore my penalty, and His perfect righteousness is placed on me. I am acceptable to God who requires perfect holiness of me because His Son's perfect holiness is given to me as a free gift. All I can do is put my trust in God's promise of forgiveness and eternal life for those who believe in His Son.

Isaiah 53 portrays the work of the Suffering Servant, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

In the next blog entry, I intend to explain how we can apply the work of Jesus Christ to our own lives so we can enter into the family of God.