May 21

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.” — 1 Pet 2:24 BSB

We often ask the Lord to give us a broken heart, a contrite spirit, a tender conscience, and a humble mind. But it is only by seeing, through the eyes of faith, what our gracious Redeemer endured upon the cross—bearing the weight of our sins, along with the full force of God's anger toward them—that our hard hearts can truly be softened, and our stony hearts can be broken. No other sight can make sin appear as hateful as it really is, or draw out tears of godly sorrow and deep repentance. Only then can we truly confess before God what dreadful sinners and backsliders we have been in the sight of His infinite purity, majesty, and holiness.

Oh, what hope do we have for our guilty souls? Where can we find refuge from the righteous wrath of God, or shelter from the curse of a fiery law, except in the cross of Jesus? Oh, to see Him with the eyes of faith, bearing our sins in His body on the tree! To witness, by faith, how all our dreadful sins—those that have caused us so much grief and trouble, those backslidings we reflect on with shame and sorrow—were taken from us and placed upon the head of the Lamb of God!

Where else can we find relief? Nowhere! Where else can you find pardon sealed to your heart, forgiveness made real to your soul, or any hope of heaven and escape from hell except in the cross? It is only through some personal testimony of your saving interest in Christ's precious blood and righteousness, through the knowledge that He bore your sins on the cross, that you can find peace. I know, full well, that it requires a special kind of faith—faith that only God can give—to believe this. It requires an exceptional manifestation of salvation by the blood of the Lamb, and a powerful application of Christ crucified to the heart.

But I speak what I believe to be the deepest conviction of every heart touched by God’s hand when I say: until we know this in some measure, there is no solid relief, no true peace with God, no firm foundation for eternity, nothing strong enough to drive away the fear of death or to open the gates of heaven.