Scripture: Isaiah 53: 5


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.

In this one verse alone, we encounter the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ on many levels. We see Him wounded, bruised, chastised and whipped with stripes. In other verses of scripture, we encounter other forms of suffering that our Lord experienced in the last few hours of His earthly mission.

The big question for all of us is why did He suffer so much? He paid the price so that we may live and enjoy a better life.

In our text, we find four benefits that resulted from the suffering of Christ on our behalf:

• Wounded for our transgressions. Wounds here refer to having deep openings on the skin of your body. Jesus suffered wounds on His body that we will be delivered from our waywardness and be returned to the right path of God.

• Bruised for our iniquities. Bruised refers to being humbled with beatings. It is the kind of beating that is done to a person to make the person feel that he or she is nothing. Our Lord went through that so that we can be lifted up from sin and restored in dignity back to God.

• Chastised for our peace. Chastised refers to that kind of beating that is meted on an individual to get that person to change his or mind about a situation. In popular terms, we call it, ‘torture’. Jesus was chastised so that He would be confused about His own confession of who He was, so that we would always have soundness of mind and life.

• By His stripes we are healed. The lashes that were applied to His body purchased healing for us. We can now claim divine healing from all our sickness.

Prayer: In the name of Jesus, I claim the full benefits of my redemption in Christ. Scriptural Reading: Isaiah 53:4-9