Daily Devotional: Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Scripture Reading
Isaiah 53:5 (KJV) “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.“
The prophet Isaiah has been telling God’s people their Messiah will live a life of suffering. He won’t be attractive. No one will desire him. He’ll be despised and rejected. A man of sorrows. He’ll be stricken, smitten, and afflicted—you remember that song we sing?
Let’s listen/join our church musicians as they sing the song:
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
see him dying on the tree!
‘Tis the Christ by man rejected;
yes, my soul, ’tis he, ’tis he!
‘Tis the long-expected Prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
by his Son God now has spoken:
’tis the true and faithful Word.
Tell me, ye who hear him groaning,
was there ever grief like his?
Friends thro’ fear his cause disowning,
foes insulting his distress;
many hands were raised to wound him,
none would interpose to save;
but the deepest stroke that pierced him
was the stroke that Justice gave.
Let’s stop here for a second.
The first two verses of this song have just explained the Messiah’s suffering. Now though, the next two verses turn to explaining the reason for the Messiah’s suffering.
The Messiah is Jesus, and Jesus suffered for us. He suffered because we sin and His Father is angry against us. His Father is filled with wrath against sinners.
God hates sin. Sin contradicts God. Sin is rebellion against God. Sin violates God’s firm and fixed law. Every single sin has to be punished to vindicate God’s justice—to show that God’s justice is perfect and true. God is just and He must always be perfectly true to Himself. For this reason, every man who commits sin has to be punished for his sin—every last one of his sins.
Think about your sin. How many times a day do you sin? How bad is your sin? God is our Father and He will never stand for us sinning when He has commanded us to obey Him.
Someone has to pay for our sin.
Ye who think of sin but lightly
nor suppose the evil great
here may view its nature rightly,
here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed,
see who bears the awful load;
’tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.
Here we have a firm foundation,
here the refuge of the lost;
Christ’s the Rock of our salvation,
his the name of which we boast.
Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,
sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
who on him their hope have built.
You see how the third and fourth verse of this song open up the meaning of our verse for today? Listen carefully for the words “our” and “we.”
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Jesus took our sins—your terrible and wicked sins, and mine—and He bore His Father’s punishment and wrath against us. He did this for us sinners. He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted for us. So that God’s wrath would fall on Him instead of falling on us.
Dear children, confess your sins to Jesus and ask Him to save you from His Father’s wrath.
A PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Just and holy God, we confess that we are sinners, born in guilt and corruption, unable of our own power to do any good. Because of our sin we never stop breaking Your commands. But with true sorrow we humbly repent and beg Your forgiveness. Have compassion on us, gracious God, Father of mercies. Forgive our sins for Jesus’ sake, and fill us with the grace of Your Holy Spirit so that by Your power working within us we might joyfully submit ourselves to every requirement of Your law. Amen.
OTHER PRAYER NEEDS
- For doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers who endanger themselves caring for the sick.
- Good health and protection for the vulnerable among us
- Fruit of God’s Spirit to abound in our homes
SCRIPTURE MEMORY THIS WEEK
Isaiah 53:7-8 (KJV)
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
