Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 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. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

The Five Ours Of Jesus

Without standing at the cross of Jesus and seeing His body scourged, beaten, spat upon and battered by the mocking of Roman soldiers who would nail the hands of the Son of God to a tree along with His feet driven with iron spikes; it is difficult to grasp the incredible love of God to allow unholy man to abuse His only begotten Son. The cross is anything but glorious. It has been fashioned into gold and worn around necks as if a symbol of pride and showmanship when in fact the cross was the depravity of the most heinous manner devised man to slowly kill its victim. Jesus did not take the gall that would have lessened His pain and He born the full impact of the crucifixion with every shooting pain and unbearable torture of His back upon the cross. Enduring those hours of suffering goes beyond the realm of understanding when by the word of His voice seventy-two thousand angels would ascend and destroy all of humanity. Jesus remained silent. He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. His death would give life to all men and through His suffering pave the way for glory to those who would accept the gift of His sacrifice. The cross must be realized for what it really means. It was not because of any sin committed by Jesus that He was on the cross. There were those who came to charge Jesus with blasphemy and charge Him to death but none could be found of credibility. Finally, two false witnesses came forward saying He said He would destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. The Jewish leaders took Jesus to the Romans where He was condemned to die even though Pilate declared Jesus innocent. Because of the pressure of the Jews who cried out for crucifixion, the Son of God was condemned to death. Jesus died an unjust death condemned for a crime He did not commit and had never broken the Law of Moses in any degree. A pure and innocent man died that day and there was a reason His death was required.

The prophet Isaiah declared hundreds of years earlier the coming Christ would suffer many things from the hands of unjust men. He would be despised and rejected by men, wounded, bruised, chastised and suffer the affliction of stripes as a lamb to the slaughter. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy and became the suffering Savior. Isaiah declares the reason for the Son of God to suffer. It was not for anything He would have done but because of the sins of mankind that would bring about the death of God’s Son. There are five “ours” in the woeful message of Isaiah’s prophecy of the suffering Christ and they all point to the putridity of men. Jesus has borne OUR griefs and OUR sorrows. The grief endured by the Son of God was the affliction brought upon Him by OUR sins in the consequence of the physical suffering of the cross. Jesus was a man feeling all the pain of the whip used to scourge Him. He was in incredible pain when He bore the cross. When they nailed His hands to the cross and then lifted Him up His level of pain increased in unbelievable waves of torture. Gathering His feet together and driving those nails through His flesh was an experience of incredible suffering. Jesus bore OUR griefs and carried OUR sorrows because of HIS love for OUR condition. The cross was every part of the physical horror intended by humanity to devise against another. Jesus suffered the worst death created by man because the nature of sin demanded His suffering.

Beyond the physical suffering of the cross, Jesus was wounded for OUR transgression and bruised for OUR iniquities. He was pierced for OUR rebellion and crushed for OUR sins. There was no justification for the Son of God to be sentenced to death because Jesus knew no sin. In the three decades of His short life, the man from Nazareth never sinned. And yet because of OUR sin He willingly and courageously bore the suffering of the cross because of OUR state of depravity, darkness, and rebellion. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging, we are healed. Jesus took the wrath of the Father on Himself so OUR lives would not face the fury of the Divine. He took upon Himself to endure the cross and He laid His life down that He could take it again for the hope of man to live in eternal life. OUR transgressions and OUR iniquities nailed Jesus to the cross and the chastisement of OUR peace was upon Him because Jesus loved OUR lives to the point of death. It is impossible to stand at the cross and not see the five OURS of Jesus as He shed innocent blood for the redemption of all men: OUR griefs, OUR sorrows, OUR transgressions, OUR iniquities, and OUR peace. Jesus died for ME. Thank you Jesus for loving ME.