A Painful Account.

A PAINFUL ACCOUNT.

Isaiah 53:4-12.

The repulsion evoked by the Cross of Jesus is countered by the recognition of the substitutionary character of His sacrifice (Isaiah 53:4). We may have seen Jesus as One “stricken” by God – but the toll which He was paying was not His own.

No, indeed, it was for OUR sins that He was “wounded” and “bruised” (Isaiah 53:5). These are strong verbs, carrying the idea of being “pierced” and “crushed” in some translations. The continued interplay between pronouns emphasises what HE (Jesus) did for US.

Before I began going the Lord’s way, I was like the rest of my generation: ‘going my own way’ (cf. Isaiah 53:6). Like sheep, when one of us (Adam) went astray, we all went astray. Yet the LORD lays our guilt upon Jesus.

Next, Jesus Himself is compared to a sheep: but this time the picture is complimentary (Isaiah 53:7). His silence was because of His willingness to suffer. His sacrifice was voluntary (cf. John 10:17-18).

The violent death of Jesus resulted from a deliberate miscarriage of justice. At this point He appeared as a childless man walking the lonely path to His own execution. He was literally, “cut off from the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8).

An executed man could not expect a place in the family mausoleum. Despite having done no wrong, Jesus was destined to be buried with the wicked (Isaiah 53:9). However, the intervention of Joseph of Arimathea brought with it the first hint of an upturn in Jesus’ situation (Matthew 27:57-60).

This painful account ends not with Jesus’ suffering, but with His vindication. Jesus is not childless after all, but “shall see His offspring” (Isaiah 53:10; cf. Hebrews 2:11-13). His days are “prolonged” through the Resurrection, and the will of the LORD continues to “prosper” in His hand.

The “wisdom” of Jesus was to know our plight as sinners, and to provide the remedy. The LORD distinguishes Jesus with the appellation, “My Righteous Servant” (Isaiah 53:11). Through Jesus’ offering of Himself, He is able to justify (make righteous) the many (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).

Having “poured out His soul unto death” (Isaiah 53:12), Jesus is now raised up into heaven, there to intercede for the transgressors. Jesus went through what He went through for you and for me. It is by His blood that we are redeemed - and His blood avails for all who will receive Him (John 1:12).