Lesson 4 April 11,
2004
53:6 The Indictment of Universal Guilt
Describes what is wrong with all of the human race.
Why the chaos of the day!
The first statement
gives the reason for His suffering.
- "All of us" [no exceptions]
"like sheep have gone astray", Each of us
has turned to his own way;"
The "But" introduces us to the solution; God in grace has provided the means to deal with our
sinful state. He God the Father laid the penalty of our sin on Him!
"But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."
The fact that the penalty that the
wandering sheep (us) deserved was instead poured out on the suffering servant,
the Messiah instead. The perfect
obedient servant!
The focus of what
is happening here is on
WnL'Ku "all
of us" no exceptions.
Isaiah lays this out like this to
get our attention! He wants
to make sure we get exactly what this verse is saying.
This is the first time that the Lord, YHWH,
is used in reference to direct action taken to provide that salvation.
What is the reason for His
suffering?
1. The sin of the whole human race.
2. The sin of the individual.
3. This phrase describes the
condition of man when God moved to provide salvation.
4. He moved to save us when there
was no plea for help.
So from the human race we find no
heroes only wanderers like sheep. No one
from man that is qualified to be a savior, That's why
God sent His uniquely born Son to come and to take upon Himself the iniquity of
us all.
In the last phrase we also have the action
of God the Father describing what actually happened on the cross.
"But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."
So the perfect servant became the
bearer of all of our iniquity there on the Cross.
53:7-8
His willingness to fulfill the Will of God is noted
He suffered willingly or
voluntarily. The Father did not have to
force Him to go to the cross, even though "He was oppressed and
He was afflicted,".
A second thought here is that He
also suffered patiently.
yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did
not open his mouth.
What Isaiah does here then is to
introduce the lamb metaphor for Jesus.
Every reference in the
Word of God to Jesus as a lamb has a tie to this verse right here.
- John the Baptist in
John 1:29
- When Phillip preached Jesus to the Eunuch, not only did he use Isa. 53 but he used Isa 53:7-8 [Acts
- Peter in 1 Peter 1:19 compares the work of Christ
on the Cross with the lamb unblemished
and spotless, later in 1 Pet
- John in
So verse 7 is
emphasizing that even though He was oppressed and afflicted; He humbled
Himself, in the midst of this oppression.
Now verse 8 takes us once again to His death.
We move here from the patient
suffering during the trials period to the death of Jesus which involves several
things here.
1. The first thing we note is a
transition.
2. It involves thinking about what He
is doing.
3. An Interpretation
1. Transition
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
2. Thinking about what He is doing
And as for His generation, who considered
3. An Interpretation
He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my
people, to whom the stroke was due?
The last phrase For the transgression of my people, to whom the
stroke was due?
Once again brings into view substitution, only this time
with special reference to His people
Vs:9 Who He is supposed to die with!
Notice
the first line, His grave was assigned
with wicked men, criminals, those executed by crucifixion were
denied an honorable burial and were placed in common burial ground.
But
notice the next phrase Yet He was with a arich
man in His death, God
intervened! Look at Matt
27:57-60 Isaiah
presents the prophecy, while Matthew gives us the history.
In the last phrase of verse 9 we
have another reminder that He was there unjustly, He did not deserve this
punishment.
Because He had cdone
no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
Question: What think ye of
Christ? Who is He and what did He do for you?