Sunday: Jesus in Isaiah 53
Read Isaiah 53:2-12. What do these verses teach about what Christ did for us?
Image © Kevin Carden from GoodSalt.com
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is a powerful description of Christ’s death for the sins of the world. Several aspects in this passage provide clear evidence that Jesus’ death is atonement in the form of penal substitution, which means that He took the penalty that others deserved and, in fact, died as a Substitute for them. Here are some of the implications of this passage for Jesus’ ministry for us:
1. Jesus suffered for others. He took their grief and sorrows ( vs.4 ), transgressions, iniquities ( vss.5, 6, 8, 11), and sin ( vs. 12).
2. He brings great benefits to those for whom He suffers: peace and healing ( vs. 5) and justification ( vs. 11).
3. It was God’s will for Jesus to suffer and be crushed ( vs. 10). God put our iniquity on Him ( vs. 6) because it was God’s plan that He died in our stead.
4. Jesus is righteous ( vs. 11), without violence or deceit ( vs. 9).
5. He was a guilt offering, an atoning sacrifice for sin (vs. 10).
Read Luke 22:37, Acts 8:32-35, and 1 Peter 2:21-25. How did these New Testament authors interpret Isaiah 53 ?
The New Testament allusions to Isaiah 53 establish beyond doubt that Jesus Christ fulfills this prophecy. Even He identified Himself with the person depicted there (Luke 22:37). Christ took our sins upon Himself so that we could be forgiven and transformed.
Dwell on all that Isaiah 53 says that Christ did for us. How can you make this personal, for yourself, knowing that no matter what you have done, the assurances here can apply to you if you give yourself to the Lord in faith and surrender?
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Jesus went through so much for me to pay for my sin and make it possible for me to have a rich life in this world and eternity with Him forever. I want all of His efforts for me to be completely successful. I do not want any of His love and pain for me to be wasted. God, help me to make right choices and let You plan work. Help me to surrender to the way You have worked so hard to provide for me.
Isaiah not only describes how Christ died for humanity it tells even more about how He lived. With the exception of sinning or falling into sin, there is no experience that Christ cannot help us with. There is no sin He isn't willing to remove and help us gain victory over. Hebrews 4:15 says we have a high priest Who can identify with us, except He didn't sin. Our experiences aren't out of His scope of understanding. He even knows what it's like be unattractive, ridiculed, oppressed, falsely accused and punished, hated for the good He did, physically, mentally and in other ways abused by sinful humanity. He can offer us a way out of every temptation because He knows what it's like to be troubled on every side (Hebrews 2:3). He not only identifies with us, but He judges with compassion, because He knows what goes on in our lives, the things that mislead and discourage us personally. Hebrews 2: 17-18 "For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." The closing scenes of Jesus' life were the culmination of a lifetime of self-sacrificing love. He lived among us, fulfilling the requirements of perfection, and died the perfect lamb without spot or blemish. We can never fall too far to reach up and take hold of His strength, we can never fall so far that His love which transforms our lives cannot reach us while probation lasts.
Lord, I need you in everyway, form, and fashion in my life. All to Jesus I surrender. All to him I freely give. I am so eternally grateful for all that you have done on the cross for me. Help me to be obedient to your well and your way.
I feel so sad for all what He passed trough because of me! Till His beauty face and His glory was hideous. In Isaiah 53 we can appreciate how great love He has, it is incomprehensible at all, He suffered all the penalties of all humanity only for His overwhelming LOVE, oh Lord let me appreciate You wondrous in my redemption, help me to accomplish in my life all your teaching, how to be a true Christian, how to obey You,, how to follow You in the middle of the challenges as Christian I have, because You passed all for me, so give the effort to take Your hand and walk with You, help me to request You Holy Spiritual to illuminate my soul and encourage me to walk always on the narrow way because You gave me example, You walked on it in perfect communion with our Father in Heaven , please be with all your followers that desire and want to walk with You, so Your sacrifice will be always relevant and valid for our salvation! Thank You so much ABA!
The description in the book of Isa 53 – "rejected, despised, stricken, smitten, afflicted, wounded, bruised, oppressed, and then …and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. For he was led like a lamb to the slaughter" – illustrates to us how we were to be judged with a serious crime, the criminal act of transgressing the law of God. And we know we are guilty and we were to undergo the above terrible experience. But Jesus, our Lawyer has pleaded our case, and we have been acquitted. Now we can stand with boldness before the heavenly court, and when asked “How do you plead?” our divine advocate will cry out in our behalf “Not guilty!” or "innocent!" As a Lamb of God, Jesus Christ bore the sins of the world (John 3:16), a sacrifice which whereas in the Old Testament, the animal’s life was taken from it, Jesus gave His life willingly.
Reuben, yes, there is a legal aspect to what Christ did for us. But consider this: Christ was God Himself in human flesh. God provided the sacrifice. In fact, God gave Himself to the human race for all eternity!
He died the death that should be ours so that we can live the life that is His - through His power.
The question is: Are we taking advantage of the offer of His life in us right now? Are we living His life by His power?
Reading Isaiah 53 provides great insight to the plan of our redemption.
One Sabbath a Pastor asked the Question "Who killed Jesus?"He read Isaiah 53:10.The answer could be God.Is it so?
This is one of my favourite chapters in the Bible.
Jesus died for our sins, meaning to redeem us from our death penalty, Jesus died, He voluntarily died by sacrificing His life for our sins.
I still fall short of knowing his wondrous love ...
Oh what a wondrous love is this oh my soul...
My soul longs to shun the dark evil called sin...
Oh how i long to abide in his love...
His sacrifice and everlasting perfect love calls me today to lay my 'self' down...
To lose ,to humble,to be used ...
For his cause..
I lay myself on your alter accept this offering of mine
I offer myself...
Oh my dear saviour
God did not kill Jesus!
Jesus gave His life willingly to bear our our sins, and thus we killed Jesus with our sins.
Inge,
We killed Jesus with our sins? I din't think anyone could kill God. Yes, I agree with you that he willingly gave his life, however, the way I understand it is He did it to demonstrate his righteousness Romans 3:25 and 26. He showed us what the results of sin(not sins) is by dying the death that the wicked will die in the end.
So Jesus didn't die?
(I agree with the rest of your comment.)
Larry,
Christ said He could lay down His life and take it up again. The reason He could resurrect himself was the divine is immortal. Mankind is mortal. The two were mysteriously wrapped together. To say God took the life of His Son, like Abraham with Isaac prefigured, or we all did it by our sins, depends on the sense in which speak/write. The bottom line is no one could take anything from Jesus He did not volunteer (John 10:18)
The following adds some perspective:
Deity Did Not Die — "Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person—the man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. When Christ was crucified, it was His human nature that died. Deity did not sink and die; that would have been impossible." (S.D.A. Bible Commentary Vol. 5 P. 1113)