“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
September 28, 2023
The sufferings of Jesus were not as they seemed to be. “Like Job’s friends, they concluded that His awful sufferings were the results of His own awful sins of blasphemy and Sabbath-breaking” (John C. Whitcomb). The Servant was considered to be under God’s curse. But the truth was He was hanging on the cross in our place. The Servant songs rise to this high place in the Old Testament: The Servant of God will make a substitutionary atonement. The bells of truth ring out three realities about Christ’s suffering; His death was violent and painful. His death brought the infinite weight of the accumulated guilt of sinners crushing down upon Him (“crushed for our iniquities”). His death brings peace and healing to the forgiven sinner. It was for our “transgressions,” our rebellion, the ways in which we break God’s law in specific, particular ways. It was for our “iniquities,” all the sinful traits within me, those twisted and ugly things that are a part of me. God’s Servant was a man”smashed by the hammer of God’s anger” (S. Rees). It is not happenstance that Isaiah 53:5 is in the middle section of chapters of 49-57, and the middle verse of Isaiah 53. Praise God for the sufficiency of Christ’s atoning work, and the wideness and depth of God’s forgiveness. Is this your most treasured possession?
H
“There is only one brow which this crown of thorns will fit.”