Punished and Forgiven

August 15

(Psalm 99:8 NIV) “O Lord our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds. {9} Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.”

(Isaiah 53:1-6 NIV) “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? {2} He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. {3} He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. {4} Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. {5} But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. {6} We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

It is hard for us to wrap our minds around the fact that God loves us, but hates our sin. It stretches us to believe that God is forgiving, yet still punishes our sin. Because God is holy, sin cannot dwell in His presence. We know we belong with Him, but our sin separates us. We cannot live with God unless we are made holy. This is the human dilemma. Into this quandary steps Jesus Christ. He takes our punishment for us. He suffers for our sin. He was crucified for our transgressions. God laid upon Jesus “the iniquity of us all”. Thus, our sins are punished and we are forgiven. The fruit of our sin will wreak havoc in our lives, but “the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him”. How can we not praise a God who would do this for us? How can we not worship a Lord who would die so we could live? Bow before Him today. Breathe a prayer of thanksgiving and praise. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day