Today is a beautiful day!

Today is a crisp sunny spring day. Flowers are starting to bloom, and the hope of spring has arrived. Over two thousand years ago it wasn’t a beautiful day our Savior was tortured and beaten for us. Although mankind didn’t know it was for us, they felt he was a threat to their way of religion. It’s sad to think the ones He loved couldn’t see Him, didn’t know Him or recognize who He was.

I wonder how many people today hear of Him and still don’t recognize He died for them. It’s the day we call Good Friday, although His death and torture purchased forgiveness for us this is really a black Friday. Such darkness covered the earth. The heavens went silent as He was dying on the cross. No one knew the Fathers plan not the angels nor Satan. But Jesus and The Father knew he would die and in three days rise from the dead, a conquering King. The religious leaders of that day feared Him, so they had Him killed. They didn’t know It was the plan to die for all of us.

When you think about today remember Jesus died for you. Today is a good Friday because the Lord of All is alive and loves you. How do I know? Because I called out to Christ Jesus Feb 18th, 1991 and He me delivered me from drugs and cigarettes He set me free and filled me with His Spirit.  I answered the call to teach His Word and to follow Him. I’ve never looked backed I’ve made mistakes and He’s forgiven them. But He has never left me, and He won’t leave you either.

This Good Friday call on the Lord He will save, help and free you on this momentous day.    

By His Stripes…

Isaiah 53: 3-5 “He is despised and rejected by men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as if were, our   faces from him; He was despised, and we did not esteem him. 4)Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5) 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.”

Today is what we call ‘Good Friday.’  Today Christians remember Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross for our sins and sicknesses.  Today is the day of salvation for those people who do and don’t know him.  Salvation is life, peace, health and eternal life for those who confess Jesus as Lord.

He is Lord overall, but the question today is He Lord over you, your life and everything it encompasses?  There’s a difference between believing Jesus existed and believing and letting Him be LORD over your life.

Today is the day we recognize Jesus died a brutal death for mankind’s sins.  It’s a time of thought-provoking and a time to set aside a moment of contemplation.  Forgiveness is available to everyone when we repent of our sins and turn from them.

It is good to permit the Holy Spirit to search our hearts so if there be any issue in us that needs to be let go of or forgiven, we can surrender before the lord.

I’ve been mediating on verse five for a couple weeks and did a word study from Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary for these words wounded, transgression, bruised, chastisement, peace, stripes and healed.

It’s interesting that this section say’s ‘He was’… ‘for our’… so as I expound on the following words place your own name into the place of ‘for our…’

He was Wounded meaning bore, to profane, to wound, to break and defile.  He bore the profane, the breakings and defilements we have.  For our Transgressions meaning rebellion, sin, trespass.

He was Bruised meaning crushed (lit. or fig.) destruction, contrite, humble, oppress, destroy, smite.  He was crushed, humbled, oppressed and destroyed.  For our Iniquities meaning moral evil, fault, mischief, punishment, sin.  Our sins warranted punishment and He took those on himself in our place.

The Chastisement meaning correction and the restraint of our faults and sins He took.  For our Peace meaning safe (fig.) well, happy health, prosperity, peace, safety, welfare and favor and whole.  The price of the penalty for our peace he took on himself.

By His Stripes meaning bound (with stripes) black and blue, bruises, hurt, wounds, stripe.  I think of the 39 stripes he took for me where he was brutally torn by bone fragments in the leather stripes, he took that for us to be healed, restored and no longer separated from God.  We are Healed meaning mend (by stitching) (fig.) to cure, (cause to) to heal, repair, thoroughly, make whole.

So those stripes purchased complete healing, restoration and wholeness for you.

This is powerful and revelatory if you have never realized what salvation means.  Salvation is eternal life, but it is eternal life now in the present day not only when you go to heaven you can walk in the eternal life now.  Your healing was purchased on the cross by Jesus.  Today is the time of salvation for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord.  By his stripes you are healed spiritually, physically and made whole.