Our scripture this morning is Isaiah 53:5-6.
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
The prophet Isaiah wrote many things about the Messiah almost 700 years before the birth of Jesus. God gave Isaiah the message then so that later people would understand the significance of what Jesus had done for us. It is a hard thing for humans to accept that our Lord would be willing to die for us.
Jesus took our sin away, punished for our wrongdoing. He suffered physical wounds to heal our spiritual wounds. Theologians call this substitutionary penal atonement, that He gave Himself up in our place.
Following our own path instead of God’s leads to sin and death. Jesus showed us a better way, that we could be reconnected to God and live new lives through Him. God wants all His wayward children to return to His love.
Heavenly Father, forgive us for the selfish way we often live and help us to be the children You intend. May we go to share Your love with the world. Amen.
