”"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed."
1 Peter 2:24New International Version (NIV)
1 Peter 2:24 Devotional
Live for Righteousness and in Healing
In 1 Peter 2:24, Peter tells you and me to live for righteousness and in healing. Righteousness and healing are the result of Jesus bearing our sins in His body on the cross.
Remember, at the time that Jesus was crucified on the cross, He was fully God (divine) and fully man (human). He was one Person who had two natures: the divine nature and the human nature. And Peter, combining this reality with Isaiah’s statement in Isaiah chapter 53, brings out Jesus as the servant who suffered for His followers to experience redemption (John 12:37-44, Isaiah 6:10, and 53:1).
Death to sin and life to righteousness
Moreover, Jesus Christ endured suffering so we could die to sin. In that action, by God’s grace and through our faith in Him, we have been freed from the price of our own sin, and from the power of sin. And, thanks to Christ’s suffering, we can live righteously. We don’t have to sin; we are free to make the right choices that please and honor our God (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Jesus therefore paid our debt to the law. He atoned for sin when God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement (Romans 3:25a and 1 John 2:2a). His death on the cross appeased God’s wrath.
Consequently, when you believe in Him, you become dead to the eternal consequences of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). You are therefore justified before God, because your sins have been forgiven. And you live to the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Healing
In addition, Peter states that Jesus died for our infirmities or sicknesses. He therefore paraphrased Isaiah 53:5 and declared that by Jesus’ stripes, we were healed.
Consequently, you have been healed because Jesus Christ became our substitute and died the death we deserved. God, the one who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23), judged Christ for our sin on the cross and poured out His wrath (anger) on His own begotten Son to satisfy the payment for our sin.
Therefore, as Christians, we have been healed from the penalty and power of our sin by Christ’s wounds, by His death in our place, and by His suffering for our good. His wounds (suffering) are the means by which we are healed (forgiven) by God for our sins. And this is not about our physical conditions, but our spiritual destiny. For God delivered us from spiritual blindness.
All in all, Peter, by applying Isaiah’s statements to the believer, exhorts you and me to live for righteousness and in healing. That despite the presence of many things to live for in the world, we would choose to live for righteousness and in the healing that Christ availed to us. We have therefore been saved from sin and the death that comes with it!
Prayer/Blessing
Lord, I thank You for the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for my sins. Praise be to You that through this sacrifice I received healing from the wounds he suffered. How I pray that I may live in and enjoy the full healing that Christ gained for me. This is my prayer in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
May Christ’s suffering deliver and assure you of freedom from the vagaries of sin. Amen.
Daily Bible Reading
Numbers 21-22 (see How to Read the Bible in One Year or How to Read the Bible (for Beginners))
