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“Crushed for Our Iniquities”
“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by his wounds we are healed” Isaiah 53:5. If Gethsemane was the olive press, then Golgotha was the destroyer. The blood that began to flow in the garden ran freely from His pierced body on the cross. Our sins were punished in His flesh that hung upon the tree. He was lifted up and so took our place in death becoming a curse for us by lifting the curse from us. His wounds, which were meant to be ours, healed us. In the incarnation, the second person of the Godhead was made like us in every way to bring us to the crucifixion. Having perfectly submitted as a man to His Father at Gethsemane, God could be killed at Calvary—for you, for me. Here’s where the work of salvation was done … in submission. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness …” Titus 3:5. And so when we submit to death of our old selves in baptism, we are united with the crushing for our iniquities that Jesus endured for us so that we might live in submission to His will for our lives. Have you submitted to His destruction in baptism to live for His will?
