Jesus Christ is our glorious Substitute and Shepherd. And when we know him as our Substitute and Shepherd, it brings the deep healing our souls need. 

Jesus our Substitute… 

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. (v. 24)

Jesus is our substitute. We understand the idea of a substitute. (Teacher, sports - one who takes the place of another). This is a glorious truth and we see it here in this passage. He himself bore our sins. The emphatic pronoun (He Himself) is important. Jesus Christ himself; God in the flesh, himself did it. God didn’t send someone else on this errand. He himself did it. Nobody pushed him into it. Nobody forced his hand. He did it voluntarily. He did it willingly. We hear this echoed throughout the NT. Jesus said his mission was to “give his life as a ransom for many”. Paul said of Jesus: “he loved me and gave himself for me.” Jesus himself bore our sins. Nobody outside the Trinity forced his hand. He is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). 

The clear implication of this text is that on the cross a sort of exchange takes place. You see that in the expression he himself “bore our sins in his body on the tree…” Amazing! He bore our sins. He did not die for his own sins. He took the place of sinners. One theologian (Karl Barth??) suggested that the most important word in the NT is the word translated “for” or “on behalf of” because of its connection to Christ as our substitute. He died for us. He took our place. 

Leon Morris said, “Redemption is substitutionary, for it means that Christ paid the price that we could not pay; he paid it in our stead and we go free.”

He took our place. It is so central to the gospel that without this understanding, we will invariably have a weak or faulty foundation. We will tend to sentimentalize the gospel (love story) or orient our lives around what we can do for God. Those are not unimportant. It’s important that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It is important that we seek to live a life that pleases God. And the gospel does reveal the great love of Christ for us. But it must be built on the foundation of what Christ our Substitute Redeemer has done on our behalf. Jesus Christ is our Substitute. Peter reiterates this truth in the next chapter, in 1 Peter 3:18, when he says,

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)

Do you hear the language of substitution? The righteous One (Jesus Christ) suffered once for the sins of the unrighteous (you and I). And what was the purpose? That he might bring us to God. That he might reconcile us to God. He bore our sins on the tree… the word bore means to carry a massive, heavy weight. This phrase of Jesus bearing our sins isn’t used very often in the NT. Only one other time in is that language of Christ “bearing our sins” is used and it’s in Hebrews 9:28: 

So Christ, having been offered once, to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. 

For Jesus to bear our sins means that in some real way he actually takes them away. He removes them and we go free. By his one sacrifice, they are gone forever, plunged into the sea without bottom or shore, remembered no more, removed as far as the east is from the west. He bore our sins. There was a ceremony that took place on the Day of Atonement under the OT sacrificial system where the high priests laid their hands on the scapegoat symbolically transferring the sins of the people of Israel to the goat who would then bear the sins and carry them into the wilderness, in order to make atonement. This clearly was a type and shadow of what Christ would do - our sins transferred to him, except he would do it once and for all! That’s why it says, “he himself bore (past tense)”. He does not bear my sins. He did it… once and for all! When Peace Like a River: “My sin, O the bliss…”

In the OT, to bear sins also meant to suffer punishment. If the people sinned and bore their sins, they would be punished for them. If we in the end bear our own sins (if God counts our sins against us), we too will be punished. But that’s what our Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished for all who trust in him. He not only was our substitute in the sense that he bore our sins, he has also borne our guilt and condemnation or the punishment our sins deserve. It’s significant that Peter uses the word tree here. Peter understood that the one hung on a tree was under God’s curse. Deuteronomy 21 testifies that the man who is hanged on a tree is cursed by God. Paul quotes that very text in Galatians 3:13 when he says “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” 

This helps to give context to the agony of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46), on the night before his crucifixion. He sought the Father to see if he was willing to remove the cup Jesus had been given. The cup was not the physical pain of dying on a cross. The cup was not the humiliation before men of dying a criminal’s death. The cup was filled with the wrath of God against sin, it was full of death and curse. Christ What Burdens Bowed Thy Head:

Death and curse were in that cup

O Christ, twas full for Thee

But Thou hast drank the last dark drop

Tis empty now for me

That bitter cup, love drank it up

Now blessings drought for me

As our substitute, Christ bore our sins, drank the cup that justly was owed to us, so we can go free. The implications are enormous! If Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree and became a curse for us, then those who are in Christ, we no longer bear our sins and the wrath we deserve has landed on Christ and has passed over us. I love the scene in Pilgrim’s Progress (Christian at the cross). He comes to the cross and the heavy burden (sin, guilt, and condemnation) falls off his back and rolls down the hill into a grave, and it was seen no more. That’s the glory of Christ our Substitute. He bore our sins, paid the price we could not pay, and we go free! Now notice the next phrase:

That we might die to sin and live to righteousness (v. 24)

What an amazing statement. For Peter, this is the central purpose for which Christ bore our sins on the tree. Not so we could experience God’s love. Not so we might have peace. Not so we can go to heaven someday. Of course all those things are true - gloriously true! The cross does demonstrate the love of God in a most remarkable way. It does provide for us our right to eternal life. The cross is the sufficient means by which we have peace with God. But Peter says the purpose of Jesus Christ bearing our sins in his body on the tree is “that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” In other words, there is more than a positional, spiritual reality that takes place. There is a real change that takes place when one repents and believes in Christ. There is a transformation that takes place. 

That we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Die to sin. This doesn’t mean we don’t battle against temptation and sin. We do, and at times, the pull of temptation seems strong. But the enslaving power of sin has been broken. And we are now given a new life and a new inclination toward righteousness. Of course this points to our union with Christ by faith. Through faith, we are united to Christ in his death and resurrection. Baptism is an outward symbol of this precious truth. One goes down into the waters of baptism signifying death to the old life and sin and comes up out of water symbolizing a new life, alive to righteousness. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 6:10-12 (very similar language to Peter):

For the death [Christ] died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

Our great Substitute Redeemer took our place on the cross, paid the price we could not pay by bearing our sin, guilt, and condemnation in order that the power of sin might be broken and we might live a new life to God in righteousness. What a Savior! Jesus is our Substitute. And he’s our Shepherd.

Jesus our Shepherd

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls… (v. 25)

Jesus is not only our substitute by what he did in the past. He is our Shepherd now and will be forever. The first part of this verse is taken directly from Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Jesus had to bear our sins in order to be our Shepherd. This is what the Father commissioned him to do. In John 10 Jesus said,

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (v. 11)

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. (v. 14) 

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (v. 16)

What does the good Shepherd do? He lays down his life for the sheep. He knows them and makes sure that they know Him. He gathers the sheep to himself. He leads them. He guards them. He protects them. He gives and leads them to eternal life. Listen to Revelation 7:17: “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The word “returned” means turn toward. That refers to repentance and faith. You were straying like sheep, but have now turned toward the shepherd and overseer of your soul… The sheep who have returned to the Shepherd, what do they do? They listen for the Shepherd’s voice. They Follow the Shepherds lead. They submit to the Shepherd’s commands. They stay in the Shepherd’s protection. 

This is not talking about seeking to be safe and living a risk free life at all costs. Remember Peter refers to Christ as the Shepherd of our souls. Life is hard, we are called to be courageous, adventurous in the kingdom, and even take risks… knowing that the Shepherd of our souls will keep us and lead us home in the end. Psalm 23 sums it up (recite). Do you sense your need for a Shepherd like this? This is who Christ is, the good Shepherd of our souls. 

There is a phrase in the middle of our passage that I overlooked, and actually did on purpose. The reason is because it seems to be connected to both of these truths. 

Healed

By his wounds we have been healed. (v. 24)

Between the two great truths of Jesus our Substitute and Jesus our Shepherd is this glorious statement: “By his wounds you have been healed.” This is pointing us to the kind of deep healing we all need. 

There is a lot of talk about brokenness and the need for healing. Even in a Christian context. Unfortunately it often doesn’t go near deep enough. We need healing, every one of us. We need healing more important than the ailments our bodies suffer from, though Christ cares about those. We need a deeper healing than the kind of therapeutic healing of our emotional hurts. No doubt those are real and not unimportant. I believe God heals physically. Listen, we are going to resurrection bodies in the end. Clearly God cares about our physical bodies. Not only that, remember Jesus, as our Shepherd, wipes away all our tears. Listen, will be forever healed physically and emotionally. The Lord Jesus Christ will do it!

But this text puts the emphasis on the healing of our souls from the soul eating disease of sin. Look at the connection between the first part of verse 24 and that last phrase:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

The stain of sin is deep and its wasting disease wreaks havoc on the soul. Think of envy. Do you realize how run through our society with the wasting, ravaging sin of envy? It is a cancer. And for some here it is. Pornography addiction. Same thing. But what happens when we experience the redeeming work of Christ? The healing begins. Sins are forgiven. The conscience is cleansed. Guilt and condemnation removed. We are known and loved with the perfect, unconquerable love of a gracious and glorious Savior who did not wait for us to get our act together. We begin growing in mature, righteous living. All of this brings God’s gracious healing. By the wounds of Christ, we are healed. Notice also how the last part of 24 connects with verse 25. 

By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls… 

What’s going on here? The healing here is the most profound of all. It is the healing of a heart that turns and runs from Jesus Christ. We are given a new heart that manifests itself in straying sheep humbly and gladly coming to the good Shepherd. Not going our own way anymore, but rather listening to him, following him, trusting him, being nourished by him, obeying him, and receiving his care and protection. That’s healing. 

Hudson Taylor gave a New Year’s address on verse 25 and I want to end with some of his words:

Are we all enjoying this precious truth? Are we all able to take this passage to ourselves and say, "I was a sheep going astray, but I am returned"? Can we all feel it is true for ourselves? If there be one who cannot do so, the SHEPHERD, the BISHOP, is really present, though unseen; He is here ready to receive those who will return now. "Come unto Me," is His word. If there is one burdened with sin, He is ready to pardon. If there is one burdened with care, He is present to receive your care. The LORD JESUS is [present] to take every burden away, to accept every deposit, to fulfill every trust we confide in Him. He will be faithful to keep that which we commit to Him. We can entrust to Him the keeping of our hearts, the ordering of our lives, the care of our children, the word to which He has called us. We may trust Him to keep us; yes, whatever we commit to Him, He is able to keep.

So if the good Shepherd says, “Come unto me”, the only reasonable response is to in faith come to him.