Christ was suffering on the tree for our sake. Or, as the Message Bible puts it, “We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures.” But we were wrong. When we saw Christ hanging on the tree, we gasped and, in our pride, assumed that He must have done something horrible for God to punish Him in such a way: “We esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4, NKJV). Christ, in His mercy and grace, was wounded to remedy the problem. It was our rebellion against God that caused the trouble. He had not rebelled against God in fact, He always obeyed the Father’s will (John 5:19 6:38). Isaiah 53:5 specifically says that Christ was wounded for our transgressions, for our rebellions. He is the “righteous servant” (verse 11), and “he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth” (verse 9).Ī transgression is a rebellion. The entire chapter 53 of Isaiah concerns the suffering of God’s Servant, the Messiah, as He takes the punishment for wrongs others have committed. The Suffering Servant pictured in Isaiah 53 is a Sin-bearer. The piercing of Jesus’ hands and feet (with nails), side (with a spear), and head (with thorns) give this prophecy of Isaiah’s a literal fulfillment. The Hebrew word literally means “pierced” or “bored through.” The Message Bible brings out the horror of the scene as well as the vicarious nature of Christ’s death: “It was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him-our sins!” Most modern translations of Isaiah 53:5 use the word pierced. The “wounding” spoken of here would result in a severe injury. In the last of Isaiah’s Servant Songs, we have this passage: “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” (Isaiah 53:5, NKJV).

Kjv bible by his stripes we are healed