I’m Carrying Your Sins with Me || 1 Peter 2:24 || Manna for the Mind #41

Welcome to Day 41 of my “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series takes a passage of scripture (typically 1-3 verses) and builds understanding through its context and connecting scripture. This helps us understand what the Bible truly teaches us.

1 Peter 2:24

24           He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what it right. By his wounds you are healed.

It’s hard to wrap our minds around this concept, which is theologically called substitutionary atonement. Jesus took the death penalty for sin. The regular population would have had to deal with this for their sin. Jesus took this punishment and died in our place so we would not have to suffer the punishment we would’ve had.

The punishment of “death by crucifixion” is something that doesn’t occur in our time today. It may still exist in some cultures, but I haven’t heard about one in my lifetime. Because of this, it’s difficult for me to comprehend the concept of being put to death for my sinful actions. It brings my mind back to the time of the electric chair. We would go to trial, like Jesus did. We’d receive our verdict. We’d be killed and/or tortured on the spot. Yet, if it happened like Jesus, we’d also have to carry our chairs and equipment from the courthouse all the way to the execution chamber.

I would never want to go through a process like that. No human should ever go through a process like that. God knew that, too. He sent his son to go through this on our behalf, so we didn’t have to. It was the ultimate act that ceased the necessity for this process. God, once and for all, placed the world’s sins on Jesus so that we could be eternally forgiven and have the ability to be in the right relationship with our heavenly Father.

Isaiah 53:4 shares about how God placed the world’s sins on Jesus.

Isaiah 53:4

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!

The system of sacrifices points to this concept. Killing a lamb, though, is one thing. Thinking of God’s chosen servant as the lamb was crazy to the people of Isaiah’s time. This turned into one of the many prophecies Isaiah had that came true. God was pulling aside the curtain of time to let the people of Isaiah’s day look ahead to see the suffering Messiah and the resulting forgiveness made available to all people.

Jesus was carrying our weaknesses and sorrows, a unique way to view sin. The word sin comes from the concept of “missing the mark.” It was used within a tribe of archers that focused on them missing the target they were aiming at. For us, sinning is missing the mark of being like Christ. Based on the Isaiah text, we miss the mark of being like Christ when we carry our own weaknesses and sorrows. Yet, through Paul’s teachings, we learn that God uses our weaknesses from his strength. God can’t use our weaknesses if we hold on to them and protect them as if we’re going to be shamed about them. God wants us to release our weaknesses and the sorrows we’re wrestling with, for through him, we find healing and growth.

Later in Isaiah 53, he talks about the victory we find through Christ.

Isaiah 53:12

12           I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

The perfect, sinless Lamb of God, Jesus, took the sins of humanity and experienced the death we deserve. Remember, crucifixion was the standard to punish someone for their sins. If we were a part of the Roman empire, especially at this time, we would experience this ourselves because of our sinful nature. Yet Jesus sacrificed for us to have a right relationship with God. Through his sacrifice, we can go boldly and confidently to God as we are and invite God to transform our hearts and lives.

Best of all, this sacrifice didn’t end with Jesus’ death. Jesus rose from the dead to show the divine power over death. This power resides in us and can give us hope and confidence that we will experience eternal life. There’s a victorious feel that comes with that. Jesus’ death has an impact on our lives today. Where we don’t live in the same societal and cultural systems that existed that Jesus did, but I assume that it’s through what Jesus did that we don’t have it. The death and resurrection of Jesus changed the world and how the world reacted to Christianity in general. Imagine if we still had to run through the sacrificial system that they had. We don’t, though, and that’s what Jesus went through. How will you share in gratitude for everything Jesus did?

Father God, we thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus. We recognize that he was the sacrifice above all sacrifices. We can never wrap our heads around what this sacrifice represents. We can wrap our minds around how this sacrifice saved us from pain, torture, death, and condemnation. We thank you for your grace and mercy so we don’t have to experience that. We know we can go to you in all circumstances, boldly and confidently, to share our weaknesses and sorrows with you so you can strengthen us physically, mentally, and spiritually. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.