Ponderize - Isaiah 53: 5

Isaiah 53: 5 For He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him: and with His stripes, we are healed.

One thing I've done as I ponderized this verse and the others is played around with the emphasis of each sentence, putting the stress on different words to see if that yielded different meanings. When I put the emphasis on the verbs, for example, it seemed to emphasize the reality of what happened. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. That is a bedrock truth that can form the foundation for a solid testimony. That was a decent insight and a rather blogable one, but I also found another insight which I found far more interesting.

It involves the tenses of the verbs. For He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him: and with His stripes, we are healed. The word "was," a past tense state of being verb, was used to describe Jesus' suffering, but "are," a present tense verb, is used to describe the healing.

This reminds me of the last line of the Primary hymn "Gethsemane." That song also uses mostly past-tense verbs, but its last line is also in the present tense. My mother's interpretation of this word choice is that the gift of the Atonement is ongoing. My elaboration on that insight is that the suffering of the Atonement isn't ongoing.

Jesus was bruised for our iniquities - in the past. The pain of that bruising is also in the past. It's done with. The time of Christ's suffering is over. The time of His healing and blessing of the children of men is ongoing. This is comforting to me, and I'm sure that it's thrilling for Him. He only had to pay the price once, and He did that. The matchless gift of the Atonement is bought and paid for. Now, our Savior gets to enjoy the thrill of giving that gift over and over again.

I am thankful for this truth, both for His sake and mine. For my sake, I'm thankful for the gift of Christ's Atonement. For His sake, I'm thankful that He doesn't have to pay for it any time anyone uses it. He did have to pay for it, and I'm thankful that He did, but I'm especially thankful that the blessings of the Atonement are available now and forever, while the pain of the Atonement exists only in the past.