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He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our sicknesses he carried; it was our diseases that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed!—Isaiah 40:8 (NLT)
His name is Jesus. Over three hundred prophesies in the Old Testament predicted He would come to save you. He existed in the very beginning. He was with God, He was God, and He created all things (John 1:1-3). He merely spoke and the foundation of the earth was laid, the moon and stars were set in the heavens, and the sea and lands were filled with plants and creatures. And then, because He loved you so much, He orchestrated the perfect plan to redeem you from the sin that had come into the world through one man (Romans 5:12). He became human. When He walked the earth as a man, He healed the sick, fulfilling the word of the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases” (Matthew 8:17). And then He died on a cross.
For years, I would go to our Good Friday church service and watch Frank, our janitor turned Jesus, drag the cross up the center aisle. I would cringe when the men dressed like Roman soldiers “pounded” the nails into his hands and feet. The spring of my cancer, after I had finished eight rounds of chemo and was half way through radiation treatment, I watched this Good Friday scene unfold once again. This time, when the nails were driven into Frank’s hands, I sobbed. This time, it was personal. I taped a nail to the front of my computer monitor that night and it has been there ever since. I don’t ever want to forget the price He paid. I don’t ever want to forget how he suffered and died in my place. The nail is a constant reminder of His love for me.
His name is Jesus. He has power and authority over sin—over all evil powers and earthly disease. When they whipped him, you were healed. When He dragged the cross up the hill to Calvary, He carried the weight of your cancer on His back (2 Peter 2:24). When they nailed Him to the cross, He defeated your cancer and carried it with Him to the grave. He died to save us all, but He would have done it just for you.
Excerpted from:
Grace For Each Hour by Mary J. Nelson
Copyright © 2005; ISBN 0764200240
Published by Bethany House Publishers
Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
Links to More Daily Words of Hope and Encouragement
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Dr. Neil T. Anderson, Daily In Christ
Os Hillman, Today God is First
Other Devotional Resources