The Local Church

He Died for Me

When I was just about to enter Princeton University in 1957, I met a Christian doctor and his wife who met with the local churches. At the time I had become an atheist, although my parents had taken me to church as a child. I was completely convinced that science had an answer to all the questions, and that God did not exist because I saw no evidence for His existence. Anything connected with Jesus and the Bible was to me, ludicrous and intellectually indefensible, and I used to ridicule Christians. The doctor and his wife nevertheless invited me to Christian meetings in their home. I went out of curiosity. Their meetings were totally different from church services I had attended previously. There was no minister or pastor conducting the meeting. Instead, many of the people at those meetings would stand up to speak and share their testimonies of what Christ had done in their lives, and I was deeply moved by them. At one of these meetings, the doctor's wife asked me to stand up and read aloud for them from Isaiah 53. As I came to the verse, “He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not” (3), the Holy Spirit pierced my conscience and pointed out that I had despised and rejected Him. Then I read, “but He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (5) Every time I came across the word “our” and “we,” I had the distinct impression that they somehow meant “my” and “I.” I realized that Isaiah was speaking concerning the Lord Jesus, Who, in spite of my rejection and ridicule of Him, loved me so much that He died for me. Furthermore I was surprised, and indeed frightened, to find this passage of Scripture, which was a clear portrayal of Christ's suffering in the Old Testament, which I knew was written centuries before Christ. By the Lord's Word He created within me faith in the Lord Jesus, which I previously did not possess. I praise Him and thank Him for His grace. I also thank Him for leading me to meet with the local church. Here I found that by the mutual ministering of Christ to one another, I have been strengthened, nourished and supplied with Christ. Here I found the true meaning of Ephesians 4:16. Praise Him for the “riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18).

Raymond Chiao | Back to List

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