DID YOU KNOW: In the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah, is the prophecy of the dying Messiah? “‘Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and to afflict Him, if He would make His life an offering for sin . . . ”

In ancient times, one of the sacrifices offered in the Temple was called the Asham. The Asham was the guilt offering for the guilty. Asham also means “the guilt”. The guilt offering and the guilt? It seems contradictory, but it goes together. The guilt offering could only take away the guilt of the one offering it by first becoming the guilt.

Isaiah’s prophecy describes Jesus the Messiah as wounded, pierced, and crushed for OUR sins. But in Hebrew text, it goes further. It says that His life would become an Asham. It’s an amazing thing because Asham is the same word used in the Book of Leviticus for the animal sacrifices offered up by the priests to redeem the guilty. But here it’s used to speak not of a sacrificial animal but of a human sacrifice… the death of the Messiah. Jesus is the Asham. And that means that He not only died to take away our guilt, but He becomes the guilt itself. So when you see Him on the cross, you’re seeing the Asham, the sacrifice, but also the guilt itself. The guilt being nailed to the cross. And if Jesus the Messiah is the Asham and the Asham is “the guilt”, then if the Asham dies, all your guilt, all your shame, and all your regrets dies with Him. They’ve all died and are gone, completely and forever . . . It is FINISHED.

TODAY: Take all your regrets, the shame, and the guilt you’ve ever carried and give it to Jesus who is your Asham. Forgive yourself and receive His forgiveness and let it go FOREVER.