By His Wounds We Are Healed
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good Morning! Today is a special day. Today is the day we partake in the Lord’s supper. The Lord’s supper is a picture of grace. It frames in the past, present and future. The past, we reflect back on a memorial that we would never forget the events that took place. The present grace is two fold! For believers in Jesus Christ, its knowing there is a place at the Lords’ table. It’s a time of humble fellowship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! For the unsaved person, the Lord’s supper is an invitation to come with a repenting heart, turning from sin and transgression to received salvation; finding peace and rest in the arms of Jesus Christ. Our future outlook, is the proclamation of His second coming!
For the last year and a half, we’ve been exploring a sermon series on the Lord’s supper. Each time we’ve come together as a family for a 5th Sunday, and today, THIS IS OUR FAMILY! We’ve talked about an aspect that’s happened during Passion Week. We’ve talked about conversation from the Cross to passion from the cross to the 7 words of our Lord from the cross. Our sermon today could not have lined up better with this new series we’re in (Who Am I In Christ). If we put together the title of series along with the title of today’s sermon, we get “Who Am I In Christ - By His Wounds We Are Healed.” I’d like to invite you to open the Word of God to the 15th Chapter of Mark. Today, we’ll be reading verses 12 through 20.
12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.”
15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him.
18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.
20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.
Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer
[Display Verses 12-14]
You could think of our passage starting out with a loud crowd before the governor of Judea. And, we have Pilate with a situation on his hands, with all eyes on him. This is the second time Jesus is before Pilate. The first time Jesus was before Pilate, he could not find Jesus guilty. He was sent to Herod, who questioned Jesus and eventually mocked him (Luke 23:11). Jesus was sent back to Pilate. Now Pilate is dealing with this issue again. We see Pilate asking the religious leaders, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” Now, I could not imagine the heartbreak Jesus must have felt when he heard the crowd cry “out again, Crucify him.” This rejection was the ultimate blow. These guys wanted Jesus dead. But, before Jesus would actually die a physical death, the religious leaders wanted to make sure that he would suffer at the hands of the Roman soldiers. We see Pilate asking, “why?” “What evil has he done?” He’s trying to connect, there’s a disconnect going on here. The religious leaders avoid the question all together, and only continue on with the words “Crucify him.” Pilate satisfied the crowd, and released a man named Barabbas.
[Display Verse 15]
The middle of verse 15 is significant! Mark said, “having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.” Crucifixion wasn’t invented by the Romans, but you could think of them as perfecting it. The religious leaders knew Jesus would suffer greatly. The Romans used a short whipping tool that had a series of leather thongs. It’s thought that small iron balls and sharp pieces of sheep bone were tied at different intervals along the leather thongs to in inflict maximum suffering. So, how severe was it? Very! The gospels do not detail the severity, so we don’t know exactly. Let’s try and frame this the best we can with the Biblical information we have. According to:
3 Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.
Considering the scourging tool with only 3 pieces of leather, 2 iron balls per thong and 1 piece of sheep bone, at 40 stripes, this would amount to 480 impressions. If the scourging tool had 4 pieces of leather, 2 iron balls and 1 sheep bone, at 40 stripes, this would amount to 640 impressions. 480 and 640 is by one person performing the scourging, and this is using Deuteronomy as a guide. But! Jesus was not being scourged by the Jews. He was being scourged by the Romans! There’s a good likelihood they would not have followed the prescription of 40 stripes. Likely, Jesus received more than 40 stripes. Isaiah says:
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
Jesus’ scourging was severe that it disfigured our Lord significantly. If that wasn’t enough, the mocking continued.
[Display Verses 16-17]
We see in verses 16 and 17 that a whole battalion was called. A battalion is through to be made up of about 500 men. Mark records that “they clothed him in a purple cloak.” In biblical times purple dye was expensive. Therefore purple was worn only by those of high rank in royal courts (Dan 7:5, 16, 28). This color suggests the power and wealth of royalty. Although Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the way these soldiers were using this cloak, was not in an honoring way. And, in a final act of cruelty, the soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head. Normally a crown was of gold leaf to signify royalty or military valor. Not in this case, Jesus received a crown of twisted thorns.
[Display Verses 18-19]
In the next two verses, the mocking continues. We see where the soldiers saluting Jesus and kneeling to pay homage. But, again this is in an unworthy manner. All while, Jesus was still being struck and spit on!
[Display Verse 20]
We have our Lord there who just went through a severe scourging, experiencing intense pain, blood loss, to be stripped of the cloak, which could have caused more pain by reopening some of the wounds; to now be lead to be crucified.
Just as John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he GAVE his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Jesus Christ gave His back to a harsh and brutal scourging.
Jesus Christ gave His forehead to a crown of thorns.
Jesus Christ opened an ear to insults.
Just as God gave His son out of love, Jesus gives to us out of the same love! Isaiah says:
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Jesus was met, in the course of his ministry, with some strong opposition, derision and suffering. As Jesus’ ministry went on he became more despised and rejected by mankind. The thing is the religious leaders of the time had all the info they needed to about the coming messiah. They weren't having any part of this. To them, Jesus was guilty of committing blasphemy. In this passage of Isaiah we just read, we come across the word suffering in verse 3, and again, in verse 4. Did Jesus suffer? Of course he did. Isaiah is not trying to be stereotypical. He’s being realistic and descriptive!
Jesus’ central mission was not to perform temporary healings! Some have the conclusion that the atonement provided by Jesus Christ is “physical healing if we have faith” that is built on the bedrock of belief. Our Lord Jesus Christ was despised and rejected. Still, our Lord’s mission was cross bound. Jesus Christ was to die on the cross at Golgotha. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he is seen fulfilling prophecy, and this is no different! Prophecy was to be fulfilled! Jesus Christ took the punishment our sins rightfully deserve. For some, Jesus’ death on the cross could have been misunderstood by those there on Good Friday. Some assumed he was dying for the claims of blasphemy. Take a look at that last verse we just read of Isaiah 53 (Verse 5), “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” We have 4 very powerful statements of fact in this one amazing verse!
The first, “but he was pierced for our transgressions.” Transgressions can also be translated as rebellion. This shows Jesus’ suffering for the sin of the world.
Second, “he was crushed for our iniquities.” Jesus is not being punished for anything he has done; he is there in our place. Jesus was crushed on our account. He is our substitute!
During those hours, which could have felt like an eternity, “the punishment that brought us peace was on him.” The complete weight of the worlds sin and God’s wrath was placed on Jesus at that moment. This show how seriously God take our rebellion. Jesus did that so we would have peace with God!
And finally, “by his wounds (or stripes as the KJV and NKJV translate) we are healed!” We now have complete restoration from all those things that caused our Lord to suffer.
Take note of our condition: A people in rebellion and iniquities, deserving a death penalty, at war with God in need of a deep healing! If you make notes in your bible consider underlining. We have a two set of words that are continually in view. We have HE and OUR, US and HIM and HIS and We. These are vision shaping word pairs! This means, in the simplest way, our sin — his suffering — our benefit — OUR SALVATION! The transfer is complete in Jesus Christ! Peace and grace now flow from God. The Bible says in:
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
The wounds applied to the Savior of the world heals us perfectly and eternally from all the damage sin has done.
Application
Application
[Display Verses 12-14]
Let’s rewind back to the verse we started with this morning Mark 15:12-14. Two words stick out in verse 13 and 14 — “Crucify HIM!” The crowd is shouting CRUCIFY! The Holy Word of God never tells us that Jesus Christ the Messiah looked back on the crowd in hatred with the call to crucify. Jesus Christ willfully went to a scourging that would cause severe pain and blood loss. He went to the scourging. He listened to the mocking. He wore a crown of thorns. He went to be nailed to the cross. He went there for you and for me.
What does this mean for us today? It means, by His wounds (or stripes — depending on your translation) we are healed. For every wrong doing, for every lie, things we stole, things we idolize, thoughts we might have had — for that sin — we’ve been healed, restored. We’ve been justified before Almighty God.
If you’ve stepped away from God, perhaps hearing about His love and sacrifice has reminded you of where you need to be. Come to Him today and let Him forgive you and restore you to the place you need to be with him.
Perhaps, these scenes caused you to see this morning that you are in need of a Savior. Has it become clear to you that Jesus died to save you from your sins. Wouldn’t you like to come to Him today? Today, can be your day of salvation!
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer