March 19, 2023 Sermon - Isaiah 53:6-12 - By His Wounds We Are Healed
An event in my life, maybe 24 years ago, came back to mind this week as I was dealing with massive fatigue that resulted from not being able to take rheumatoid arthritis meds this week for 4 days.
Here’s the story: My family and I were on the beach at the Pinery Provincial Park where we often spent some of our summer vacation time camping. I was maybe 37 at the time.
I saw some young kid swim out to a buoy maybe 25 or 30 meters out from the shore. I thought...Hey, I can still do that.
So I decided that bright, sunny afternoon to swim out to that buoy. So I started to swim out to the buoy that was maybe 25 meters out from the shore.
About half way there I started to feel the undertow. There was a lot of water coming in to the shore and water leaving the shore at the same time.
About 3/4’s of the way there I started to feel tired, but I was proud and wanted to accomplish this ‘little feat’, so I kept going. When I reached the buoy I was pretty tired. I started to get nervous about swimming back, but I didn’t have a choice.
On the way back, about 1/2 way to the shore, I began to feel exhausted. Really exhausted. And I panicked.
My heart was racing, the undertow was making it very difficult to make any progress to the shore. I wasn’t moving despite swimming my very best and hardest.
But I didn’t have a choice, so I kept going. I reached the point of complete exhaustion and I thought, “Wow, this is it.
I’m going to drown. This is how it ends. God keep my family safe. I’m done here”. Pause
Completely spent, after treading water for a moment and being pushed like a rubber duck back and forth in the water by the brutal undertow, I flailed my arms forward and tried one last time to try to touch the sand under the water.
I felt the bottom of the lake and was able to crawl to shore.
I sat there dumbfounded for a while, got up and walked over to my family, from whom I had drifted quite a bit to the west.
Before I decided to do that I had sat on the beach, I evaluated my abilities, decided that I felt strong enough, I was a good enough swimmer.
And I launched out into the water in what could easily have been my last swim.
It wasn’t until I was caught in the undertow that I realised I needed help, I needed saving, I needed a Saviour to save me from myself, my arrogance, my overestimation of my goodness as a swimmer.
When I was finally forced to stop trying because I came to understand that I just couldn’t do it on my own, I was rescued. Was it the tide? Was it angels, was it God controlling the undertow so I would survive. Yes, yes and yes I believe.
You don’t get to be my age, or often a lot younger, without having your own story of rescue. If you are close to my age, 60, and you think you don’t have a story of being strangely saved from yourself, it’s because you’ve forgotten it.
Last week we looked at the last few verses of Isaiah 52 and the first five verses of Isaiah 53.
There is a great deal of content in these Messianic Prophecies, and a lot of important and subtle nuance and details, so that's why we are looking at the second half of Isaiah 53 today.
And I want to say that Isaiah 53 in particular among all of the prophecies about Jesus is the one passage that gets me the most every time I read it, and I read it often.
I love that within it contains a poorly hidden secret. We’ll come back to that.
So let's continue looking at this prophecy, written by the prophet Isaiah, 750 years before Jesus Christ was born.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Humans share a lot in common. We are one race, after all.
The whole concept of the human race being divided into multiple races was created by François Bernier (1625–1688) and European naturalists and anthropologists who wanted to justify slavery.
We share a lot in common. We are one race and only one race, but we’re divided often enough.
We share hearts that long for peace, but our hearts are often anxious. We share minds that yearn for calm and order, but our minds are filled too often with chaos and disorder.
Even when we achieve in life what we have longed for - that could be a good friendship, maybe a spouse, maybe a decent job, when we’ve finally broken that debilitating addiction, or maybe it’s just a new set of clothes –
something, anything that we’ve set our minds to, it’s not long before we realise that that thing that we’ve put so much energy into attaining just isn’t enough.
There’s something way deeper that we need, and there's a way deeper problem that we share as well.
Humans share having made a common choice. We have, as this passage says, rejected God,
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
We have gone astray, we have walked out of His light, out of the light of His grace; we have done our own thing, asserted our independence, our desire to be our own god.
And as smart as we are or like to think that we are, we never really stop being like sheep. Wandering sheep.
Sheep who can’t exist without the care and protection of our shepherd because of the great chaos in the world and the terrible suffering in the world.
We’re like sheep, prone to wander, and even the best among us has turned to our own devices, our own way.
We stray so easily. And if we don’t stray by doing the big sins we used to do, we stray by not keeping our inner house in order,
not keeping tabs of our inner life, not seeking God the way we need to in order to really live.
And because of this God put on the Messiah the sins of us all. In the ritual sacrifices of the OT, the priest laid his hands on the scapegoat and symbolically put Israel’s sins on it.
We see that here in Leviticus:
Leviticus 16:20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
That’s a quick summary description of something called substitutionary atonement. The sin of the worshipers was confessed and symbolically transferred to the sacrificial animal, on which hands were laid.
That hopefully sheds some light on verse 6:
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
And then we see another quick, poignant statement by Peter in his letter, that helps us to understand how the first Christians were able to grasp this:
1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
God has laid all our sins on the Messiah. So in this very important way, the Scripture here puts all of us on the same level.
All of us, without exception, have gone off track, we’ve gone astray.
In going astray, in not living for God, we’ve turned to our own way. But here is the amazing thing.
Although it is we, me, us that have gone astray, that have sinned against God, that have offended Him in our treatment of Him and our treatment of others, it is not we who pay the price. Why don’t we?
Why doesn’t God leave it up to us to pay the penalty for our sin? The wages of sin is death, meaning that what sin earns us is spiritual death.
Eternal separation from God, and if we are to take the scripture seriously, that separation from God is as terrifying and as painful… No, quite a bit more terrifying and painful… Then we can imagine.
Why doesn’t God leave it up to us to pay the penalty for our sin?
Because he loves us. because he loves us, God, himself, coming to us as the Messiah, God put on Jesus all of our sin.
He laid it all on Him. What I earned, my wages for sin, which is death, Jesus paid those wages. He was led as a lamb goes to His slaughter.
That phrase is no accident, and it can remind us of God plan from the beginning. Revelation speaks of “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world”. (Rev 13:8 KJV)
A dear sister was wondering recently about Jesus and tattoos. They may have been wondering if Jesus had tattoos.
I said that because Jesus followed the law, in the old testament law did openly forbid distorting the body with tattoos, Jesus, who followed the law, would not have had tattoos.
But in reality, his body bears the scorch marks, the penetration marks in his hands and feet from his crucifixion. So quite a bit worse than any form of tattoo, Jesus bears man-made scars from the man-made hate that lifted him up on the man-made cross to suffer for me. To suffer for you.
There’s an account early in the book of Acts where Philip the Apostle is sent to a Eunuch who is returning from worshipping at the Temple in Jerusalem.
He was not a Jew but he was still a worshipper of God. He was one who was referred to as a God-fearer or proselyte.
And he was sitting and reading this passage that included the next verse:
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Acts 8:34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
The Messiah would offer no self-defense. He would not try to vindicate Himself, He did not serve as His own lawyer trying to reduce His sentence. Again, as a lamb He was led to the slaughter. To the cross He was led.
The Eunuch in the book of Acts understood the gravity of what Isaiah was saying, but he needed someone to help him understand.
Do you need help understanding the Scriptures? Seek out the help. Talk to one of the pastors here. Or attend one of the 3 bible studies we have weekly where we learn and grow together.
We continue:
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Jesus was given an unfair trial. The God of justice was denied justice. The manner of his death would indicate that, as far as those who condemned him were concerned, he was to be buried with executed criminals.
Notice Isaiah says that the Messiah was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death. He parallels the wicked and the rich (Wicked=Rich).
The parallelism (with its effective wordplay in Hebrew) makes clear that Isaiah here associates the rich with the wicked, as do many OT writers—because they acquired their wealth by wicked means and/or trusted in their wealth rather than in God.
That shouldn’t make us feel superior to the rich in any way. If we were rich, we’d do the exact same thing, or be strongly and constantly tempted to do so.
In the gospels the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea gave Jesus an honourable burial by placing his body in his own tomb. Thus the fulfilment fitted but also transcended the prophecy.
“...he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth”. Jesus was perfect, without sin, though he was content to hang out with sinners like me, sinners like you.
The Apostle Peter quotes these lines as he encourages believers to endure their own unjust suffering in the pagan society they were in.
1 Peter 2: 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
So much more could obviously be said. But here we have a prophecy about Jesus, written 750 years before He was born as a babe in Bethlehem:
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
It was God’s will, it was Jesus’ own will, that he be crushed and that he suffer at the hands of the Roman guards and on the cross.
I’ve heard people who have read just enough of the Bible to completely confuse themselves say that God sending Jesus to the cross was divine child abuse.
People will come up with any notion to keep from seriously considering the gospel. Such is the human heart.
Despite that the Messiah’s life is made an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. Wait a minute...Jesus had offspring?
I thought Jesus was single and sinless. Turn to your neighbour in your seat and say “You are his offspring”.
Jesus would have spiritual offspring, spiritual progeny. You are his offspring.
You are an adopted child of the most high King of the universe, Jesus Christ. You are his offspring. Don’t you ever forget that, you who believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins!
“...And prolong His days...” Christ would live forever. We see this earlier in Isaiah chapter 9:
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
The Messiah would be the suffering servant, wrongfully led to His death with no voice defending Him.
And here’s the thing. This was God’s plan all along.
It was the will of God, the will of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, that Jesus would be made an offering for sin.
Notice: The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. God is like a jealous lover, like One who is fully and absolutely committed to His covenant, who will not abandon his people.
11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
We see here that after he has suffered, after he has been made that sacrifice, the Messiah will see the light of life.
What light might that be? This is a reference to His resurrection, His triumph over the grave.
Why will He be satisfied?
Back in Isaiah’s first chapter God had said: Isaiah 1:11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
God had “more than enough” of the endless sacrifices in the OT that accomplished nothing because they could not deal finally with the problem of sin.
11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Here the one sacrifice of Christ brings perfect satisfaction to God, because through the sacrifice of Jesus the problem that we all share, the problem of sin, has been dealt with once and for all.
Romans 3:23-25 says: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.
All of this was on Jesus. The penalty for sins not His own. Rather, the sins of humanity were what He paid for on the cross. But this was all for a reason.
It was so that you and I could be the recipient of his grace.
The love of God will be revealed to us most profoundly as we come to a knowledge of the saving work of Jesus.
The result of knowing about the saving work of Jesus would be for many, not all, but many, the result would be that we would be justified.
And that means that God would see us just as if we never sinned.
Jesus willingly bears our iniquities, all of our sins without exception.
He is the flawless, perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, as John the Baptist said when he first saw Jesus, when Jesus came to him to be baptised.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
It seems fairly clear to me that all of this requires some kind of response. I know this, because as an atheist when I first heard the gospel, it was clear to me that I had to give some kind of response. And that response involved a choice.
And that choice was to either reject the gift of God's grace, to reject in its entirety gospel that I had heard, or to have a very different response.
And I believe because God had been working in my life for many months before I first heard the gospel, I choose to say Yes.
Yes to the Love of God. Yes to the grace of God. Yes to the power of God at work through Jesus on the cross.
And also, something that I began to struggle with almost right away, I was choosing to say yes to a very different way of viewing myself.
No longer would I live as though my life does not matter. No longer would I have to question the meaning of life, which had long been a frustrating preoccupation for me.
No longer would I have to trudge through what I truly had come to believe was an objectively meaningless life.
No longer would I try in vain to save myself from the hazardous, chaotic waters of life.
Instead, all my yeses to God in response to his unmerited favour in my life have resulted in a completely different life than I would’ve had.
Not an easy life. If anyone’s ever suggested to you that being a Christian is easy, they are not being honest with you.
Every good thing that is in my life as a direct result of Jesus working to turn my heart of stone into a heart of flesh, working in me to believe and continue believing.
All of this was God’s will. It was God’s plan, for Jesus to bear my sins, to stand in my place in judgment.
Today we’ve been looking at Jesus in the Old Testament, and in particular Jesus in prophecy.
I hope that as we’ve explored this together, even over these past weeks, we’ve been able to grasp how big and how wide God’s love is,
and the extent to which God has gone to reveal Himself, reveal His glory and love, even as He has revealed the activity and place of Jesus the Christ in the Old Testament. This is the poorly hidden secret in the book of Isaiah about the Messiah.
God loves you. He HAS loved you forever. His heart is for you, and he wants you to be complete in him.
He knows your struggles, he knows them better than you do, and he knows your weaknesses as he knows your strengths.
He loves you because he is love. It’s his love that corrects you and challenges you to be better.
It’s his love that suffers long as each of us here, in our own way, and in our own time discover within ourselves, the truth of our belovedness, and as each of us, here in this room works out our salvation in fear and trembling.
May we embrace the God who draws near to us in Jesus Christ, Who whispers to us that He has the power to deliver us from whatever bondages we face, and from the slavery to sin that so robs us of all the joy God intends for us.
May we look to Him who bore our sufferings on the cruel cross, sufferings predicted long before they happened, suffering willingly entered into by Jesus, who loved each of us before the world began.
May we choose to rest in our heavenly Father’s undeserved, unprompted, cheerful, comos-filling-and-transcending love and care for us, and the perfect grace of his son for us.
You are loved. You are His beloved. Rejoice, Church. And give Him praise!
