As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
~Isaiah 53:11
My son and his wife just had a baby, and I’m still trying to process the whole, “my baby has a baby” thing. We were recently blessed to stay with them for a week, helping to relieve their collective sleep deprivation. At just 6 weeks old, baby girl is battling beastly gas pains—the cries of anguish are very distinctive. And heartbreaking. Like every parent before him throughout humanity, I overheard my son look into her sweet (yet writhing) face and utter those earnest, often desperate words: “Lord, take her pain and give it to me.”
If you have a child, this same scenario is likely seared in your mind and soul. In our child’s sickness, suffering, and for some of us, impending death, we would have taken whatever it was on ourselves to spare the child. From our deep, inexpressible love pours out this selfless response like water from a broken vessel: “I’ll suffer in her place! Please, God, take her pain, sickness, darkness…I’ll shoulder it myself, so she can be healed and free. Let me make that trade.”
Oh, beloved, can’t you see it? The very Gospel screams out from this parental plea! Separated from God, we are sick, suffering—dead—in our sins. Oftentimes, there is physical, mental, and emotional pain in this world. But it is 100% certain that eternal darkness and suffering await after human death. But God. The Plan was set from the foundation of time (someday we’ll understand this): In the mystery that is Trinitarian communication, Jesus would say of us sinners, “Father, in Our inexpressible love, I will suffer in their place. I will take their pain, sickness, darkness…I will shoulder it Myself, so they can be healed and free. I will make that trade.”
And He did. Jesus came to earth, fully God and fully Man. He lived the perfect life we could never live and died the brutal death we deserved—taking on the very wrath of God meant for us. Jesus traded our sin (and darkness and pain and suffering) for His righteousness, making the way for new life in Him. In Christ we are healed and free (Isaiah 53:5; Colossians 2:14; Galatians 3:13; Romans 5:8-10).
Jesus did this for you, sweet friend. Jesus sees you, and He knows your pain. He’s calling you to “Come.” He’s beseeching you: “Come to Me, and I will take your burdens and give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30).” And it doesn’t cost you anything but surrender (Revelation 22:17). If you haven’t yet allowed Jesus to take your pain, suffering, burdens, do it now. Just confess that you’re a sinner (not perfect), and He will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
As human parents, we’ve all cried out for this exchange—like my own son looking into his daughter’s eyes—but we’re unable to fulfill it. Jesus did. Won’t you accept this Great Exchange?
Lord, thank You for trading my sin, pain, and shame for Your perfect righteousness, making the way for eternal glory and joy. If there is just one person reading this who has not accepted this gift of healing and freedom, give them the faith to answer Your call to “Come.”
encouraged by grace 