What is the significance of a Sin-Bearing Savior?
Four observations from Isaiah 53 and its implications about Christ as Savior.
Having just celebrated Easter, pause and ponder with me the real reason for the holiday. Take a few moments and read Isaiah 53. In just twelve verses, the prophet assembles quite possibly the most important and most extensive of the Messianic prophecies. As we revel in the climax of Christianity, consider with me four realities of our Savior from this text.
A Savior of Sorrows
He grew up as a root out of dry ground. He was not impressive to look upon. In other words, Christ had an undistinguished start in unpromising circumstances. He was despised and rejected. And how did we esteem Him? People sized up Jesus and saw ordinariness, most would call him unfortunate. He was a man of sorrows. He experienced sorrow, primarily because he took on our sorrows. During Christ’s day, most did not follow him and viewed him as having little to no value.
A Savior Who Shoulders
The center of Isaiah 53 highlights the Savior shouldering the weight and consequences of our sinfulness. Specifically, there are four huge burdens that Jesus bears. He bears our griefs (v.4), our sorrows (v.4), our transgressions (v.5), and our iniquities (v.5). Christ becomes the perfect substitute, standing in the place we deserve, atoning for all of our unrighteousness, and the grief and sorrow that accompanies it. Our peace with God is brought about by this horribly beautiful exchange. This, Christ did, despite us being like straying sheep, going our own way and doing our own thing.
“What led him unresistingly to the cross was not weakness; it was a loving commitment to overcome the havoc that sin had introduced into the world.”
A Savior Silent
Through the scourging, oppression, and affliction of Christ’s crucifixion, he “opened not his mouth” (v.7). Jesus was led like a lamb to the slaughter. What led him unresistingly to the cross was not weakness; it was a loving commitment to overcome the havoc that sin had introduced into the world. You may recall the words to the Hymn “Joy to the World”—"No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as the curse is found”(1). These things Christ did, without uttering a word.
A Savior Satisfied
Toward the end of Isaiah 53, we are reminded that the Messiah’s suffering and death were divinely orchestrated. God accomplished his will through his Servant’s suffering. It was God’s will to crush His own Son. Yet, the results of the suffering and crucifixion are not simply a hopeful platform for sinners to stand. It is a solid rock on which the Savior will be satisfied. Notice these phrases: (1) He shall see his seed, (2) He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied, (3) My righteous Servant shall justify many—to make the many to be accounted as righteous. Christ did exactly what needed to be done to satisfy the Father and save the lost.
“...the Messiah’s suffering and death were divinely orchestrated. God accomplished his will through his Servant’s suffering. It was God’s will to crush His own Son.”
So What?
So, what is the application of this text? Further, what is the conclusion of the matter? Interestingly enough, the application and conclusion are at the beginning (verse 1) of our text today. “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” The great eighteenth-century evangelist George Whitefield brings these truths home to us with these words: “On him, God the Father has laid the iniquities of all that shall believe on him; and in his own body he bore them on the tree. There, there, by faith, O mourners in Zion, may you see your Savior hanging with arms stretched out, and hear him, as it were, thus speaking to your souls; “Behold how I have loved you! Behold my hands and my feet! Look, look into my wounded side, and see a heart flaming with love: love stronger than death. Come into my arms, O sinners, come wash your spotted souls in my heart's blood. See here is a fountain opened for all sin and all uncleanness! See, O guilty souls, how the wrath of God is now abiding upon you: come, haste away, and hide yourselves in the clefts of my wounds; for I am wounded for your transgressions; I am dying that you may live forevermore. Behold, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so am I here lifted up upon a tree. See how I am become a curse for you: the chastisement of your peace is upon me. I am thus scourged, thus wounded, thus crucified, that you by my stripes may be healed. O look unto me, all ye trembling sinners, even to the ends of the earth! Look unto me by faith, and you shall be saved”(2).
Written by Isaac Watts, 1719.
Sermons of George Whitefield, Vol. 2. Crossway, 2012.
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