This is the end of our study on the Cross. As I was looking for a verse to journal on, I found Isaiah 53:5, “But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities, punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.” (CSB) As I thought about this verse my focus went to the end of the verse, “we are healed by his wounds.” Then I began to think of the different ways we receive healing through the Cross of Christ.
First, I thought about what the Cross means to the Believer. The Cross brings salvation. Salvation comes through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He paid the price for our sin debt and our rebellion, and we are no longer bound. Next, God showed us His grace through the Cross. We don’t have to fear judgment by God because He sees the finished work of Jesus on the Cross for us and His shed blood. Because of this we then receive forgiveness. We are forgiven of all our sins, past, present, and future, and we also receive healing. That healing comes in different forms, which I will go into a little later. Because of the healing we receive we also find peace and joy. Peace and joy are the result of a life that has been surrendered to Jesus because of what He has done for us on the Cross. Each of these builds upon the other.
As I was thinking about the healing we receive because of the Cross, the thought crossed my mind that there are different kinds of healing. The most obvious is our Spiritual healing. Because of the forgiveness and grace given by God, our soul is healed. The wounds of sin have been bound by Jesus’ blood and He releases healing upon our hearts. We are no longer under the death penalty of sin and we have a new life in Jesus Christ. Today’s verse says that Jesus took our punishment and because of the wounds He took for us, we are healed.
When most of us hear this verse we also think of 1 Peter 2:24, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (KJV) I think most of us see these verses as talking about physical healing, and that is true, however; this healing is much more than physical. It is also dealing with Spiritual, mental, and emotional healing. Healing comes to us in every area of our lives.
The thing that stands out to me in the verse in 1 Peter is that it says that our healing was completed on the Cross that very day. We were healed long before we were born. We only need to claim it. When we speak healing over ourselves, it puts into motion God’s desire to accomplish what we are asking. Now, sometimes we don’t see that healing manifested here on earth, and that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t heal, it just means that our healing may not come until we see Heaven. God has a plan for each of us, and the reason for what we go through may not be obvious to us, but God knows what will be accomplished because of the things we endure.
When I was a teenager, one of my friend’s mother had horrible arthritis, to the point that it put her in a wheelchair and eventually into the hospital. None of us could understand why this dear lady had to endure such horrific pain, but when she eventually passed away, we heard testimonies of how the hospital staff was affected by how she withstood the pain. She always had a smile on her face and never complained. I don’t know if any of them received Christ because of it, but you can believe she testified to them about how Jesus loved her, how He was taking care of her, and why she had such joy. She never wavered in her faith. He didn’t heal her here on earth, but she received her healing in Heaven, and because of how she was able to endure, people’s lives were affected. It was part of God’s plan for her, and He was given the glory through it all. The only way she would ever have been able to accomplish that was because of the Cross. She had accepted Jesus many years before, and she lived her life for Him through her trial.
The Cross makes a difference in our lives in so many ways. When people see the change in us because of the Cross, they take notice and it impacts them. We are also influenced by the Cross because it heals us from the inside out. The Cross changes everything!
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