A Healing Sacrifice
Isaiah 53:1-6 (NKJV)
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, everyone, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Reflection
Salvation includes so much more than eternal life with God. The cross of Christ is the intersection where the human condition meets Divine love. No matter where your decisions have taken you, or what you have experienced through no fault of your own, the cross is where broken lives are made whole on this side of heaven.
Where else can the seemingly unredeemable person find forgiveness? Who else can the emotionally scarred and socially outcast turn to for healing and acceptance? The futile search for such peace apart from Christ is the definition of “coming to the end of oneself.” When we surrender the obstacles that stand between us and the truth of Isaiah’s words, we realize the cross has provided all that we need to face tomorrow with blessed assurance.
Only a gracious God would sacrifice everything for our eternal security, as well as for our temporal insecurity. The reality of God’s redemptive plan is that every sin, every burden, and every impossible circumstance find healing at Calvary. Salvation provides the grace we need for every season of life, until He calls us to our heavenly home.
Action Steps
Take a few minutes to meditate on this passage. Surrender to God anything that stands between you and the life-changing grace He has provided for your situation.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for the Divine love that saved me from a life of sin and shame. May I never take for granted the grace and mercy that is mine through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Amen.
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, everyone, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Reflection
Salvation includes so much more than eternal life with God. The cross of Christ is the intersection where the human condition meets Divine love. No matter where your decisions have taken you, or what you have experienced through no fault of your own, the cross is where broken lives are made whole on this side of heaven.
Where else can the seemingly unredeemable person find forgiveness? Who else can the emotionally scarred and socially outcast turn to for healing and acceptance? The futile search for such peace apart from Christ is the definition of “coming to the end of oneself.” When we surrender the obstacles that stand between us and the truth of Isaiah’s words, we realize the cross has provided all that we need to face tomorrow with blessed assurance.
Only a gracious God would sacrifice everything for our eternal security, as well as for our temporal insecurity. The reality of God’s redemptive plan is that every sin, every burden, and every impossible circumstance find healing at Calvary. Salvation provides the grace we need for every season of life, until He calls us to our heavenly home.
Action Steps
Take a few minutes to meditate on this passage. Surrender to God anything that stands between you and the life-changing grace He has provided for your situation.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for the Divine love that saved me from a life of sin and shame. May I never take for granted the grace and mercy that is mine through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Amen.
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