By His Wounds We Are Healed

"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."  Isaiah 53:5

My husband is a history buff and could sit for hours and watch program after program on the History Channel.  Several times over the last couple of months he has stumbled on Alex Haley's drama Roots.  He very intently sits and watches the gruesome portrayal of the African slave trade and subsequent years of horrific misery that took place in the mid 1700s and which unfortunately lasted for many generations to come. 

Say whatever you'd like, but I can't watch it with him.  My stomach literally begins to tie in knots as I see the appalling way that the African slaves were treated by white men, simply because of the color of their skin.  I recently told my husband that watching it made me feel ashamed for being a white person.

In 2004, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ profited more than $600 million as masses of people flocked to the theaters to view a real life depiction of the final twelve hours of Jesus' life, including the violent beatings and ultimate death on the cross.  Christians and non-Christians alike were able to watch what is probably the most realistic portrayal of Christ's crucifixion.

Feeling like it was almost a requirement for a good Christian girl, I forced myself to watch it whenever it came out on DVD.  Well, I don't know if you can call it "watching it".  My eyes were either closed or my face was shoved into a pillow during about three-quarters of the movie.  Had I not have shielded my eyes, I know I would have been physically ill. 

There have been innumerable atrocities in this world, but none compare with the death of Christ on the cross.  Sure many people through the ages have suffered and died unmerited deaths, even on a cross, but none of them would provide the kind of gift for all of mankind that Christ's death did.

You see, Christ's death provided healing.  While my body might feel physically sick when I witness cruelty and unjustness depicted in movies or on the news today, I was born with an illness that could only be healed by Jesus.  I was born with the disease of sin running through my veins and in my heart.

As horrific as it was, Isaiah's prophecy was completely fulfilled through Jesus' death on the cross.  Roman soldiers put a spear in Jesus' side as He was hanging on the cross (John 19:34) and scholars believe that the prophecy of Him being crushed was a metaphor for the weight of the world's sins He carried to the cross.  He was crushed in spirit.

And why did He endure all of that?

So that you and I could be healed. 

We are thirty-three days away from Good Friday, the day believers stop to remember Christ's death on the cross.  Will you make a concerted effort this Easter season to truly take in the gravity of what our Lord endured on that day?  Should you accept it, His death provided the gift of healing to your sin-sick soul.  Does your life reflect the gratitude that we should show for a gift so great?