Man of Sorrows - The Scapegoat Man
- Paul Downie
- 1 day ago
- 23 min read
Isaiah 53:4-6 NIVUK
[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.
A few short blocks from the world renowned Times Square and Forty-Second Street in New York City lies a lesser-known tourist attraction. It’s an LED display that flickers and changes far faster than once a second. It shows a number so huge that most of us will not conceive of or see anywhere else in our lifetime.
And it keeps rising. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, this number keeps increasing and shows no sign of slowing down.
You see, this is the US National Debt clock, which shows how much the nation owes to banks and other financial institutions, and every American family’s share of it. It's in the trillions of dollars.
And it keeps increasing.
My wife is an accountant. Part of her job is to look at companies’ accounts, add up all their assets, their transactions, the money they are owed and the money they owe others and tell their management if they are making a profit and how much tax they need to pay.
Accountants use the same method the world over to carry out this task: double-entry accounting. It’s been around for generations.
You’ll have seen it if you have ever seen a bank statement or a credit card or utility bill or an invoice for pretty much anything.
In principle, you have two columns: the money coming in and the money going out. You add up the numbers in both columns, subtract the money going out from the money coming in and the difference is the profit you have gained.
That, more or less, is it.
What you have in front of you in Isaiah 53 is God’s double-entry accounting. This is what tells us if we will be saved or not. It’s this double-entry accounting that we will analyse in this meditation.
But to understand it, we must first understand a critical principle of fairness that underpins Jewish law – indeed, most law codes: that of reciprocity.
Allow me to explain.
Let’s say that we got into a fight, I punched you and gave you a black eye.
Under the Jewish law code, the facts of the case would be established by the judges. If they agreed that I had, indeed, punched you and given you a black eye, they would decide on a reciprocal punishment: you could punch me and give me a black eye (Leviticus 24:18-20).
This law us often misunderstood. It was not designed as revenge. It fixed the fair, and maximum, punishments in the case of physical harm.
In other words, someone who is sinned against could claim the right to exact the damage caused by the sin on the person who sinned against them.
Now, I'm not advocating a return to that form of corporal punishment. Not at all.
What I am saying is that sin created a debt, and that debt must then be repaid.
The sheer scale of this debt, and how serious sin should be taken, is emphasised in the gory nature of the sacrificial system, and the use if animal death and blood as a sin, or Atonement, offering (see Leviticus 6 and the many mentions of this offering throughout Old Testament law).
In fact, this led the writer to the Hebrews to reach a stunning conclusion:
Hebrews 9:22 NIVUK
[22] In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Why?
Because the debt created by our sin – the sins every one of us commit – is so incredibly great that only the shedding of blood can repay it.
The Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur) plays a crucial role in this sacrificial system. That special day is when Jews consider their own sinfulness and seek forgiveness from God. One of the rituals on this special day is of particular interest. It’s described in Leviticus 16.
As part of the offerings, two goats were presented before the Lord. One was sacrificed on the altar. The other was presented live. The priest confessed all the sins of the people over this goat and then released it live into the desert.
This live goat, in Hebrew called azazel, completely removed the sins of the people and took them into the desert, bearing their guilt far away. In English, we call this goat the ‘scapegoat’.
This picture describes perfectly what Jesus did for us.
He bore our sins with Him outside of the city to Golgotha and died there in our place.
And that death was not natural. It was not peaceful. It was far from pain-free.
The salvation He bought for us, freeing us from our crippling sin debt, came at an extraordinarily high price.
We will now look at these verses, which tell us precisely how high this price was, using that classic double-entry accounting method.
We’ll start with Our Pain – He Suffers.
Our Pain – His Suffering
Isaiah 53:4 NIVUK
[4] Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
This is quite an incredible verse.
I don’t know if you have ever stood at a luggage carousel and seen a confusion as two passengers argue over whose bag is whose. I have, on occasion, and particularly after a long flight, mistaken someone else’s bag for one of ours, but I’ve noticed my mistake before offloading it from the belt.
This, however, is on a whole other scale.
This is Jesus Christ, the unburdened one, taking on our pain and our suffering.
There are a few possible interpretations of this:
The first is, of course, our sin, and all the pain associated with it.
As Peter said:
1 Peter 2:24-25 NIVUK
[24] ‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’ [25] For ‘you were like sheep going astray,’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
The second, is our sickness.
This is also absolutely true, as Matthew comments:
Matthew 8:16-17 NIVUK
[16] When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill. [17] This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’
In other words, on the cross Jesus bore all our sickness, all our disease, all our physical and mental pain. But He did not just bear them, He also dealt with the root cause.
You see, there was no suffering before there was sin. Sin caused suffering (Genesis 3). And so for suffering to end, sin had to be dealt with.
That is what Jesus did on the cross.
The third is our stress.
You see, the Hebrew words used for pain and suffering both carry with them a sense of mental strain, mental anxiety, mental anguish. They don’t just address the physical aspects, but also the mental aspects that often worsen them, or even cause them.
This explains the frequent mention of the phrases ‘do not worry’ or ‘do not be anxious’ in the New Testament.
What we see here is a grand transaction of faith. Jesus Himself explains it:
Matthew 11:28-30 NIVUK
[28] ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
And Peter adds to it:
1 Peter 5:7 NIVUK
[7] Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
In other words, when Jesus was crucified, on that cross He bore not just our sickness, but the root cause of that sickness and the root cause of the things that make us sick. He conquered not just our sin, but our sickness and our stress, as well, fourthly, as our sworn enemy: death itself:
1 Corinthians 15:55 NIVUK
[55] ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’
So our suffering, and all of its root causes, were borne by Jesus to the cross and crucified.
And killed. And ended.
He defeated them all.
How much do we need to remember this truth!
But yet – irony of ironies – some of those who saw Him suffer believed that He had to be suffering for His own sins: that God was cursing Him because of something He had done wrong.
Not true!
It was for our sins, our sickness, our stress and to defeat our sworn enemy that He died.
Not His own.
But we move from our first double entry of our pain – His suffering, to our second double-entry: Our Transgressions – He is Pierced.
Our Transgressions – He is Pierced
Isaiah 53:5 NIVUK
[5] But he was pierced for our transgressions
Earlier I noted how the Jewish legal system included corporal punishment, including the death penalty. And these weren’t just idle clauses. They happened.
And in some nations and states, they still do.
This verse takes things even further.
What it says is that Jesus was pierced for our transgressions. In other words, Jesus was harmed because we crossed the line and trespassed against God’s law. And the word it uses for ‘pierced’ is quite dramatic. You will have heard it before, I'm sure.
It’s the word ‘halal’.
Nowadays, we take it to mean an animal that has been slaughtered by a cut to the jugular vein, carotid artery and windpipe, and then left to bleed out so that the carcass is free of blood. The original word meant ‘pierced’, but also ‘defiled’ or ‘desecrated’.
That is, Jesus was slaughtered for us and made to die like everyone else because we sinned.
He died on a cross – the most ignominious death possible – because we sinned.
Revelation contains this piece of Jewish poetry:
Revelation 5:9, 12 NIVUK
[9] And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
[12] In a loud voice they were saying: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!’
Why?
Because we sinned, but Jesus was slaughtered.
He became like one of those sin offerings in Leviticus (Leviticus 16). He became the lightning rod for the punishment we deserved.
These are truly extraordinary words.
But it continues. Because apart from Jesus suffering our pain and being pierced for our transgressions, we also see another entry: Our Iniquities – He is Crushed.
Our Iniquities – He is Crushed
Isaiah 53:5 NIVUK
[5] he was crushed for our iniquities
This phrase is equally as violent and shocking as the one that came before. By ‘iniquities’, this verse means our perversions, our depravity, our guilt.
Isaiah is not mincing his words here. Not one bit.
These words are quite devastating.
He is talking about deliberate, conscious decisions to violate God’s law.
He is talking about glaring, and fundamental, character flaws that constantly lead us to do wrong, to ourselves, to other people and to God.
These words are highly emotive.
You see, this isn’t the ‘little’ sins, this is the big ones.
This is the nasty sins that we would rather not admit to ourselves, let alone to other people, and definitely not to God.
This is the sins that disgust us, revolt us and make us hate ourselves.
Yet this verse says that Jesus was crushed and broken for those sins.
As Paul taught Timothy:
1 Timothy 1:13-16 NIVUK
[13] Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. [14] The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. [15] Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. [16] But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
You see, try as we might to try to conceal those sins from other people and God, we are actually wasting our time. Because God sees. God knows. As Moses said:
Psalms 90:8 NIVUK
[8] You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
God not only sees them and knows them, but He sent His Son to die for them:
1 John 2:2 NIVUK
[2] He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Today, you might be weighed down with a gross and disgusting sin. It might be something you wrestle with in your conscience. You might spend half of your day frustrated at yourself from getting involved in it again, and the other half trying to find a way to do it.
This is not a good place to be. It’s horrible.
And modern technology makes it all the easier to get entangled in this.
I want to share some amazing news for you. Yes, Christ’s brokenness on the cross was because of your son, but He also died to release you from it. The reason He died, bearing the pain for your sin, is so that you might repent of it and go free.
You can imagine yourself locked in an ancient dungeon with no hope of ever getting out. Jesus Christ died for you on the cross to free you. He has paid your penalty. He has unlocked the door. It’s now ajar. The guard will let you leave. All you have to do is accept what He has done for you and go free.
Won’t you accept it and enter into your freedom?
We have seen that Jesus suffered our pain, was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. The next line in this wonderful double line entry of grace is Our Peace – His Punishment.
Our Peace – His Punishment
Isaiah 53:5 NIVUK
[5] the punishment that brought us peace was on him
Negotiations are high on the agenda as I write these lines. The US president, no doubt relishing in his position at the centre of it all, has held negotiations with Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to try to end the brutal war in Ukraine that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides and harmed the economies of many nations across the globe, not to mention the incredible damage done to the nation of Ukraine.
There is always a delicate balance to be struck. We all want wars to end – unless we’re the shareholders of a company that makes, ships or traffics armaments. No-one relishes the prospect of danger coming to their door.
But peace never comes free of charge.
Especially when damage has been done.
Deciding who pays the price for peace is always a controversial issue. While the ‘Peace and Reconciliation Committees’ in South Africa after Apartheid were largely hailed as a success, those who took part had to relinquish their rights to prosecute those who harmed them, in exchange for a confession. History also records the exacting reparations that were placed on Germany after the First World War, and how they became the breeding ground for the resentment that paved the way for the rise of the Nazis.
Human beings always cause strife. There is always a desire for revenge which always makes things worse.
But how can that ever be resolved?
Jesus Christ is the answer.
We need peace. We crave peace.
But not at any price.
We long for justice.
We want a just peace.
However, what we have to admit is that our sin is the problem. It attacks and disrupts the three principle relationships in our lives: with God, each other and ourselves.
We can see how it hurts our relationship with God:
Isaiah 59:1-2 NIVUK
[1] Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. [2] But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
And with each other? That should be obvious:
James 4:1-3 NIVUK
[1] What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? [2] You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. [3] When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
But it also has an impact on how we view ourselves. We stop seeing ourselves as ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14). We start seeing ourselves nihilistically, as some form of biological machine that is programmed only for its own pleasure. We abandon God. We do our own thing. We forget that we are made in His image (Genesis 1:27).
This in turn leads to poor self-image, improper self-esteem, despair.
Haven’t we seen enough of that?
What we need is peace and a sense of well-being along all those relational latitudes. We need peace with God. We need peace with each other. We need peace with ourselves.
We know we need to forgive. We know we need release from the man-trap that is grudge-bearing.
But how can we do that and experience justice?
The answer is Jesus. It is He who reconciled us to ourselves, to others and to God.
As Paul taught:
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NIVUK
[16] So from now on we regard no-one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. [17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! [18] All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: [19] that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [20] We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. [21] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Ephesians 2:14-18 NIVUK
[14] For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, [15] by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, [16] and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. [17] He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. [18] For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Jesus Christ reconciled us by taking upon Himself the punishment that we were due for our sins, but also that other people were due for theirs. He bore the guilt. He bore the shame. He, yes, He, bore the hatred and the animosity.
And He bore them to the cross.
Whenever there are any peace negotiations, there are always losses: sometimes on both sides. Peace is rarely free.
Having been in countries where warfare has ended after a couple of decades, I can tell you that even then there are suspicions and grudges and unforgiveness.
It takes a very long time for an end to war to truly become peace.
Yet Jesus died for that. He died for all that. He bore the punishment that bought us peace with God.
That same punishment brings us peace with ourselves. He has paid our price. He has brought us forgiveness – at an astonishing price.
If God can forgive us, surely we can forgive ourselves!
He also bore the punishment that brings our worst enemies peace with God. Justice is served at the cross. Therefore we can forgive them in the knowledge that God will not be mocked. Righteousness will prevail.
That is why God’s forgiveness of us must enable us to forgive other people (Matthew 18:21-35).
That is the incredible power of this verse.
Do you feel it?
After Jesus suffered our pain, was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities and punished for our peace, the next entry in God’s glorious grace-filled double-entry accounts is Our Healing – He is Wounded.
Our Healing – He is Wounded
Isaiah 53:5 NIVUK
[5] by his wounds we are healed.
This almost seems a paradox.
We understand doctors who wound us to cause healing. The post-operative scars we carry are visible signs of places where we were once wounded.
How can we be healed by someone else’s wounds?
But yet we are!
And the wounds Jesus bore were both painful and substantial. Even just the torture He endured – the ‘forty lashes minus one’ – were so severe that prisoners often died before they left the torture chamber. Add to that the serious and brutal torture He endured on the cross and it’s little wonder that crucifixion was, and still is, one of the most inhumane ways to die.
But how can it heal us?
In a very special way:
Permanently.
Because this is what it bought for us:
Revelation 21:3-5 NIVUK
[3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. [4] “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ [5] He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’
His painful sacrifice at the hands of heartless, merciless men obtained for us something every human being who has ever suffered has longed for with every fibre of their being:
An end to it.
Jesus Christ’s suffering on the cross brought an end to our suffering on earth. Not now, you understand. Not right away. But an end nonetheless.
As Isaiah prophesied:
Isaiah 51:11 NIVUK
[11] Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Our suffering will end. Our healing will come.
But only because Jesus Christ suffered on our behalf. For no other reason.
So we have seen that Jesus suffered our pain, was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, punished for our peace and wounded for our healing.
The last entry in this glorious double-entry account is We Stray – He Bears our Iniquity.
We Stray – He Bears our Iniquity
Isaiah 53:6 NIVUK
[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.
This is quite an astonishing admission.
Shepherding was very much part of the Jewish mindset and culture.
One of the greatest kings they had ever known was David, who began his life as a shepherd boy in a backwater town that few people considered as remotely important (Psalm 78:70-72; Micah 5:2).
Shepherding was even used to describe how God guided and provided for His people (Psalm 100:3; Ezekiel 34:31).
Submitting to that shepherding brought a deep sense of peace, knowing that you would always be provided for (Psalm 23:1).
Shepherding was deeply engrained in their national psyche.
But what this verse is saying is that Israel had a shepherd, but had wandered off. They had ignored Him. They had gone their own way. Lived their own life.
Caused their own mess.
What a tremendous description of where our nations are at this time!
How accurate a picture!
There is an interesting law in Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 22:1-3 NIVUK
[1] If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner. [2] If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. [3] Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.
But it seems like this sheep has really stayed far, because there is no neighbour or friend to rescue it.
Jesus talks of this situation in a well-known parable:
Luke 15:4-7 NIVUK
[4] ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? [5] And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders [6] and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” [7] I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.
We often concentrate on the joy of finding – and that is true. That is the message of this parable. What a joyous joy that is!
But in this parable, we also see the pain of losing. That is what drove the shepherd to search for the sheep.
And we also see the strain of searching. The ninety-nine were in a remote place. That being so, how far away was the lost sheep!
The risks of shepherding in ancient Israel were well known. There was no need for Jesus to document them here. They faced harsh elements, unforgiving terrain, wild beasts, bandits. It was a dangerous job. Jesus doesn’t run away from this – He states it plainly when He uses a similar metaphor in John (John 10:11-15).
There were costs in searching for this sheep.
But such was the impact that the loss would have had on the shepherd, those costs are worth paying to find the sheep.
Jesus stated plainly the costs He was prepared to pay to find us:
John 10:11 NIVUK
[11] ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
And that is what He did. He paid the price for our iniquity, our perversity, our wrongdoing.
He paid the price for our wandering.
He did it so we would go free.
There is an old hymn that sums up the price He paid with such poetry and precision:
Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned he stood,
Sealed my pardon with his blood:
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
Guilty, helpless, lost were we;
Blameless Lamb of God was he,
Sacrificed to set us free:
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
The very least we can do today is recognise the wonder of the Saviour we love, the incredibly high price He paid for us, and the priceless value of our salvation.
And repent.
It is the only reasonable thing to do.
Conclusion
Isaiah 53:4-6 NIVUK
[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.
On 25th May, 1979, when I was still only three years old, the first Star Wars movie came out.
This was quite a special moment. Although it looks dated now, this film featured the very heights of technology in it’s special effects and was clearly a science fiction film designed for mass appeal.
Which, of course, it did.
It was also the first film in history to feature merchandising.
And that merchandise sold like hot cakes. Action figures of its stars, models of the spacecraft, scenes that you could build yourself and re-enact – all of it was very, very popular.
Most of it passed me by, of course. I was too young. But as I got older, and the prices decreased somewhat, I recall playing with an X-wing fighter, an AK-AK and a Millenium Falcon, as well as several figurines.
I played with them. I took them put of their box and I played with them.
Had I, or my parents, known then what we know now, I don’t think they’d have done that.
A 1980 AK-AK, still in its original box, which cost around $15-20 in 1980, now sells to collectors for more than $4,500.
An original, mint-in-box X-wing fighter now sells for around $350 (it was likely around $15-20 too).
An original Millenium Falcon, which was once $26.99, now sells for around $339.
We did not understand their worth.
It’s often the same with our salvation.
Yes, we regularly meet in our churches for the Lord’s Supper/Communion/Eucharist.
However, how many of us can say that when we take the bread and wine/wine substitute we are really meditating on how much it cost for us to be saved?
Note what Paul said about this feast of remembrance:
1 Corinthians 11:26 NIVUK
[26] For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Why proclaim His death? Why not His resurrection?
Simple.
The nature of His death reminds us of the nature of our sin, the value of our salvation and the value of our soul.
The nature of our sin, because it is so obscene that it required Jesus to die a violent, shameful death to pay for it.
And no, I don’t go along with the idea that sin is relative. We don’t get to say ‘My sin is so small that when the High Priest slapped Jesus, that was for me, but yours is so big that when the soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross, that was for you’
No!
The wages for sin is death (Romans 6:23), not sins. All sin is worthy of death.
The cross teaches us just how ugly all sin is.
It also teaches us of the value of our salvation.
Because the price to gain it for us was ridiculously high, and something we could not pay, as the Psalmist points out:
Psalms 49:7-9 NIVUK
[7] No-one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them – [8] the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough – [9] so that they should live on for ever and not see decay.
But Jesus Christ can and Jesus Christ did:
Ephesians 1:7 NIVUK
[7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
1 Peter 1:18-19 NIVUK
[18] For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, [19] but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
But do we fully realise how much it cost? Can we ever realise it?
And if we even came close to realising it, would we live our lives the way we sometimes do?
Would we treat our salvation as a kind of insurance policy that we file in a drawer somewhere and only pull out when we need it?
Or would we be overcome with wonder at the love shown us at the cross and dedicate our lives to the One who saved us?
It also teaches us the value of our soul.
The value of something is how much you are willing to pay for it. Every day, objects that are of little value to their owner are sold in junk shops and car boot sales, but turn out to be much more valuable, while millionaires with much more money than sense spend $6.2 million dollars on a banana duct taped to a wall.
But what value do we put on ourselves – on our very soul?
Jesus said this:
Matthew 16:26 NIVUK
[26] What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Yet there are so many ways in which we can be misled into thinking that we are worthless.
God disagrees.
He sent His Son Jesus to endure the most painful death imaginable to save you – the most supreme sacrifice anyone ever has or ever will make.
That is how much you are worth.
Whoever you are.
But let me finish by showing you something. We have talked over six entries in God’s Divine double-entry account:
Our Pain – He Suffers
Our Transgressions – He is Pierced
Our Iniquities – He is Crushed
Our Peace – He is Punished
Our Healing – He is Wounded
We Stray – He Bears Our Iniquity
If we take the right hand side away, because that is what Jesus did for us, and then remove the two results of this (Peace and Healing), we are left with a clear statement of what our life is like without Jesus Christ:
Our Pain
Our Transgressions
Our Iniquities
We Stray
That is no life to live.
With Jesus, we see the cost of sin, we perceive the cost of our salvation, we become aware of how valuable our soul is.
Without Jesus, we have nothing.
Which would you choose?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am profoundly moved by seeing the incredible price You paid to save me. I will never take this lightly again. Forgive me if I have forgotten how much it cost. Help me to live for You from now on, mindful of what You did for me. Amen.
Questions
What did Jesus do for you?
How hard has it been for you to see what Jesus did for you?
How will you react to this?
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