A deeper in-site into the cross reveals that every aspect of our relationship with God and the example of Jesus’ humility working out in our faith.
“He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Matthew 8:17.
Matthew writing his gospel after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus relates Isaiah’s words with Jesus’ healing ministry, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
“When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.17 This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Matthew 8: 16,17.
Matthew the disciple is telling the reader of his gospel that Jesus healed all manner of sickness in his ministry and Jesus took up our infirmities and bore our diseases on the cross, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy.
Jesus, “He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten (beaten) by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53: 4, 5.
Matthew in his humility, under the discipline of the Holy Spirit didn’t include an up to date account of what God was doing in his life in the healing ministry, but he pointed us to the prophecy of Isaiah being fulfilled.
Jesus healed people of all kinds of ailments: blind, deaf and dumb, paralysed, arthritis, leprosy and many more accounts of various illnesses and raising people from the dead, and like Lazarus to resume his life on the earth. These were signs that the Kingdom of God was among them.
Jesus was born into this world as one of us, in his humanity he encountered in his ministry these infirmities and diseases in order to bear them on the cross and as a result destroy completely the work of the enemy, a finished work. John the apostle wrote “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of darkness? 1 John 3: 8.
Jesus’ suffering
“By his wounds we are healed.” Within a few hours this perfect body of Jesus in excellent health was reduced to a physical wreck by what he suffered. Jesus was scourged, a whip with cords, at the end of each cord a sharp piece of bone or metal, designed by the Romans to tear the flesh down to the bone.
Jesus suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane deep spiritual agony and after his arrest, and trial, he endured physical suffering and finally the excruciating pain of crucifixion..
Jesus was subjected to being arrested and taken for trial to the home of the high priest Caiaphas where the scribes and elders had gathered. Witnesses spoke against him, but Jesus said nothing. “Jesus was asked by the high priest, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God?” Jesus replied, “You have said so, but I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy . . . . . . What is your judgement? They answered he deserves death,” then they spat in his face, and struck him and some slapped him.” Matthew 26: 57-68.
Jesus was accused of blasphemy of being the Christ, the King of the Jews. He was taken in the morning for trial before Pilate the Roman governor. Pilate was unable to find fault in Jesus, so, he handed him over to the crowd to make a decision for him, they shouted ‘crucify him.’
Jesus was scourged, during which he was beaten, and his body disfigured. The film ‘The Passion’ gives us graphic details of the results of the scourge on human flesh. It was designed to tear the flesh down to the bone.
His beard was torn out and a crown of thorns was placed on his head and a purple robe was put upon him by the soldiers as a gesture of mockery at his claim to be a king. The soldiers mocked, spat at him, and beat him with reeds (sticks) he was verbally abused. His facial expression must have shown the pain he was suffering. Matthew 27: 15-18, 26-31.
The cross is where Jesus took the whole of our sicknesses, diseases and sin in his being on the cross and as a result of the condemnation of our righteous God. When he drew near to death Jesus cried out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me.”
The Bible reveals that God cannot and will not uphold sin, Sin separated Jesus from God his Father and so he died. The cross bore Jesus’ body and all sin against God and creation. The pain in his body plus the spiritual weight of evil, crushed his soul and extinguished his life.
But his death was not the end of his life, God raised Jesus up from the grave, giving his body new life, eternal life. It was a finished work, in his resurrected body the marks of the nails identified him as being the risen Jesus.
Point of need – Jesus heals our relationship with God our Father.
The wonderful selfless act of Jesus through bearing and redeeming us from sin is that we too must be able to forgive those who have wronged us. These wounds, the results of past sins are healed as we forgive as we have been forgiven by God.
The cross is the meeting place between every person and God. There we find Jesus has paid the penalty for all our wrongdoings and bore our infirmities and sicknesses on the tree. Humbly we approach the cross and acknowledging that we need to be right with God we say sorry to God and ask him to forgive us, we repent and God in His love forgives our sin, and by the action and grace of the Holy Spirit we become children of God.
Prayer Jesus, I ask for your forgiveness for my sins against God and others. Thank you for taking my sin upon yourself on the cross, for all that you suffered, I am really sorry, I accept the sovereignty of God over my life, take all that I have it is yours. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
Dying to self
Peter wrote, “He himself bore our sins on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds we have been healed.” 1 Peter 2: 24.
Peter was saying in this verse that having been forgiven, so we should continually die to sin, especially to the sin that resurrects the old self, looking to our self, putting our faith in our own ability to do what we think is God’s will for us, but as Jesus found out for himself our humanity is bound in fear, and self-preservation.
Jesus is our example there in the Garden of Gethsemane he emptied himself of self to live determining his own life and he died to the sin of humanities fallen nature that looks to self interests and determining our own destiny.
We read he prayed to his Father saying, “Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you wilt.” He prayed a second time, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done.” Jesus died to the sin of pride that seeks to look to self, and for self to dominate a person’s life, he chose the cup of suffering, the way of the cross. Matthew 26: 39, 42.
For us, dying to self is to turn to the cross and know that in Jesus I have died to sin, and therefore, I live according to the conviction of the Holy Spirit as to how God feels about sin.
Being spiritually raised up to a new life, means the lord has transformed my nature to his righteous nature and the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin that is in the world. Being raised up becomes our experience to know we are with Christ in Spirit, ascended with Jesus into God’s kingdom.
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give you life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you.” Romans 8: 11
The difference between human and mortal. Bob Gordon in his book “The Cross” writes, “The difference between human and mortal. Part of the problem is that we don’t stop to consider the real meaning of the words we use. These two words are terms which we often confuse with each other. To be human, as far as we are concerned, is to be mortal. But is that the truth as far as God is concerned? When God created man, did he create mankind to be mortal-that is, subject to death? The answer is clearly, no. Both the book of Genesis and the Epistle to the Romans are explicit as to the source of death. Genesis 2: 22 makes it clear that God expelled man from the garden to prevent him from eating from the tree of life by which he could live forever. From this point on, no man became subject to death as a judgement from God. Paul is very explicit on the subject when he writes to the Romans. “Sin entered into the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all had sinned.” Romans 5: 12.
Bob Gordon goes on to write, Jesus himself was not subject to man’s death until he took mankind’s sin into himself, because death is the outcome of sin. Jesus himself was not sinful, therefore, he did not live his life under the threat of death as a necessary outcome of sin. Jesus himself made his position clear in this regard. He was the only man who ever lived who had the authority of life in him: “ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.” John 10: 17,18.
Bob continues: Charles Wesley writes with tremendous spiritual insight when he proclaims the depth of this: ‘Tis mystery all! The immortal dies: who can explore his strange design? In vain the first-born seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine.’”
Clearly Bob has resonated with Charles Wesley the fact that Jesus was immortal in all purity and holiness blameless and without sin, he willingly took sin upon himself and became sin to be able to redeem humanity from sin.
Point of need – His righteousness is to be faithful to do the will of God and not the will of self.
Faith is about being willing always to seek and to do God’s will first and foremost in our life, to be dependent upon God knowing that He only wants to bless us and what is best for us and for others.
Prayer
Thank you lord, for the new life that I have in Christ’s risen body, his victory over the sins of the flesh that Jesus achieved for me on the cross. He has conquered death, doing for me what I could not do for myself, only God could transform my fallen nature and save me from eternal separation from God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Learning to live in the power of the cross.
When suffering comes to us, we grow closer to God in our dependence upon Him. This is where our strength lies, Jesus energies our spirit. I find that I’m comforted and strengthened by His word, but what also strengthens me is when the Lord acts upon faith in His word. I believe that I can put my trust in His word; I have found out that God keeps His word. Colossians 1: 29.
When we pray believing, we are giving God the opportunity to act on our behalf. When we pray what seems to be an impossible request, it’s answered.
Jesus has enabled us to live in God’s kingdom, through bearing our sin, sickness and disease that lead to his death on the cross. By his wounds we have been healed for all eternity.
Sickness in our lifetime is not transferable into the eternal kingdom of God when we die; therefore, the cross has brought us everlasting peace.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God; our lives are hidden in Christ