Bruises

 

On Friday as I was putting stuff into the boot of the car I jagged my leg on something and felt a sharp pain as whatever it was went through my trousers and into my skin.  It was sore for a few minutes but by the time Id got home I had forgotten all about it.   When I got undressed that night I realised that Id actually broken the skin, just a tiny bit.  Im always amazed how something can damage the person without actually damaging the clothing.  No holes in the trousers, just a hole in my leg!!!   Today, a few days on, and there is a considerable bruise around the site of the scratch.   As I glanced at it in the mirror today I just heard the words ' bruised for our transgressions'  and I realised that I really didnt have a clue what that means. 

This is how God speaks to me.  He very often points me to words or phrases which I think I understand and shows me that I dont really.   So as I write Im going to do a bit of exploring into bruises.  What they are and why they are and why God might have used that particular word in that context as opposed to another word.  He chooses His words carefully.

Googling the word bruise I discover that its not just to do with some blood gathering under the surface of the skin and taking a while to disperse, but actually that blood can come from deeper tissue than just the surface layers.  Some bruises are caused by the very surface capillaries being damaged, but others are caused by traumatised vessels further under the surface being damaged and bleeding - that blood then finding its way closer to the surface.  Bruising keeps the body safe from infection - it allows a wound to be kept internal and therefore closed, whereas a bleeding wound is vulnerable.

Right back in Genesis 3 15 we are told that through Eve, who has succumbed to the temptation of the serpent, will come One who will crush the serpents head.  We are told that the serpent will bruise His heel ( the place where He walked on earth).   Ive never seen this before, but perhaps this is the bruising Isaiah was talking about ( 53:5)  I have always assumed until now that the ' bruised for our iniquities'  verse referred to Him being beaten half to death and hung on a cross.   But that was more than bruising.  It was lethal beating until He was so bloodied He was unrecognisable.   Isaiah lists various sorts of injuries Jesus is to experience.   

' by His scourging we are healed. 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 ...'      

It seems odd to even mention physical bruising in a list of scourging and wounding and chastisement.  But it is definitely there for a reason....... and as I ponder.......

Im sure others have seen this long before me, but it seems that the whipping Jesus took brings us healing, the nails in His hands and feet deal with our breaking of the law and the bruising deals with evil - Satan, the root cause of our fall.   I think perhaps the readers of the old Testament would understand the reference back to Genesis - that the bruising was to do with the stamping on Satan.  A spiritual rather than a physical injury.  An injury which did not break His skin like the whip but which maybe caused injury far deeper - in His soul .

This Easter I think I have a new appreciation of the bruising as well as the scourging and the nails and the crown of thorns.  So much suffering for us.  So many layers of injury and wounding so that I can be free from the curse.  Thank you Jesus