Saviour
Reading Is 52:13-53:12
Heb 1:3 He by Himself purged our sins
Why has this wonderful and glorious Being, in whom all things are summed up, and who is before all things, the Father’s delight and the Father’s glory; why has this infinite light, this infinite power, this infinite majesty come down to our poor earth? For what purpose? To shine? To show forth the splendour of His majesty? To teach heavenly wisdom? To rule with just and holy right? No. He came to purge our sins. What height of glory! What depths of abasement! Infinite in His majesty, yet infinite in His self humiliation, and in the depths of His love. What a glorious Lord! And what an awful sacrifice of unspeakable love, to purge our sins by Himself! (Saphir)
The reason God became a man was not to communicate with us in some abstract way. Our fundamental need is not for a teacher - an educated sinner is still a sinner, condemned to eternal judgement. What we need above everything else is a Saviour to take away our sin and grant us forgiveness. So He who made and sustains the universe came down from heaven to become a sacrifice for our sin. He, by Himself, paid the price for my sin, satisfying God’s just demands.
Christ came to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity Dan. 9:24.
Mt 1:21 “she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Heb. 9:26 He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself
The shadow of the cross lies across the manger at Bethlehem and cuts through all the slushy sentiment about the baby Jesus that we hear at Christmas.
Pink - The cross was the great stumbling-block unto the Jews; but so far was the apostle from apologizing for the death of the “Son,” he here includes it as among His highest glories. And such indeed it was. The putting away of the sins of His people was an even greater and grander work than was the making of the worlds or the upholding of all things by His mighty power. His sacrifice for sins has brought greater glory to the Godhead and greater blessing to the redeemed than have His works of creation or providence.
Great God of wonders! all Thy ways are matchless, God-like and divine;
But the bright glories of Thy grace, above Thine other wonders shine. (Samuel Davies)
Spurgeon - Listen to those wondrous words. There was never such a task as that since time began. The old fable speaks of the Aegean stable, foul enough to have poisoned a nation, which Hercules cleansed; but our sins were fouler than that. Dunghills are sweet compared with these abominations; what a degrading task it seems for Christ to undertake the purging of our sins! …Yet the holy Christ, incapable of sin, stooped to purge our sins I want you to meditate upon that wondrous work; and to remember that he did it before he went back to heaven. Is it not a wonderful thing that Christ purged our sins even before we had committed them? There they stood, before the sight of God, as already existent in all their hideousness; but Christ came, and purged them.
He by Himself purged our sins
Christ purged our sins by offering Himself as our Substitute. Our sin could not have been purged unless Christ bore its burden. Neither our repentance, nor mending our ways could ever have repaid our debt. It is only through His shed blood that we can enjoy redemption. He bore all that was due us because of our violation of God’s law, and God accepted his sacrifice in full payment; so He purged our sins. 1Pet 1:8 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.
No one else was good enough, nor does anyone else have the key to that gate, but the Son of God. Jesus by Himself purged our sins. We had, and can have, no part in the purging, only in the sinning! The priests took the blood of animals into the tabernacle to make atonement; Christ was both the priest and the sacrifice.
Finally, on this point, Jesus purged our sins by Himself, i.e. on His own. There are always some jobs that we have to do on our own. These are often the hardest and most unpleasant jobs! Jesus had to tackle the problem of our sin alone. No one else was qualified to help as we have seen. Worse, when He took on our sin His fellowship with the Father was interrupted, for God can not have fellowship with anyone that is full of sin. It was a new and terrible experience for our spotless Lord of glory to be made sin.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2Co 5:21 It was in this agony of spirit that He cried out, feeling abandoned and utterly alone: Mt 27:46 about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Jesus alone could pay the price of my sin. Jesus, alone, paid the price of my sin!
He purged our sins.
Jesus had to die for us to be forgiven in order to reconcile God’s love and His holiness.
Ro 3:26 to demonstrate … His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Ps 85:10 Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.
After his sin with Bathsheba David sought forgiveness. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. … 9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Ps 51:7
This is exactly what the blood of Christ does to and for us. Salvation removes not only the guilt, but also the pollution of sin. It is sufficient both for us, the sinner, and for God – the offended party. God must think that we will have difficulty grasping this truth though, because He hammers home the message forcibly with many variations throughout Scripture. For example:
Ps. 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Isa 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
Isa. 38:17 You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back
Is 44:22 I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins….25 And I will not remember your sins.
Rom. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus
Col. 2:13 Having forgiven you all trespasses
1Jn 1:7 the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Truly we can say with Paul:
Rom 4:7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”
Is that true of you?
Spurgeon: This He did on Calvary’s cross; there effectually, finally, totally, completely, eternally, He purged all His people from their sin by taking it upon himself, bearing all its dreadful consequences, cancelling and blotting it out, casting it into the depths of the sea, and putting it away for ever: and all this He did “by Himself” It was indeed amazing love that made Him stoop to this purgation, this expiation, this atonement for sin; but, because He was who and what He was, He did it thoroughly, perfectly. He said, “It is finished,” and I believe Him. I do not — I cannot — for a moment admit that there is anything to be done by us to complete that work, or anything required of us to make the annihilation of our sins complete. Those for whom Christ died are cleansed from all their guilt, and they may go their way in peace. He was made a curse for us, and there is nothing but blessing left for us to enjoy.
Outworking
Of course this wonderful forgiveness is not just meant to make us feel better and to give us eternal security. It is meant to change us and make us useful:
Ps 51: 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me …12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
My sin! O the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin! not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the Cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well, it is well, With my soul
And Lord
Heb 1:3 sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high
Spurgeon said, when preaching about this statement that he was quite out of his depth; I have waters to swim in, but I am not a good swimmer in such blessed deeps as these. Think of it - as a baby, a boy and a man He lived for 33 years. As a man He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane; bore his cross to Calvary; and was nailed to the tree. As a man He died, yet the heavens grew dark, the earth shook, and the dead arose—as if He were God. As a man He slept in the cold tomb; yet as God he rose, and brought life and immortality to light. He lived and died as a man, but He rose from the dead ascended into heaven like God.
The One who descended into such unfathomable depths of shame, who humbled Himself and became “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” has been highly exalted above all principality and power, and dominion, and every name which is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. (Pink)
Eph 1:20 He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church.
Having procured salvation for men, He was received into glory and here He is pictured as sitting at the right hand of the Father.
• This is the place of victory - He won the victory over the powers of darkness at Calvary and in the tomb. We are secure because of His victory. Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God. Rom 8:33
• Secondly it is the place of recognition and honour. The highest place in the universe again belongs to the very one who gave it up to come to earth where He had nowhere to lay His head. The Father sets Christ at his right hand to demonstrate the favour, delight, and honour that He affords to His beloved Son. The Father honours Him in recognition for His faithfulness in completing this most difficult work. When the Son is honoured that also, of course, honours the Father.
Phil 2:9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
To which of the angels has He ever said: "Sit at My right hand Heb. 1:13.
The highest place that heaven affords
Is His, is His by right,
The King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And heaven’s eternal light.
• Thirdly the Father’s right-hand is the place of power and authority - to sit at the right hand of the Father means to govern on His behalf. Christ’s place there demonstrates His position of supreme authority and dominion.
Matt. 26: 64. Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power.
Eph 1:20He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named
Re 17:14 the Lamb … is Lord of lords and King of kings
• Fourthly it is the place of rest - When the high priest went into the Holy of Holies, he did not sit down. He stood, no doubt trembling, carrying the sacrificial blood, before the mercy-seat. In contrast our Saviour sat down at his Father’s right hand. Aaron’s descendents never finished their work. Each year, another sacrifice was needed, but our Lord completed his work and declared, It is finished John 19:30. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God Heb 10:12.
The fact that Christ is now seated at the Father’s right hand is the ultimate proof that His saving work was completed on the cross. No other sacrifice is wanted, by God nor needed for sinners like us.
May we all know that our sins are forgiven and praise God that we have such a great and wonderful High Priest who is seated at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf.
Welcoming
When He ascended He sat down, but Scripture indicates that there are times when He stands up too.
Stephen said Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God! Acts 7:56. Why did He stand up? I think it was to welcome Stephen and He will also welcome us home too – if our sins are truly forgiven.
Conclusion
In these first 3 verses then we have seen Jesus portrayed as
• Prophet God has spoken to us by His Son
• Priest He, by Himself, purged our sins
• King heir of all things; creator; sustainer; reigning
He alone embodies and fulfils all of these OT types and fully deserves our love and worship. Stephen had a glimpse of Christ in His glory, at his Father’s right hand, and it caused his face to shine, as it had been the face of an angel. May we too get such a glimpse of His glory today that our hearts sing and our faces shine!
