Iniquities

“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed”.  Isaiah 53:5 

Iniquities – The root of this frequently used Old Testament word (awon) means to bend, twist or distort.  When it is applied to religious contexts, it takes on the sense of crooked behavior, actions that are not in line with the right way.  It is also a collective noun, that is, it is used in the singular form to include all sorts of distorted activities. 

There is one significant difference between our understanding of iniquity and the Old Testament usage.  In the Old Testament, this word encompassed both the sinful action and the punishment of that action.  Today we separate these two events, but the Old Testament does not see a separation.  Within the umbrella of this word, the actions that are designated as bent or crooked entail processes that result in distressing penalties.  Acting in ways that distort God’s intentions automatically cause results that are distorted consequences. 

This coupling of act and result is an important concept for us to meditate upon.  Our godless behaviors are living examples of this coupling process in our own lives.  When we let sin run our lives, the inevitable results were distress, distortion and penalties.  There were no exceptions.  Crooked behavior produced crooked results.  In this powerful verse from Isaiah, Christ is portrayed as bearing these inevitable consequences for us.  Our twisted actions that should have inflicted automatic penalties on us produced penalties that He bore for us.  This is the very essence of forgiveness, that God would take upon Himself the consequences that we not only deserved but also actually initiated.  What a wonderful release from our bondage was accomplished by breaking this chain of death!  God undid the eternal law of cause and effect for us, but only because the effect fell on Christ.  In spite of our guilt, we were not punished.

Sins in this world still carry automatic consequences.  Lying produces distrust.  Anger produces hurt.  Violence makes victims.  Every sin causes more pain and more evil.  That is why we stop sinning.  We cannot go on producing distorted and twisted consequences when we see how much it cost to remove the eternal results for us.