If the bible is the story of the world, then the life, death, and resurrection of jesus are the climax of everything.

BUT HE WAS PIERCED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, HE WAS CRUSHED FOR OUR INIQUITIES; THE PUNISHMENT THAT BROUGHT US PEACE WAS ON HIM, AND BY HIS WOUNDS WE ARE HEALED.  - ISAIAH 53:5

This verse is everything.    

It’s right at the center. It’s the climax of every story, every moment, all of history—the single moment by which all other moments are measured and defined. It’s the culmination and fulfillment of every hope and every good promise. This is it! It’s the deepest depths and the highest heights meeting together in one colossal clash for the love of all of mankind.    

Do you see it? Do you feel it too?   

I want you to. I want you to feel the beauty and the overwhelming magnitude of it all, the glory and the sacrifice in it, the good and the evil. I want you to see it, all of it. And it’s a lot. So, we’re going to tackle it in four posts, starting with this one. Today, we’re going to see this event as the climactic moment of all time. In the next post, we’ll see how it’s the fulfillment of every promise, the culmination of all our hopes. Then, we’ll look at the heights of glory and depths of sacrifice. Finally, we are going to talk about what happens when this verse impacts our everyday thinking. So let’s start with the story.   

This verse is the climax of history.   

If the Bible is true, if Jesus is God, if heaven is real, if our lives have any meaning, if there’s a plan for the universe, then the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are the climax of everything. Period. Let me get specific here. If the Bible is the story of the world, the true revelation of the God who made everything, then this is the central event of that story, our story. It’s the crux of everything, the event that all events were leading towards, the lens through which all moments afterwards must be seen.

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In the story of the world, we all know there’s a hitch.     

Just like every single novel we read and every movie we watch, there’s always a conflict. We actually don’t know how to tell stories without conflict. It’s a reflection of our human situation. We have these problems and we desperately want resolution, we long for things to be made right, but how? The Bible tells our story this way. In the beginning, God creates people to live in perfect harmony with himself, each other, and the world. And it’s AMAZING... for two chapters. By chapter three though, people have already chosen their own way, introducing sin into the story (the “conflict”). At this point things get pretty sordid—everything from lies and cheats to brothers killing brothers, incest, and every kind of immoral act... it’s all kinds of R-rated material. And a good and just God simply cannot let such things go on without repercussions; somebody’s gotta pay for all that! But this same just God is also the loving Father of all his unsavory children. What’s he going to do? How can he be just without throwing his babies out with the bathwater?   

 Thankfully he is God, and he has a plan.    

It starts as a promise, a promise that he himself will provide a way for reconciliation. Throughout the story, he provides hints and shadows of this restoration plan. He helps people understand the violation and the cost of their wrongdoing by asking them to regularly sacrifice valuable animals (their food and livelihood) as payment, life poured out for life squandered. All the while, he keeps on promising that he, himself will provide the final payment for all their wrongs. Our verse from Isaiah is one reiteration of that promise. A Savior would come, paying for the sins of humanity with his own life, satisfying the love of a Father without compromising on justice.   

So he came.   

The Son of God came as our representative and replacement. He stepped down from glory to step into our shoes. He fully identified with us, our struggles, our broken world. And though he was tempted in every way, he did not sin. Therefore, he was able to fulfill the perfect requirement of justice. He willingly took our place, enduring the punishment we deserved. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” He saw our helpless state and took upon himself the weighty punishment that was our due, exchanging it for the glory that was his due. He made peace in that act, a peace we could never earn or purchase, a peace that had to be won for us, given to us, peace with our loving Father.    

The rest of the story.   

Our lives are the response to this climax. What will we do with this sacrifice? Will we embrace the peace that Jesus won for us? Will we allow his wounds to be our healing? If this is in fact the crux of history, if Jesus’ actions on our behalf are the most central thing that has ever happened, it should change everything. It should change our perspective, our priorities, our affections, our goals. We can actually live in peace, real peace and contentment. And all of our wounds can be healed. We can live as thriving, whole, healthy people. But certainly, all of this isn’t just for us, to hoard for ourselves. This story is for the world. It’s for shouting from the mountains, for chatting over coffee. It’s for the telling and retelling in all the diversity of our own experiences of it. It is our story, our song—the most meaningful and impactful thing that has ever happened in the history of the world, and it happened for us.  

How is your story part of the bigger story of Jesus? 

How can telling your story be a light to those around you? 

Are you living like Jesus is the crux of your story?   

Thanks for reading,