Christ Revealed

‘By his wounds you have
been healed’ 1 Peter 2:24
7. The Cross
Read: Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
To us, casual bystanders, the Servant
of the Lord was unimpressive. His
appearance was marred beyond human
semblance. He had no form or majesty
to attract attention, no beauty that
inspires admiration. Just the opposite.
His sufferings marked him out as an
unfortunate man, one whose company
had little to offer and was not to be
sought after. People shunned him,
appalled by his infirmities, or passed
him by without even noticing him. A
man of no consequence.
Yet, how little we understood what
we saw! How fooled we were by the
appearance of things! The man of
suffering was the arm of the Lord
revealed to us. That arm which in the
days of old woke up to fight the dragon
and redeem the people of God (Isa
51:9-11), was amongst us, his beauty
and strength hidden behind afflictions,
wounds and rejection.
We thought the wounds had nothing
to do with us. They were perhaps the
unfortunate results of coincidence,
a cosmic tragedy, unfair and brutal.
Or even worse, maybe they were the
just reward for some of his own past
misdeeds. In any case we did not
perceive those wounds as ours. In his
affliction we did not recognise our
suffering.
We were so used to seeing lambs
sacrificed at the altar, that when he was
taken away by a perversion of justice
and cut off from the land of the living
we did not see the truth: he was our
ultimate sin offering. That is why we
were startled when he was exalted and
lifted high. We now have to go back and
rethink what we saw. And as we do this
we begin to see more and more clearly.
He was wounded for our transgressions
and crushed for our iniquities. So in his
wounds there is healing for us. Through
the injustice he suffered we can be
made righteous. His condemnation and
death brought us salvation and life.