Sermon Quick Summary

Jesus did not stay in the grave. Jesus got up, and because Jesus lives, we have victorious hope because we know Jesus conquered death, and all power of the Kingdom of God is in His hands. However, let’s consider Jesus’ death and resurrection through another lens of truth we don’t always name by reviewing a few verses in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Isaiah 53:3-6 says, 3“He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Jesus the sins of us all” (Isaiah 53:3-6). Jesus carries what cripples all of us, the human condition of sin. The human condition of sin is not only about wrongs committed by us and to us; it’s also about physical pain, emotional grief, anxiety, shame, loneliness, and trauma. Jesus carried the human malady of sin and entered into our sin because of His love for us. Jesus chose to identify with us fully, bear our burdens, and provide a path for God’s healing and restoration. Jesus was wounded so we could be whole through transformation from God with a healed heart. Jesus was beaten so we could be restored with wholeness, completeness, and inner restoration for total peace (the meaning of the Hebrew word “shalom”). Jesus’ resurrection is proof that brokenness doesn’t have the last word. Now you are invited, in a prayerful moment between you and God, take your next step toward healing, open your heart to wholeness, and trust that because Jesus lives, you are being healed.