By His Wounds

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 235, By His Wounds.

"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5.

Isaiah wrote these words roughly seven hundred years before the cross. Seven hundred years before Jesus was even born, before Rome existed as an empire, before any detail of the crucifixion took place — and yet this chapter describes the Servant's suffering with a precision that leaves readers stunned. It's no accident that so many people call Isaiah 53 the fifth gospel.

Notice the first part: "for our transgressions," "for our iniquities." The Servant's suffering is not an accident. It isn't some random tragedy that simply happened to occur. It is substitutionary — He is carrying something that was ours, not His. The transgression was ours. The iniquity was ours. The wound was His.

And the word "crushed" deserves a pause. In the original Hebrew, this word describes something pulverized, ground down to dust. This isn't a scrape. It isn't a surface wound. It is a crushing weight — the full weight of human guilt, laid on a single man. This was not light. It was not symbolic. It was real, physical, devastating.

But look at what comes next: "upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace." Think about how much time you've spent searching for peace in other places — in achievements, in relationships, in distractions, in trying to convince yourself everything is fine. And the text says the real peace, the one you're looking for, has already been purchased. By a punishment He received, not you. There is no genuine peace apart from this exchange.

And then we arrive at the heart of the verse: "with his wounds we are healed." Notice the paradox — it is not despite His wounds that we are healed. It is through them. The Servant's wound becomes the remedy for our own wound. That doesn't make sense from a purely human standpoint — wounds healing wounds? But that is exactly what the cross proclaims: His pain became the healing you needed.

So I want to invite you to do something simple, though it may take courage: name before God, right now, one specific area where you still carry guilt, shame, or an old ache that won't let go. Don't stay general — name it specifically. And then, out loud, thank God for Christ's wounds that have already paid for that exact area of your life. Not because you earned it, but because He has already handed over the price.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.