Isaiah 53:3-5 - "3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
On a flight to Chicago recently the Lord made me understand in the most painful way how that the innocent (Christ) was punished, not for the sins of the world but...for me, for my sins and my guilt! He was beaten and crucified because of my sin and my transgression; this was both a wonderful and horrible experience but it produced within me a fresh cry for a much fuller experience of Romans 6:6 – “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”.
On this flight He came from behind and stood by me, when He reached my row He leaned in towards me laid His hand upon me and without a thought I was compelled of the Holy Ghost to say: "punish Him for my sin". I could not believe I was saying this; here was my beautiful friend, the one who came to visit me and yet the words could not be restrained. I had to turn my head towards the window because I could not refrain from weeping. In a profound way I understood that He, the innocent one, was punished for me the guilty. I reasoned within myself if this was the right thing to do and yet I knew it was the only way, if He was not punished for me I would be lost. He had to be punished for my guilt. This is how real His offering became to me. My elder brother whom I love, this very elder brother who cares for me, even Jesus, I knew He had to be punished for my sin and it broke me. He was treated like the criminal and I, the guilty, went free. How can I describe what this produced in me, it produced within me a cry of: "No More! Lord let me sin no more so that I no longer contribute to your punishment, enough O' Lord, no more. Bring me like Isaiah to a place where my iniquity shall pass from me!"
I have to confess that when I first came to Jesus Christ 35 years ago it was not because of an awareness of my sin; it was more like a drowning man who clung to the life saver to keep from perishing. But throughout the years I have come into the revelation of what I did to Him and why He needed to die for my sins. The knowledge of this affects me in a most profound way; it produces such a desire to have a very real meeting with him so that the power of sin and the old Adam can be broken for good. The knowledge that the innocent was punished for your sin helps but it is not the complete solution. The full solution is that iniquity must be purged for a real breakthrough. There is something that takes place in a person’s life when they meet face to face with the power of God; not simply a casual meeting or sighting of Him but a life changing transformation where He puts something in you that was not there and you are so different or perhaps He removes something from you that was there and you are free indeed.
I recall Isaiah 6 where the prophet see’s the Lord and is made aware of his own uncleanness; the angel of the Lord touches his lips with the coals form off the altar and says “I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee”. This is where the real crippling effects of Adam are broken. I am writing this little testimony to encourage us all to get before the Lord and ask Him to give us the faith that will produce this same kind of experience in each one of us; where we have such a meeting with God that the old man is rendered inactive and we no longer are servants to sin.
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