(Isaiah 53.)
“HE was wounded for our transgressions.” “It was that that did it,” said a young lady to me at the close of an evangelistic meeting the other day wherein the preacher (the Editor of the Gospel Messenger) had spoken very largely on the lovely chapter in Isaiah in which the above-quoted Marvelous words are found.
The Spirit of God had used these precious words to carry light and peace to her heart and conscience, and had given her, in divine power and sweetness, an apprehension of the saving grace of the gospel.
And no wonder! The marvel is that such words, whenever heard or read, should prove ineffectual, in a single instance, to produce a like happy result.
The fault lies, alas, in the wretched unbelief of the human soul! Oh! what a damning sin is unbelief! May God deliver the reader from its blinding power!
Now, mark, the first of these words is “He.” And, “of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself?” No—never! Then “of some other man”? Yes, indeed! “Philip opened his mouth and preached unto him JESUS” (see Acts 8:34, 3534And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. (Acts 8:34‑35)). Ah! this is the Man!
Our question is answered. Jesus it was who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities—Jesus the Son of Man, and Son of God, whose death wrought atonement, and who is now raised and glorified in heaven as the Saviour of sinners!
Again, “He was wounded,” He suffered, He bore the storm of wrath; He drank the cup; He died! Who can tell the awfulness of His sufferings?
But yet again, “He was wounded for our transgressions,” our sins, our guilt, our vile offenses against God and man; our iniquities, our dark, heinous crimes—for them was He wounded! Blessed Substitute!
“In Thee only good,
In us only ill,
And sin has but shown us,
Thy love deeper still!”
What a wondrous and unexpected discovery! Our sin met by His grace! Yes, the first word is “He” the last is “transgressions,” but between them is the fact that He “was wounded for” them. Thank God for that!
As the sweet truth came to the heart of this lady she could but exclaim, “It was that that did it!”
“Now, can you throw these words into the singular?” was my query to her.
“He was wounded for my transgressions,” was her immediate and unhesitating reply. She claimed the blessing. Never throughout eternity will she forget these six words of Holy Scripture The conscious removal of the leaden load of guilt is a fact that remains when other things are forgotten, and the love that removed it still more so!
The believer takes bold possession of the truth, and enjoys it too.
Faith is intensely individual. It acts as though God and the believer were alone in the wide universe. It lays hold of God and God’s word. Thus all doubt is driven from the soul. There is sweet rest and confidence instead of fear and distrust. So we read that “Abraham believed God,” and he was reckoned righteous.
Charming appropriation, to himself, of all the love and self-surrender of the Son of God! but how divinely permissible and becoming! Faith accepts what love presents, and returns the gratitude of a devoted life. And these words of Paul are just a beautiful New Testament amplification of our verse in Isaiah 53:7,7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7) “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed.”
Throw that verse into the singular, dear reader, and make its living truth your own.
J. W. S.