Set Your Conscience Free
He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities.
ISAIAH 53:5
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Set Your Conscience Free
This fright comes when we see the strict wrath and unwavering seriousness of God toward sin and sinners, since He even did not want to give His own dearest Son to free sinners unless He did full penance for them, as He said, "For the sin of My people I have struck Him" (Isaiah 53:8). What will happen to the sinner, when His dearest Son was struck in that way? An unspeakable and unbearable seriousness must be there when such an immeasurably great person goes to meet it, and suffers and dies for it. If you profoundly reflect on the fact that God's Son, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, Himself suffers, then you will indeed be frightened; the more [you reflect], the more profoundly [you will be frightened]. . . . When one has become aware of his sins in this way and is completely frightened in himself, he must be careful that his sins do not remain in his conscience, or sheer despair will certainly result from it. Rather, just as [the sins] proceeded and were recognized from Christ['s suffering], so we should throw them back on Him and set our conscience free.
From Meditation on the Holy Suffering of Christ (Luther's Works 76:426, 429-30)
ISAIAH 53:5
+
Set Your Conscience Free
This fright comes when we see the strict wrath and unwavering seriousness of God toward sin and sinners, since He even did not want to give His own dearest Son to free sinners unless He did full penance for them, as He said, "For the sin of My people I have struck Him" (Isaiah 53:8). What will happen to the sinner, when His dearest Son was struck in that way? An unspeakable and unbearable seriousness must be there when such an immeasurably great person goes to meet it, and suffers and dies for it. If you profoundly reflect on the fact that God's Son, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, Himself suffers, then you will indeed be frightened; the more [you reflect], the more profoundly [you will be frightened]. . . . When one has become aware of his sins in this way and is completely frightened in himself, he must be careful that his sins do not remain in his conscience, or sheer despair will certainly result from it. Rather, just as [the sins] proceeded and were recognized from Christ['s suffering], so we should throw them back on Him and set our conscience free.
From Meditation on the Holy Suffering of Christ (Luther's Works 76:426, 429-30)
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