When Jesus went to the cross, He bled from seven significant places on His body. They are significant because, for every way that we have sinned and rejected GOD, Jesus’ blood cleanses us of our sins and makes us pure in GOD’s sight. A line from Ray Boltz’s song “Scars” comes to mind: “I saw His scars; no, He did not try to hide them, He said ‘Come and look inside them; they’re a window to My heart.’” Let us examine how Christ’s wounds on the cross speak to how deeply He loves us and how much He was willing to endure to bring us salvation.
#1: His Head
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your mind is now hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:2-3
How many times have we allowed impure thoughts to enter and linger in our minds? It is a habit that is so engrained that, for all our other efforts, we always fall short. Yet by choosing to allow the crown of thorns to be placed upon His head, Jesus shed His blood to cleanse our thoughts, purifying our minds so that we may be open to learn how GOD thinks. For our part, we as believers are responsible for being good stewards of our minds, opening ourselves only to that which glorifies Him.
#2: His Back
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6
The image of turning one’s back is emblematic of rejection; turning away from one path means that you are inherently choosing to follow another. Whether people acknowledge it or not, they choose to live for a lie when they reject GOD’s truth. Yet Jesus chose to be brutally whipped, with those wounds aggravated by the cross, to cleanse all those who have turned away from GOD, opening the way for them to turn back and seek His way instead of continuing on their own.
#3: His Side
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
The heart is the core of our being; the Bible speaks of our innermost thoughts being kept in our hearts, and the decision to follow Christ begins with a change of heart. In order to cleanse our hearts of sin, Jesus’ own heart was pierced by a Roman spear when He was stabbed in the side (to ensure He was dead). GOD’s heart broke for all His children who were drowning in sin, and He pursued us with all His heart, doing whatever was required to change us at the most foundational level, that we might have a chance for new life with Him.
#4 & #5: His Hands
“’For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” Mark 10:45
Whatever we choose to do in our hearts and minds, we carry out that decision with our hands. Every sinful act and abomination stained the hands of humanity, and Jesus stretched out His own hands to save us, allowing the Romans to fasten Him to the cross with nails through those very hands.
#6 & #7: His Feet
“He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights.” Psalm 18:33
Our hearts determine what we treasure, and our minds decide where we shall go, but our feet are what carry us there. We trod many dark and sinister paths as sinners, and our feet carried us far away from GOD; despite that, and the distance required for Him to travel in order to reach us, Jesus chose to pursue His lost children, allowing His feet to be pierced by a spike so that all the feet of GOD’s prodigal children might turn away from the paths of sin and follow Him on the path of righteousness.