Isaiah 53:4-6
Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.
The cross was a sign of public humiliation, suffering, and defeat. People facing death on a cross were beaten to the very edge of death. Jesus was forced to carry His own cross on the raw, exposed flesh of His back down a busy road for all to see. He was mocked and turned into a public spectacle. If you want to know how much God hates sin, look at the cross. If you want to know if God punishes sin, look at what Jesus went through. Why? For us, for our sins, so we could be whole, and so we could be healed. Our sin put Jesus on the cross and He doesn’t want our sympathy, He wants our repentance.
Do you see yourself in these verses? Isaiah mentions us eleven different times. Take some time right now to confess your sin to God and thank Him for the gift of forgiveness that He gave you in the sacrifice of Jesus. Don’t take your sin lightly. God wants us to wage war on it because He takes it that seriously.