111. Christ – Our Offering For Sin

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Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 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. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 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. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Christ – Our Offering for Sin

OUTLINE

  • The Truth of the Cross (Isaiah 52:13-15-53:1-3)        
  • The Purpose of the Cross (Isaiah 53:4-6) 
  • The Faith of the Cross (Isaiah 53:7-9)
  • The Victory of the Cross (Isaiah 53:10-13)          

INTRODUCTION

The most important portion of Isaiah, and of the Old Testament, commences here, and here should have been the beginning of a new chapter. It is the description of the suffering Messiah, and is continued to the close of the next chapter. 

As the closing verses of this chapter are connected with the following chapter, and as it is of great importance to understand the design of this portion of Isaiah, it is proper in this place to give an analysis of this part of the prophecy. 

Isaiah 53 beautifully divides itself into 5, 3 verse sections. The first 3 verses is an introductory sketch of the life and career of Jesus Christ the Lord – Isaiah 52:13-15. Then the actual 53th chapter that starts the all over again with Jesus humble birth and growth in the most unexpected place, namely Nazareth, climaxes in the 12th verse with His exaltation to heaven. [Barnes]

And in these 12 verse in Isaiah 53, we follow step by step the response of Israel to Jesus, verses 1-3, namely His total rejection by the nation (v1-3), His atoning work upon the cross verses (v4-6), the circumstances of His death (v7-9) and culmination and goal and fulfilment of it all (v10-12).

Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

In Isaiah 52:13, the eye of the prophet becomes fixed on that greater future event to which the deliverance from Babylon was preparatory, and the whole attention becomes absorbed in the person, the manner of life, and the work of the Messiah. 

This part of the chapter 52:13-15, is an essential part of the prophecy which is continued through Isaiah, and should by no means have been separated from it. 

In this portion of the prophecy, all reference to the captivity at Babylon ceases; and the eye of the prophet is fixed, on the person of the Redeemer. In no other portion of the Old Testament is there so clear and sublime a description of the Messiah as is here; to understand the great mystery of redeeming mercy and love. 

Here is the suffering Saviour fulfilled in the Gospels!

The LORD speaks of His servant the Messiah, and describes the state of His humiliation, and of His subsequent exaltation. These verses contain, in fact, an epitome of what is enlarged upon in the next chapter. 

The sum of it is, that His servant should be, on the whole, prospered and exalted (v13); yet He would He subjected to the deepest trial and humiliation (v14); but as the result of this, He would redeem the nations of the earth, and their kings and rulers would regard Him with profound reverence (v15). A display of the divine perfections would accompany the work of the servant of the LORD such as they had never beheld, and they would be called on to contemplate wonders of which they had not before heard. Isaiah 53 contains a more minute explanation and statement of what is said in general in Isaiah 52:13-15. 

Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

He means that the Lord will pour out His Word over “many nations.” He next mentions the effect of doctrine, that kings shall shut their mouth, that is, in token of astonishment, but a different kind of astonishment from that which he formerly described. Men “shut their mouths,” and are struck with bewilderment, when the vast magnitude of the subject is such that it cannot be expressed, and that it exceeds all power of language.

What they have not heard. He means that this astonishment will not arise merely from Christ’s outward appearance, but, on the contrary, from the preaching of the Gospel; for, though He had risen from the dead, yet all would have thought that He was still a dead man, if the glory of His resurrection had not been proclaimed. By the preaching of the Gospel, therefore, were revealed those things which formerly had neither been seen nor heard; for this doctrine was conveyed to kings and nations that were very far off, and even to the very ends of the world.

  • The Truth of the Cross (53:1-3)

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? The answer that we have is negative.

Who has believed the message? The vast, vast, majority of Israelites today reject the Messiah today in spite of evangelism. Percentage wise very few acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. 

Romans 11:5 (KJV) Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

“to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”

Miracle conception and miracle life, the only uncontaminated Light, even Mount Sinai shake but it did not communicate clearly God – Jesus Christ is the supreme revelation of the power of God before the eyes of men. 

It did not communicate clearly God – Jesus Christ is the supreme revelation of the power of God before the eyes of men. 

How many people saw it? Very few! This is the mystery, the mystery of iniquity. It is not that the claims are doubtful and debatable. 

Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

They are lost, blinded in their minds by Satan, the god of this world. When we present Christ, there is a sinister, enormous universal power of darkness of this age that we wrestle. Satan, demons dominate the unsaved unregenerate mind of men.

Tragically few. Why is that so? Verse 2 is explains this.

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

His first coming was unknown, unrecognized. He did not come flashing from heaven with a halo over His head, and beams of brightness and glory smashing all opposition and forcing man to accept His deity. He could have, but He didn’t. In fact, that is what He is going to do in His Second Coming. 

He came in such a way, that only those who believe His message, His character, His works and His words would have their eyes opened to His spiritual identity.

The Jews were looking for the Messiah in the inter-testament times but they have conveniently omitted Old Testament prophesy with regard to His suffering, with His lowliness, His humiliation including Isaiah 53. 

And selected out just the ones of His Second Coming of His glory where He will smash His enemies by His Omnipotent Word like Psalm 2 and Daniel 7. Those were the passages which they gloried in. 

And therefore when Jesus came to the earth, not in a flash of glory from heaven, but born in a stable in Bethlehem and raised in an obscure town of Nazareth, the Jews were deeply offended when He appeared at the age of 30 and claimed to be the Messiah. Do you know what they thought of that claim? [Whitcomb]

Isaiah says in 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.”

There is a two-fold aspect in the coming of the Messiah, and they missed it deliberately.

What is this dry ground? The terrible condition in which Jesus grew up as a boy? A poverty stricken, wicked city and family.

The city of Nazareth has such a bad reputation in all of Palestine that Nathaniel said “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” It was a border town between Galilee and Samaria. It was looked at, frowned upon by the dignified Jews of the South and they thought the Galileans were very crude and wicked people.

Of course, God protected Jesus in that very contaminated city by raising Him in a poor but godly home. Mary and Joseph loved the Lord and believed the Scriptures. His own brothers and sisters did not believe God and rejected Jesus. Therefore, let’s face it, it was a very dry ground for the Son of God grow up in. One would have expected Him to make His appearance in the palace in Rome or at least in Jerusalem. 

Matthew 2:23 “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.” Coming back from Egypt after they fled, He will be a despised person.

What does it really mean? “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”

Those Hebrew words really refer to the outward manifestation of a king, the trappings of royalty. That is what the Jews were looking for. They were accustomed to seeing Roman dignitaries, governors coming through their cities with men running before their chariots, and soldiers blowing trumpets through the streets, spectacular garments, robed appropriately. Jesus did not step foot on one chariot in all His 33 years on earth. Not one soldier prepared the way for Him blowing trumpet. If you see Jesus coming to the Temple in special festival days of His public ministry, here is a humble, common looking man, walking in the simple garb of a Galilean peasant followed by a group of fishermen and a tax-collector, and if you have heard one Jew saying to another Jew, this is the Messiah, the Son of God, the respond will be “Oh come on, how can it be?” 

He has no form, no dignity, no spectacular appearance. They were shocked, they were offended at His claim to be God. No way God will appear like this, no headquarters, no army, He doesn’t even has a place to lay His head. They were warned ahead of them in Isaiah 53. They were embarrassed to have to admit to themselves and to the gentiles around them that their King would come looking like this. They faced the same problem a thousand years ago before Jesus came. When people came to Jerusalem and said to the Judeans, where is your King? And they have to say, He is invisible, He is in heaven above. No eye shall see Him nor shall ever see Him. They got so embarrassed, so ashamed to explain to their gentile neighbours that King, the LORD, was invisible in heaven above that they came to Samuel the prophet, make us a king like other nations, we are sick and tired of this invisible business.

We want a visible spectacular king with an army and a throne, we want the real thing. What a heart break it was to God and to Samuel. I will give you a king after your own heart, and he will do what you want your king will do to you. And when you cry in agony, don’t come back to me, because you are getting what you want. You know what his name was, Saul, the greatest tragedy ever hit the nation of Israel. Israel has never learned that their God though invisible, is infinite in power and glory and can deliver them from their enemies. 

So they saw Jesus and they asked, who do you think you are? King of what, king of the Jews, where is your crown, where is your robe, where is your army, and so they did not want Him.

Philippians 2 tells us “5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Phil 2:5-8 (KJV)

That is the mind we are to have, God will take care of your reputation, your influence, your impact on people’s lives, if you are true to Him, the outward form, the outward show is never God’s way. 

There was one occasion He showed His glory, it was way up the mountain. Only Peter, James and John, the inner 3 of the inner 12, of the inner 70, of the inner 500, only 3 had the privilege and even they misunderstood this and God had to blank out the other two, namely Elijah and Moses, and tell them to look at Jesus only, in all His splendour and glory. God is not interested in overpowering people with outward appearances. That’s why the Apostle Paul who had the mind of the Spirit, who had the mind of Christ, actually said this. 

2 Corinthians 5:16 (KJV) Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 

People want to have picture of what He looked like, a shroud, they want to see the image but the Bible does not give, that is deliberate! Because He wants to us to see Him with the eyes of faith in the description of His purpose of coming as God’s Son and our Saviour. God’s Word on this subject is that won’t save you, it will not spiritually help you, I don’t care how many pictures hanging on the wall, unless you see His true identity and His true dignity by the Holy Spirit through the Bible. Not one picture is an able to give us a picture of Him and we will never know, and it does not make a difference.  You are saved by faith and not by sight! Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

3 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.

What a blow to man’s idea of what a Saviour is like! We will not see any Singapore Idol, the Singapore ideal of the successful man, not one of them was met by the Son of God at His first coming. That is why he is despised and rejected of men. Those are powerful words in Hebrew. 

The Hebrew word is “נִבְזֶה (Isa 53:3)”, despised. There is hardly in English adequate a word to describe the intense hatred that the Jews heaped upon Jesus of Nazareth, no word, adequate. Rejected of men “אִישִׁים (Isa 53:3)”, men of distinction. Adam, man of the earth, from the ground. Enosh – man of weakness, frailty. But “אִישׁ (Isa 53:3)” is the man of dignity. He was despised of men of dignity who are these men? You see the confrontation between these “אִישִׁים (Isa 53:3)” and Nicodemus. 

John 7:45-53 (KJV) Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? 46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. 47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? 49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. 50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) 51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? 52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. 53 And every man went unto his own house. 

Has any of the dignified people believed, taken His claim seriously? These people, ignorant people are cursed. Then Nicodemus stood up and He said, 51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

They were wrong, Isaiah 9:1-2 says “out of Galilee the light will come, they missed that all of them except Nicodemus. All the leaders, all the power structure rejected Jesus and you know something.

Isaiah 9:1-2 (KJV) Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. 2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (KJV) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. 

How many leaders in this world today are Christians? How many of the leaders of the ecumenical movement really believed that Jesus is Lord? 

3 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.

Throughout the brief public ministry of the Lord Jesus, there is a constant combination of two things, sorrow, grief, sorrow, grief. Jesus during His public ministry has the amazing, unique capacity to see the whole life story of every human that God showed Him in His personal ministry like the woman in the well in Samaria. He was offered water by the woman.

John 4:16-18 (KJV) Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 

She was terrified how Jesus knew all about her. Jesus says that all that He ministered to had their life open before Him. And when He knew all these, it will not produce joy but sorrow and grief.

Wonder if you know the background of an eternal unsaved person that you met. Yet He is a man of deep joy just like the Apostle Paul. I am constantly burdened by my people Israel that they might be saved yet He can say, Rejoice in the Lord alway, again I say, rejoice.  

There is the horizontal look and is bad, and creates intense sorrow, the true spiritual eternal destiny of men in the hands of the living God. And yet deep joy at what God is doing and what He will accomplished in His day and in His time. Jesus says in the Upper Room in John 15:11 (KJV) These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 

Infinite joy, infinite grief in one person. This word “acquainted with grief” literally means diseases, sicknesses. Every human being has a fallen nature and the visible results of that, a diseased body. Every human being exhibited fallenness, the down drag in terms of economic, social, international chaos. This body of ours is diseased.

He says Romans 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

What we are today, our sins which Jesus willing bore. But we have to wait till resurrection for the redemptive body. He will take care of our sorrows and diseases forever if we would believe.

… and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

The whole history of the human race is summarized in this phrase “hiding from God”. 

In verses 4-6, we come to the very heart of the prophesy both in its location and both in its meaning and purpose. Namely, the atoning work of Jesus Christ. This is the purpose He came into the world, to be the substitute for sinners to bear in their place, their guilt before a holy God. 

  • The Purpose of the Cross (Isaiah 53:4-6) 

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he waswounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

Now in previous prophecies of Old Testament concerning Christ, we see two main lines of thought developing from Genesis 3:15, 12, 49, Balaam’s prophesy in the book of Numbers, Deut. 18, 1 Samuel 2, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 2, 72, 110, and in the earlier prophesies of Isaiah 4, 7, 9, 11, then the more concentrated, detailed preview of Isaiah 53 in Isaiah 40, 42, 49 and 50. What 2 lines of thought we see developing?

Christ is both God and man in one person. He will suffer as well as reign as king. The God-man who will suffer as well as reign as king. But now for the first time, this prophesy will clearly tell us why He will suffer, namely for our sins not His own. That is the supreme importance and significance of Isaiah 53. It is the substitutionary death of Christ, not merely His death as the representative of all sinful men before a Holy God. 

That is why this 3 verse section of this chapter is inner, inner santum of the holy of holies of the temple of God’s revelation in Scripture concerning the real purpose of His Son. 

Isaiah 53 gives more insights, more details of why Christ died than the 4 gospels in the NT. Do you know why? Because the Holy Spirit wants you to look back here to find the real reason and presupposes that you have this foundation already in your heart and mind as those gospels fill in more detail on exactly how these events happen, and under what circumstances, and over what periods of time. 

Every word, precisely chosen by the Holy Spirit of God to bring home the heart of the message of the good news of a substitute for human sinners, as the passage begins in verse 4, we learn the contrast between what really happened upon the cross as God understood it and planned it, and how we thought happened at the cross, in our perception, Jews and Romans watching representing us.

Verse 3 we hid as it were their faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not, they did not appreciate Him, recognize for Who He was, love Him, surrender to Him, serve Him, they did just the opposite Him, hated Him.

And while they were hating Him and misunderstanding Him, all these time He was bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows. From verse 3 “acquainted with grief” Isaiah 53:3 (KJV), the word “grief” simply means diseases, the effects of a sinful heart. We are careful to qualify that to say so that we do not point fingers like Job’s friends that his sickness is because of his sins and wickedness. 

By “grief”, we are referring to human frailty in general, the fact that we live such short life and we have pain and suffering is due to the possession of a sin nature that if we will not have, we would not have sin and suffering. When we are glorified, there is no more tears and no more pain. Jesus bore all those diseases.

Matthew 8:16-17 (KJV) When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: 17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. 

The physical healing recorded is the fulfilment of verses 3-4, surely not many people have benefited from it.

He bore our griefs – He is speaking all who ever lived and who trusted Him, and therefore enter into a substitutionary work called bearing. He bear and carry the full load of our sins during the crucifixion. 

As one writer puts it well, “the background is dark and ominous. At the centre stage is the Son of God on Mount Calvary. He is bound by obedience to the will of the Father. He hangs there bearing the sin of His people. He is accursed – betrayed by His creation and forsaken of God. Then, the silence is broken with the horrifying thunder of God’s wrath. The Father takes the knife, draws His arm, and slays “His Son, His only Son, whom He loves.”

Unlike Issac, there was no ram. He is the fulfilment of which Issac and the ram were only shadows. At Calvary, salvation was provided. Here Isaiah 53:4 was wholly fulfilled. 

The ministry of Jesus’ physical healing was a visual aid, a means to attract attention to Himself, so that people would believe the message concerning who He was and when He has come.

Matthew 9:1-6 (KJV) And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. 2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. 3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? 5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? 6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 

What Jesus did is not like the faith healers today – no more cripples in Palestine. No more mass healing today. The foundation of the church has been laid, the Messianic credentials of Jesus has been established to Israel and the church, the next mass healing will be at the rapture when Jesus comes for His church, not in some faith healing somewhere but in the grave of every person that contains the remains of the person that love and knew Jesus Christ – the dead in Christ shall rise first and they that are alive will be caught up in the air.

Jesus carried our sorrows. He is the sorrow bearer. He is the expert – Matthew 11:28-29 (KJV) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

Don’t we try to carry our own sorrows and bear our own griefs. Jesus alone can bear it. Jesus is the expert that will take care of our sorrows and our resurrection. Our diseased body He will make anew. 

Men thought that Jesus was being stricken by God much as Uzziah had been stricken with leprosy – “yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” To the Jews, Jesus was suffering for His own wickedness, the same error that Job’s three friends had made. The word “stricken” is often used to with reference to leprosy. 

20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. 2 Chron 26:20 (KJV)

Story of Uzziah – But Priest-King, only for Jesus. From the tribe of Judah – king, from the tribe of Levi – priest.

We thought God had stricken Him. Jesus claimed to be God is hung by the most despicable death in the ancient world.

An artist drew Jesus on the cross without the nails, it was not the nails that held Him there, it was love that held Him there. That’s why He was on the cross.

He was a leper, fallacy of Job’s friend, first book in the Holy library of Scripture.

5 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.

Jesus was sinless. He was not suffering for His own sins but our sins.

“But he was wounded for our transgressions” literally means He was pierced through with a fatal blow. “חָלַל” is a violet word. 

Literal translation, “He, He was pierced through for our transgression.”

To absolutely destroy by a fatal blow not by Satan but by God the Father.

No body in Israel got executed by being pierced through. You can either be stoned to death, or beheaded or hanged but nobody is hanged. 

Psalm 22:16 (KJV) For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 

Take the lump of dirt and crush it, it becomes dust. Jesus was totally crushed under the infinite weight of human sin. He wasn’t just bruised, just wounded, He was crushed. The Hebrew verb “bruise” is the same word “dust”, you take a lump of dirt and smash it, you get dust.

All the sins of every men whose ever lived was placed on God’s Son, it totally crushed Jesus, under the infinite weight of human sin. 

Like taking a gigantic magnifying glass to catch, concentrate and focus the rays of the sun on one spot, an intense heat is produced. So God as it were, put over the head of Jesus, a magnifying glass, to concentrate His wrath on every human being that is ever lived and it’s all focused, the heat, all on one head. That’s impossible. One man can’t endure all the hell that all wicked men deserved. Not one mere man. A mere man cannot, but He was not a mere men. He was the God-Man, with infinite capacity to suffer eternal hell in minutes because of His nature, character and attribute as eternal God with a human nature and human body. The mystery of the cross is this – that God being Spirit cannot die. Because death means separation of body from spirit. The only way that man could have their sins atoned for is for a substitute to die in their place. We see what God did,  He designed a special unique plan whereby the Second Person of the Godhead can become a human being and have a body so that He could have His body separated from His Spirit by death, and therefore be the substitute for human sin. No mere man could have designed such a scheme as this. It is a perfect provision for human need. 

5 … The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Every healing that we ever need was fulfilled because He bore the chastisement that alone can bring peace between us and our God.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

Many have considered Isaiah 53:6 to be the John 3:16 of the Old Testament. Here is the gospel put together in very few words that we might have these messages from God enshrined in our conscience and memory forever.

Listen carefully to climatic verse of the central paragraph dealing with the atonement of God’s perfect servant, the Lord Jesus Christ.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

Notice we begin with a universal statement of infinite need. All of us have failed, sinned, rebelled, rejected God’s will and word. And because all of us have failed and all of us have sinned, God laid upon all of us, the iniquity that we deserved? No! 

The LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon Him. That’s the gospel, that’s the good news that gives hope and joy and peace with God through the merits of the blood of Jesus Christ the God-Man.

We need to be convinced that we have an infinite problem, namely sin against a holy God, we cannot come to Him.

Notice the magnitude of our problem. All of us like sheep have gone astray, “כַּצֹּאן (Isa 53:6)” Hebrew – as a flock, in other words, as a unit, mankind has followed its leader Adam, its earthly leader, breaking through the revealed boundary lines that God has laid down for our obedience to Him to do His will, and have transgressed those boundary lines and you say I’m not responsible for what Adam did. Yes but there is that tendency to sin that characterizes every baby born. 

David was not making an excuse in his confession in Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” He is not blaming his mother or anybody except to say that the problem concerning his sin with Bathsheba is so deep-seated that it’s not something he picked up along the way, whereas he was innocent before that. It is a deep-seated thing called the sin nature.

But nevertheless, the Spirit of God add this dimension in Isaiah 53:6, “we have turned every one to his own way”, in other words, we were not just like dumb sheep that move along and the only thing we had in their mind is the next clump of grass before us, but we have made choices, personal choices that we make daily that have moral dimensions to them, that come right out of that sin nature.

Jesus put it this way in Matthew 15, “out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts”. Matthew 15:18-20 “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”

This is extremely complex. The Bible says over and over again like in Psalm 58:3 “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” Unless mothers and fathers will realize this inherent sin nature and the loving, patient, consistent discipline necessary to bring up a child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, if we just simply say, this is a childish behaviour there and this is how children act, we are adding to the horror that is coming. 

Notice so clearly here in this passage, “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all”, the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. That is a terrible blow delivered on His perfect sinless Son, to fall on Him. 

  • The Faith of the Cross (Isaiah 53:7-9)

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

The outward circumstances of His crucifixion, suffering and rejection. 

Our message is on the greatest prophesy of the Scripture. Isaiah 53 verses 7-9 the submission, the faith of the cross, and verses 10-12, the victory of the cross.

The real basis in which we will be saved is by a vicarious, substitutionary, atonement by the Son of God the sinless sacrifice for the sins of all the world.

John Calvin – Because the curse caused by our guilt was awaiting us at God’s heavenly judgment seat…Christ’s condemnation before Pontius Pilate…is recorded, so that we might know that the penalty on which we were subject had been inflicted on this righteous man…when he was arraigned before a judgment-seat, accused and put under pressure by testimony, and sentenced to death by the words of a judge, we know by these records that this role was that of a guilty wrongdoer…we see the role of the sinner and criminal represented in Christ, yet from His shining innocence it becomes obvious that He was burdened with the misdoing of others rather than His own…this is our acquittal, that the guilt which exposed us to punishment was transferred to the head of God’s Son. At every point He substituted Himself in our place to pay the price of our redemption. [Institutes of Christian Religion]. 

It is only by Jesus’ sacrificed that anyone can be saved. The voluntary submission of Jesus to death!

Verse 7 tells us that the affliction, suffering that He endured was totally voluntary – twice “yet he opened not his mouth”.

This is not the meaning of this prophesy, Jesus opened His mouth many times to explain who He was and who was the guilty power. [Whitcomb]

It is to clarify the Palestinian sheep at the time of sheep-shearing, Jesus never complained, just like the affliction heaped upon Him.

Luke 23:28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

Do not feel sorry for Jesus, this is not the proper spiritual response but to feel horrible for yourself because your sin put Him on the cross. And apart from His atoning work, you and I will receive eternal judgment. Jesus “is not a tragedy but God’s masterpiece upon that cross at Calvary”.

What are the exact circumstances of His death?

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 

How did Jesus lived a sinless life, 6 illegal trials within one night, illegal, false witnesses, He was cut off out the land of the living under those circumstances.

For a Jew, the worst thing is to be cut off from the land of the living, to live as long as possible with children, enjoy the land God gives to their fathers.

To be cut off, is the ultimate disaster. Its talking about a person who bore the transgression of Israel.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 

They appointed His grave with the wicked, the scribes and Pharisees. They plan and plotted for Him to receive a shameful burial.

In ancient near East culture, the form of a man’s burial was the measure of his afterlife experience. That is why the Egyptian Pharaoh spent their entire life preparing for their grave, pyramid – 2800 years built before Christ – 2 million piece of stone, 30 years.

There is a place Gehenna, valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, the fire never stopped. They planned to throw Him to the wicked.

Amazing turn of events, but He was with the rich with His death.

The gospels tells us Pontus Pilate said this is the last time the leaders of Israel will walk over me. Change the superscription – This is the King of the Jews.

They came to ask for the dead body of Jesus, the body was already gone, just before they arrive, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two secret disciples, they begged Pilate for the body of Jesus – fulfilling Isaiah 53:9.

Why did Jesus’ body not cast to valley of Hinnom” Because He was innocent, He did not become a sinner for us on the cross, He remained sinless. He became sin and not a sinner. He remained absolutely sinless and holy through the whole ordeal. You may never touch the body of my Son again.

Placed in tomb out of solid rock of a wealthy man that is the beginning of the exaltation of Jesus Christ which did not cease until He arrived at the right hand of the Father in the third heaven above.

The burial of Jesus in the rich man’s tomb was the end of His humiliation and the beginning of His exaltation.

We see Jesus through the eyes of faith or we will never be saved.

  • The Victory of the Cross (Isaiah 53:10-13)

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see hisseed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, andshall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. 

Important information of what happened on the cross, it pleased the Lord to crush Him. Jesus was not the victim of circumstances, manoeuvred by wicked men. He was not trapped in a situation in which He had no control, no! It was God’s plan to crush Him.

It was His will – the pleasure of the LORD, often involve unpleasant circumstances. God’s will for our life may include deep suffering. God isn’t enjoying it, God knows its best in the light of eternity.

When His soul makes an offering, Jesus Christ Himself makes His soul an offering. The word there is “asham” which means trespass offering. 

In the Old Testament there were 5 different types of offering that God calls to bring before Him. Every told a different story of man’s relationship to a holy God. Burnt offering representing total dedication. There is the peace offering – a restoration of fellowship with God, there is the meal offering – the dedicated life totally committed to the Lord – the sweet smelling offering, came voluntarily offered to God.

There are two non-sweet savour offering that came through very unpleasant circumstances. These are the sin offering and the trespassing offering. When we sin against God deliberately, against His revealed word, not only offer a sin offering very costly, but in sinning hurt somebody, you also offer a trespass offering to compensate for the loss that man suffered because of your sin.

If you rob a bank, of 1000, come to God offer a valuable animal, and then pay back a compensation for 20% + 1000. The fifth and last sacrifice. When Jesus offered His soul, He paid the whole price 100% for our sin + 20% extra demanded for those who were inconvenienced by your sin.

Jesus is the bridge for you to heaven, all the way to other side and 20%  more. They whole price is paid.

He shall see His seed – His spiritual children – seed falls to ground and die bring much fruit, He shall prolong His days.

CONCLUSION

Thank God for His mercy and Christ’s sacrifice for us. Amen.

(1) Recall how the Lord did intervene in your life with the truth and how you accept this truth? Give your personal testimony of salvation

(2) What is the purpose God sent His servant? Are you living a life of victory overcoming sin in your life?

(3) What are the eternal effects of His work?

(4) What is the basis in which man enter into this victory? 

(5) How can I be a heralder of this good news?

(6) Are you a faithful cross bearer?