Isaiah 53:4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
There are at least three ways of looking at this glorious passage of Scripture in Isaiah 53. One is to think of it as a metaphor as some type and treat it as if it had no real fulfillment in Christ. The second way to treat it is to treat of it in a humanistic way or in a man-centered way. The third way is to look at it in a God-centered way and look for the glory of God on display. I would argue that since Christ told the men in Luke 24 that the Scriptures spoke of Him that the God-centered approach is correct. Since Paul also said that he preached nothing but Christ and Him crucified that the God-centered approach was Paul’s approach as well. Then, thinking of what Paul said of the Gospel in II Corinthians 4:1-6 that it was the Gospel of the glory of Christ and that God “is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,” we can know that the central points of the Gospel and the cross of Christ have to do with the glory of God.
If Christ was pierced through for the transgressions of others and crushed for their iniquities, then who did this piercing and who did the crushing? If Christ was scourged so that sinners could be healed, who did the deepest and most real of the scourging? The text says “the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” This is to say that the supreme and majestic God of all glory poured forth His wrath for the sin of others on His Son. Men deserved this wrath and yet the Lord Jesus Christ was willingly crushed and scourged for it. But how in the world does this shine forth the glory of God?
Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know– 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
The Lord Jesus Christ was not killed by men in such a way that there is no glory of God involved, but instead God testified to who this Christ was by working miracles, wonders, and signs through Him. Men wanted to take Him out and make Him king at times, but God had a predetermined plan to have this Christ nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men who put Him to death. Behold the glory of our God. This was what He had planned from eternity past and He carried it out by the willing actions of others. Behold the glory of our God in this eternal plan where His perfect wrath was satisfied that sinners could go free. Behold the glory of our God in His perfect mercy and grace toward sinners in that He sent a Savior who was a perfect Sacrifice in the place of sinners. Behold the glory of our God who hates sin so much that He poured out His wrath on His Son so that He could be just and the Justifier of sinners. Behold the glory of our God in providing the only true and perfect propitiation for the sins of wicked and vile sinners. The cross should bring all to their knees in worship before this God of all glory.
God Loves... Himself 
Leave a comment