Finding Grace

“But He was pierced for our transgressions.  He was crushed for our iniquities.  Upon him was the punishment that brought us peace.  And by His wounds we are healed.”  Isaiah 53:5

“I the Lord made you and will not forget you.  I have swept away your sins like a cloud…scattered your offenses like the morning mist.  I have paid the price to set you free.”  Isaiah 44:21-22

"What does it mean that 'by His stripes we are healed'?"

“Stripes,” in the language of the King James Version of the Bible, and in some others, means “wounds,” as seen in more modern translations such as the New International Version. These stripes were administered by whipping the bare backs of prisoners whose hands and feet were bound, rendering them helpless.

When we picture this terrible, inhumane form of physical punishment we recoil in horror. Yet the physical pain and agony were not all Jesus suffered. He also had to undergo mental anguish brought on by the sinfulness of mankind—sin carried out in spite of God’s repeated warnings, sin that Jesus willingly took upon Himself.

The phrase “by His stripes we are healed” refers to the punishment Jesus Christ suffered that was followed by His agonizing death on a cross—to take upon Himself all of the sins of all people.  He paid the total price for all of our transgressions.

Jesus went to the cross and took upon himself all of our sin—past, present, and future—he died in our place, paying our debt to God and purchasing our salvation.

But can we find grace in our own suffering?

A deep loss cuts to the bone of who we are, of what we need, of what we are about; and that sorrow and tragedy together with our joys, are all prayers to God.