healing wounds

In Peter's stirring words about the Grace in Jesus' suffering for us, he writes, by His Wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24).  Though some have taken this as a promise of physical healing, which, I suppose, in its ultimate sense, promises that believers will be completely healed by His Wounds in God's Kingdom yet to come, I believe it has a far clearer present-day application.  In its context, Peter says that Christ Himself bore our sins in His Body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; "by His Wounds you have been healed."  Peter quotes Isaiah 53:5, in which the Suffering Servant Messiah is pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, punished for our peace, and wounded for our healing. Our "healing" here is clearly our being "saved" from sin and death and restored to righteousness and peace. All this because of Jesus' Healing Wounds.

Now that we are part of His continuing Body on earth, those Healing Wounds continue.  We join Paul in completing in our flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ (Colossians 1:24).  For example, our progress in developing in the righteousness and peace of Jesus depends in part on others who are willing to wound us as they challenge our sinful behavior so that we might walk in peaceful holiness: faithful are these wounds of a friend (Proverbs 27:6).  Or there's the wounding of circumstance, such as the hard responses from others, including the enemy himself, when we are determined to follow Jesus.  In these wounds, we can glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope, which does not disappoint us because God's Love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us (Romans 5:3-5).  His Healing comes out of such wounding.

In a culture that avoids pain at all costs, let's be ready to receive these healing wounds from Jesus.  And in circumstances when we or others are hurting, let's look for Him to bring healing out of such wounding.