BY HIS WOUNDS WE ARE HEALED

Isaiah 53:1-12                                                                                                    

Verse 53:5

             “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.”

I thank God so much for this beautiful place here in Blue Mountain for the 2009 NJ and Trenton UBF Easter Bible Conference. Why did you come to this place? To get out of your ordinary and boring life? To have a getaway from stressful school studies and tiresome work? The main goal for this conference is to have faith in Jesus who defeated the power of death and said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” AMEN. However, we should pay attention to what happens before. Before Jesus’ magnificent resurrection reveals God’s glory, he silently died on the cross for our sins. Before we see the glory of God through his resurrection, and have hope for ourselves to rise again, we must die with Christ. We must die to our sins. I pray that we can open our hearts before God at this moment, and bring out our struggles and sins at the feet of Jesus. Let us confess our sins and ask Jesus for his forgiveness. And he will wash away our sins and fill our hearts with love, peace and joy. May God bless this message and help us to see Jesus’ wounds, by which we are healed.

In Isaiah Chapter 53, there is this prophesy about the coming messiah Jesus Christ will suffer and die for the sins of all mankind. This prophesy clearly tells us that Jesus is the promised Messiah who was to come to give the light to the darkness. Let us look at verse 1. Let us read the verse together. “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Israel, at this time when the book was written, was experiencing a great suffering by the oppression by the powerful surrounding countries. They were hurt inside and became indifferent and even built hatred towards their God. They thought God had left them, and had no hope for living. When their heart became cold and closed, the powerful message from many prophets failed touch and heal their deep wounds. What caused this serious problem in one’s heart, family, and a nation? Their forgetfulness did. They have forgotten of the almighty Arm of the Lord, which was revealed many times in their history.

What about us? Are we any different from the Israelites who often forgot the Strong Arm of the Lord? When things are not going as we please. When the challenge and suffering overwhelm us we should not believe and depend on ourselves, but Jesus. Jesus is the Strong arm of the Lord for us. He is almighty. He is most faithful. And his love endures forever and ever. People of this world do not know who Jesus really is. In my western religions class, we had a discussion about “who is Jesus?” The answers were all over the place. One said that Jesus is a good teacher. Another one said, “Jesus is Christ. But does the Christ mean?” It’s not bad the people in the class actually are at least interested to know who He is. But in most students’ and people’s life, Jesus does not exist because there are so many things that attract us to, and make us desire for. We desire good education, perfect family, lots of money, honor, fame, authority in our social position, and the list goes on and on. Not ending here, our sin-seeking desire to be slaves of Alcohols, wild parties, drugs and sex. We try our hardest to fill the cup of our sinful desire, which never fills, but leaves us with guilt and shame. Jesus might not be attractive in our eyes. In fact, his life from the birth to death was full of suffering. He was born in a smelly manger and grew up as a son of a poor carpenter, Joseph. When he grew up and finally revealed himself as a son of God, people laughed at him, and even accused him to be put to death for blaspheming. He was rebuked by his top disciple Peter when he told him about his coming death and resurrection. Judas, one of the twelve handed Jesus over for 30 silver coins. We also many times denied and betrayed Jesus according to our convenience, and because Jesus looks so humble and poor. But we should know that Jesus had to go through every suffering and endure the every pain that came through it for us, to understand us, to feel the worst pain in order to embrace those who are suffering in the world. Are you sorrowful? Are you badly hurt by the world and your sins? Are you betrayed? Do you feel like nobody understands how you feel? You are almost right. Nobody in this room will make your pain go away because we all have wounds and struggle. But Jesus knows our name, and he know how we feel. He can embrace and take our sorrows away. Let us go to Jesus and be healed today. Let us praise our humble Jesus who loves us for real. Let us firmly believe that “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Jesus is the most precious gift for us given by God, We pray that we may believe in him, and gain eternal life.

Jesus love did not end with a life filled with suffering and pain.

Look at verse 5. “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.” Jesus was pierced and crushed for our sins. We do not realize or deeply care about the seriousness of our sins. Sin separates us from God. And the wage of sin is death and death alone.

But we consider sin as a part of our life and even openly enjoy it by justifying with worthless excuses. We forget that we are supposed to be dying in Jesus’ place along with the robbers. But Jesus suffered until he breathed his last. Our sins were the thorns in Christ's head, the nails in his hands and feet, and the spear in his side. Crucifixion is the cruelest way to execute worst criminals. But Jesus who is without sin had to feel every pain there was. Psalm 22:14, 15 describes, “14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.” When Jesus was hanging on the cross, people did not stop insulting him. They shouted “If you are the Christ, save yourself. Come down from the Cross and make us believe that you are the son of God.” They did not know that Jesus did not come down from the cross so that he could save them and give them the eternal life. Not only he had to be abandoned by the people, but He also had to be abandoned by his Father God. Just moments before Jesus died; he cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (mark 15:34) And he said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.” (luke 23:46) Jesus finally died, his heart stopped pumping, and his mouth did not move a bit. When he died, he died with our transgression and sins. Let us praise Jesus who was crucified in our place for us.

I nailed Jesus Christ so many times everywhere with my uncountable sins. I was a slave of materialism and became a thief from my young age. I stole everything for many years. I was a bad slave of my sexual desires and could not stop looking at the ladies with lustful desires and sick thoughts. I was a slave of my laziness who did not move a finger to study during my college life. (and I am a senior soon) I am so jealous and selfish that I do not care about anything and anybody but me. Most of all, I, so many times, doubted the love of God, which is clearly shown through Jesus Christ’ death on the cross. And today, I am confess my sins and asking him to forgive my sins. And he smiles at me on the cross, and tells me, “Son, your sins are forgiven. Now go leave your life of sin.” I firmly believe that Jesus forgave my sins and I am free.

Look at verse 6. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” We are like sheep who easily lose the direction for our life, and that is why sheep need the care from the shepherd. But many times, we disobey rebel against our Bible teachers and the word of God, and decide that we go on with our life in “my unique way”, “my cool way” “my creative way”. We have our own ambition and goals to achieve, and in order to accomplish all my business, we leave the presence of God and in fact, follow the world. What should we do? Should we really experience what sin is, and come back to Jesus in our convenience? We should realize that without Jesus we are captured by the wolves, the Satan, end up in death. There are not too many ways. In fact, there is only one way to live a true life. And it is the best. And the one way is Jesus. Even though we have gone astray too far, and do not see even a glimpse of hope to revive again, we should remember the cross of Jesus where he was hanging. We should remember the blood of Jesus which was shed for our sins. There is no sin that cannot be washed away through the blood of Jesus. Let us remember the unceasing love of God that he demonstrates for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Let us make confession with our heart and be forgiven today.

In the last three verses, we see the fruits that Jesus bears through his death.

Look at verse 10. “Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.” After Jesus’ death, it looked like everything was over. The disciples scattered around in fear and power of death over them. But Look! There are visible fruits that we see today. And we are his fruits. We are his offspring and we will prolong his days. The Christ’s kingdom is not short-lived like any other kingdom that stood in the history. The will of the Lord will prosper through us. What is the will of the Lord for us?

First, it is to believe in the blood of Jesus that saved us once in for all. And the next step is to share this amazing news with the people around us. Of course living as a Jesus’ people or Jesus freak won’t be easy at all because the world is going backward. But here we can see a glimpse of hope from verse 11. Let’s read the first part of verse 11. “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;” When we are having a race in the world, we feel dying, but when we finish the race, and pass the finishing line of life, we will gain something much greater than the sufferings and the hardship that we will undergo. After the suffering from the carrying our cross, there will be crown of the kingdom of heaven. No pain, No gain! No cross, No crown! Let us expect greater gift from God, and do the right thing while we are here on the earth.

Look at your life so far. What have you done? And what is your dream that you want to accomplish? Countless things occupy our hearts and minds. However, even in the midst of life’s trouble and obstacles, let us remember “Jesus” by whose wounds we are healed. Let us remember that he indeed died for each and every one of us. May God help us to remember this beautiful love of Jesus, and live by it.