…the punishment that brought us peace was upon him. (Isaiah 53:5, NIV)
Are you into ah-ha! moments, those times when every cloud seems to roll back and the light of understanding streams through?
It sure helps when you’re in the middle of a golf round and such a breakthrough grabs your attention. A grip adjustment, maybe, or a new takeaway thought. You can go from grumbling and groaning—every golfer’s default condition—to finding the utopian groove and nailing shot after shot. Yes!
We have started among our staff at Links Players to talk about the need of every man and woman if they are to be moved to receive Jesus: they must have a deep revelation of the cross. This is not just a symbol-on-the-wall moment. This is a full understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus for the sake of 10 billion and more people throughout time (including you and me) who could not pay the price of their own sins.
When we open our Bibles to Isaiah 53, we come to one of those revolutionary ah-has! We can hear about Jesus and read about Jesus and even respect Jesus in a number of religious environments with no real meaning, just like we can swing a golf club a thousand times and not really figure out what’s going on. We can even piece together the theological puzzle of sacrificial lambs and necessary bloodshed and the crucifixion of Jesus and not be blown away so that our soul releases itself to all that is wonderful about that saving work.
A deep revelation of the cross makes critical connections that bring it all together. It recognizes that the punishment Jesus took in that dark hour had everything to do with us. That was the suffering that washed away our sin. That was the death that brought us peace. Those were the stripes of affliction that healed our broken hearts. That is the “ah!” Now here is the “ha!”: this punishment had even more to do with Jesus. For in his taking it on himself for our sake, he is not just Savior but King. He carried out the act of his own coronation and gained his lasting place at the right hand of the Father, enthroned on our praises for his stunning work. And we praise him from the depths of that grand revelation!
—
Jeff Hopper
March 16, 2012
Copyright © 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday through Friday and is archived by passage and topic at www.linksplayers.com.