The Prophecy (Isaiah 53:5)
Isaiah 53 is a well known passage, given by the Holy Spirit to Isaiah. It is a prophecy about Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross. Two weeks ago we looked at 53:12 about Jesus being numbered with the transgressors. For this week, we’re in 53:1-6…
1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by 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 has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:5 is the key text for today. It says, “He was wounded for our transgressions.” Jesus was sacrificed on behalf of sinners. This prophecy was applied to Jesus in Romans 4:25; 1 Cor 15:3-4; and 1 Peter 2:24-25. Though not quoted, it’s obvious in all four Gospel accounts as well. Holy God, in the person of Jesus Christ, offered as a sacrifice for sinners (that’s you and me).
The Account (John 19:30)
John 19 is the crucifixion account and by this time in the crucifixion of Christ, He’s already been falsely accused by Jewish & Roman leaders, already been mocked, scourged, and beaten, already had the crown the thorns forced onto His head, and He’s already been hanging on the cross all day. Then we have verses 28-30:
28 “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”
Jesus was hanging on a cross between two thieves. He did nothing to deserve being there. He was there because that’s where we deserved to be. The Bible says that “all our righteousness is as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), meaning the very best we can do is filth to God because it’s done for human glory not His. Jesus was there because we can’t atone for our own sin…even by our own death. He was there because we have offended a holy God and we have no other hope! God the Son, being the blood sacrifice for sinners, paying the price of their rebellion against God and their selfish pride, just as Isaiah had prophesied so long ago.
The Implications (Romans 5:6-11)
By His sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus gave hope to the hopeless. Romans 5:6-8 says:
6 “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Old Testament saints repeatedly brought animal sacrifices to the Tabernacle or Temple. But even that wasn’t automatic, they had to be repentant. They had to agree that they had sinned, and agree not to commit that sin any more. They also had to trust that God would accept their sacrificial animal as atonement, and without those sacrifices, they were totally without hope.
We New Testament saints bring no animal sacrifices. Jesus was the final, once-for-all sacrifice…there is no sacrifice left (Heb 10:26). But His atonement isn’t automatically applied to us either, we must be repentant also. We have to trust that God will accept Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, and He will if you trust Him. Without this, we are hopeless.
You need not fear, because God is Faithful and True. In Him you have full assurance that He will honor what He has said, and what He said was, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus died in your place, paying the price for your sin, taking the punishment you deserve.
Romans 5:9-11 continues:
9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
We are justified by His blood, which means we are acquitted, declared righteous. In Jesus we are saved from the Wrath of God for our sin. On Wednesday evenings we’ve been studying Revelation and God pouring His Wrath one day upon mankind who has rejected His Son, Jesus, who is the only sacrifice for sin. But even the events of the Tribulation don’t compare to Hell’s fury! In Christ, we have been spared from the Wrath of God that is to come upon the world for rejecting Jesus. We can also rejoice now because we are reconciled to God, which means that because we are forgiven and submitting to Christ, we have entered into that loving relationship with God. He is our God and we are His children. The joy of that goes beyond any trials and hardships that we will face in this life.
Speaking of trials and hardships, we must remember that we are not greater than our Master, Jesus. While we certainly cannot make atonement for anyone, we are called to be “living sacrifices” to God. Now, a person might die to save someone’s life, but the person who is saved will eventually die and our death means nothing for their eternal destiny. A living sacrifice is one who has given themselves into Christ’s service. Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” That is what we are expected to do, it’s the bare minimum. Now, don’t get this confused: we do not earn salvation by being a living sacrifice; Jesus earned our salvation. But once Jesus’ sacrifice is counted for us by placing our trust in Him, then our duty is to sacrifice our will, desires, and actions to Christ. No longer living for ourselves, but living for Him. That means we will do our part in the Church, which is what Romans 12:3-8 is all about.
Doing our part in the Church, the Body of Christ, does not mean just being nice, kind, and friendly to people, even to our enemies. We need to do that, but it doesn’t stop there! If we never tell them that they are sinners who need Christ so they can come to faith as well, we have been unkind and unloving! If your doctor knew you had a disease, he had the cure, and didn’t tell you about it…that would be a terrible doctor and an evil person, right? Well, if we don’t tell others about their sin disease (and we all have it), and tell them the cure (Jesus’ death and resurrection), then we are equally evil and the love of God is not in us. We cannot make them accept, but we can present the truth.
The people you tell this to might get really mad at you. Jesus told people they were sinners and they killed Him. We are not greater than He, so they aren’t going to like us either. But that shouldn’t matter. You’re glad it didn’t matter to Christ, right? As believers who belong to Christ, we are part of the Church, and as part of the Church we have part in the mission of the Church. A big part of that mission is telling others about Jesus’ sacrificial death and His resurrection. A couple of weeks ago we talked about 2 Corinthians 5:20-21. The context, like Romans 5, is about our being reconciled to God. But the 2 Corinthians passage says we now have a ministry of reconciliation, meaning we now participate in God saving other people. God did the work, our part is to tell others He did it; that’s a big part of our job as living sacrifices.
If you are a believer in Christ, that is a big part of your job. You don’t just get to enjoy being forgiven and loved by God (and you are), but you are to tell others that Jesus was the sacrifice for their sin too, so they can enjoy being forgiven and loved.
Are you doing that? It is a major implication of Jesus’ vicarious sacrifice for you.
