“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
and by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6.

Sheep are the most helpless of animals when they have gone astray.  Many today are like sheep led astray.  We Christians call them the harvest.  Sometimes we look at the lost sheep, the harvest and may tend to judge them.  Then the Lord has a way of showing us their side of the story; He will remind us we too were once lost.  Our judgment of the lost becomes less and less as we are reminded more and more that our righteousness has nothing to do with us.  The Lord will gently remind us it is only because He loves us we are considered righteous; it is only because of His love for us that He came to save us.  His love for us has nothing to do with our love for Him.  It is because of God’s children being led astray, pursuing their/our own interest and making their/our own plans, regardless of the good of the whole, that Jesus came.

Jesus came and carried away our grief.  The Lord has borne our sorrows.  Does it seem easier to allow Him to pay for our sins but we’ll keep the sorrows and grief?  The sorrows and grief are our payment for our sins, right?  Do we really accept His payment for our transgressions, but His payment for our grief and sorrows isn’t adequate?  Our faith in the FULL Gospel of Jesus Christ is where bondages are broken.

Jesus came, not in glory and majesty but in submission to our Father, to save us from the slaughter.  As Jesus was rejected and crucified according to man’s wickedness, He was, at the same time, accepted as the Perfect Sacrifice for all of our transgressions.  It was at that very moment our victory was attained; the enemy knew he had been defeated.  The blood of bulls and goats could not take away the sin of man; only the perfect Blood of Jesus could atone.

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief….” Isaiah 53:10. This scripture could be hard to understand in our natural unless we understand Jesus’ higher calling, His sacrifice for the good of the whole.  Both the Father and Son, (Jesus Christ, the Word in the Flesh) volunteered to suffer the indignation of the world in order to bring redemption to men.  It was this voluntary sacrifice, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, that demonstrated God’s divine perfection, justification and mercy.  It was Jesus finished work on the Cross that fulfilled the law, judged sin and reconciled God to men; reconciled us to our Heavenly Father. 

It is only when the proper message of the Cross and Jesus finished work is ministered that the Holy Spirit has latitude to work.  The motivation or plan of others will not convict the hearts of the lost.  Only when the Gospel is written on their hearts.  “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Romans 10:17.  The Holy Spirit works exclusively within the parameters of the Cross of Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is the way by which we are sanctified.  We cannot accept grace then add law to sanctify ourselves.  We must allow the Holy Spirit His was for the chastisement and guidance of our souls.  With our faith in Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, the Holy Spirit has legal right to come in our heart and He does the work, not us or others.  “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:13-14. 

Minister His Gospel and He will confirm His Word in their Hearts.  Trust His Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus.

-Donna Warren