Life through Jesus comes by believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths.

5 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.

Isaiah 53:5 King James Version (KJV)

The whole salvation message is wrapped up in this one scripture verse.  Today, I want to look at this verse and see what we as Christians have access to because Christ went to the cross.  

Christ fulfilled the law when He died on the cross.  He brought life and health where there was once death and sickness as evidenced by this verse.  Jesus was wounded, bruised, chastened, and whipped so that we wouldn’t have to be.  He was punished with our punishment so that we could live in Him.  

What Jesus did on the cross brought about so many blessings, but today I want to look at one in particular.  Jesus brought us LIFE.

Sin Revived – I Died

When man, you and I, come of the age where we know right from wrong, our spirits die.  We become separated from God in need of a savior.  

8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

Romans 7:8-10 New King James Version (NKJV)

Without the law – or without being told that an action was wrong – we didn’t know and therefore sin had no power.  You don’t punish a child for doing something they didn’t know they weren’t supposed to do.  “…apart from the law (the rules to live by given by God) sin was dead”. We didn’t know what to do so sin had no power.

But here comes the important part.  When the commandment came (when I understood what the rules were) and I disobeyed, sin revived and I died. 

Now we know here that Paul is not talking about physical death.  The first time your parents told you not to do something and you willingly and knowingly disobeyed you didn’t fall over dead did you?   But your SPIRIT did.  

In that moment you needed a savior.  You turned and needed life.

Punishment

Now because of sin we all would have to take our punishment. 

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23 King James Version (KJV)

Payment for Sin 

Now returning to the very first scripture we talked about.  In the NKJV this first phrase “wounded for our transgressions” is also translated, “pierced through for our transgressions”.  This scripture refers to the moment Jesus was on the cross recorded here in John 19:34.

34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

John 19:34 New King James Version (NKJV)

This very action is a symbol for all that Jesus did on the cross.  We have four things in this verse: Jesus’s heart, Jesus’s body, the spear, and the blood/water.

The Heart of Jesus

The heart of Jesus was responsible for pumping blood throughout the entire rest of Jesus’s body.  The Bible says in Leviticus 17:11 that the life is in the blood.  Jesus’s very life was carried throughout the body of Christ by the blood and made to flow by the heart of Jesus.  

The Body of Jesus

The body in this case represents us as Christians.  When we become saved, we join in as part of the body of Christ.  Old things pass away and all things are become new in Jesus.  

The Spear

The spear represents a transgression.  Our sins pierce to the very heart of Jesus into the place that gives life, but thank God because of what Christ did on the cross that transgression is covered.  

The Blood/Water

The blood and water that poured out over this transgression came from the very heart of God.  The blood represents atonement and life.  There is no salvation without the shedding of blood.  From this blood comes the remission of sins and the eradication of any transgression (the spear).  

The water represents the spirit of God.  As it says in Acts 2:17, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” 

Through it all the heart of Jesus is there to pump life to the rest of the body and to cover all transgressions.  God’s heart is that all would come to know Him as their savior and that none would perish but that they would all be saved.

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