1 Peter 2:24-25 (AMP) – He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree, that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like [so many] sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Guardian (the Bishop) of your souls.
He personally bore my sins in His own body. He broke the power of sin over me so that I can now live to righteousness. It was by His stripes that I was healed – delivered from sin and all of its results including healing.
Peter was quoting from a prophecy of Isaiah.
Isaiah 53:4-6 (Amplified) – Surely our griefs (sickness) He Himself bore, and our sorrows (pains) He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being (peace) fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
My whole life when lived on my own in my own strength continues to go astray like sheep. But I am no longer alone; I have come back to my Good Shepherd, the Shepherd and Guardian of my soul. The chastisement for my peace and well-being was upon Him. And by His scourging I was healed (from sin, from the tendency to go astray, from sickness, disease, weakness, from lack of peace and from all of the other results of sin and the curse).
Thank you, Lord, for your abundant mercy and your full and complete provision. You are able to save me completely and fully. My hope continues to be in you alone and not in any way in myself. I commit myself into your hands for my continued salvation as well as my initial salvation. You are the shepherd and bishop of my soul.
Jesus is Still the Same
Matthew 9:35-38 (Amplified) – And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news (the Gospel) of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and every weakness and infirmity. When He saw the throngs, He was moved with pity and sympathy for them, because they were bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless), like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust laborers into His harvest.
To cure the sin, He bore it. He broke its power. He not only broke the power of sin but also the curse and all of the other results that came from it.
While on earth, He went about teaching, proclaiming and healing because of His compassion on people – because the lives they were living were full of the results of sin and the curse, bewildered, harassed and distressed, dejected and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He didn’t see the people and condemn them for their destructive lifestyles; He delivered them and healed them and had compassion on them!
He was filled with compassion then and still is. He is always moved with pity and sympathy when sees humanity and their sin and the results it brings into their lives. But now He has to rely on us to carry on His work of teaching, preaching and healing. He has to rely upon us to have the same compassion He had and still has for all humanity.
As we look around us into the world today, we still see the throngs, bewildered, harassed, distressed, dejected and helpless. Our reaction isn’t to be condemnation but compassion and caring. We are to be filled with His compassion and go out and do His works. We are to teach and preach and heal filled with compassion. And we are also to pray for the Lord of the harvest to thrust out more laborers into His harvest – to do the same things He did, filled with the same mercy and compassion He demonstrated.