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.
The Gospel of the glory of Christ is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shining in the face of Christ. This cannot be unless the sufferings and death of Christ on the cross shone forth the glory of God as well. While it is easy for people to think of the cross and the propitiatory work of Christ on that cross as being all about them, if we fail to look for and behold the glory of God we have yet to see the real issue of the cross. Scripture tells us that sin is falling short of the glory of God, so if the sufferings and death of Christ did not fall short of the glory of God and in fact fulfill the glory of God in the place of sinners, then He failed to make up for the failure of sinners. But Christ did not fail and in the Gospel in general and on the cross in particular the glory of God shines. The darkness in the hearts of men want to think of themselves when they think of the cross, but in doing so they miss the point.
The text in Isaiah 53:6 tells us that “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way.” This is certainly parallel to Romans 3:23 which tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sinners seek themselves and seek to do what they want to do according to their own wisdom and they seek their own honor and glory, but all of that is contrary to doing all to the glory of God. It is not just that sinners fall a little short in doing what they do for the glory of God, but they don’t do anything for the glory of God and this shows that they don’t love Him.
In contrast to those who like sheep go astray and go their own way, the Lord Jesus was the Lamb of God. Even though He was like a lamb led away to slaughter, yet He came for that and He did not open His mouth in protest or in complaining. Instead of that, He showed the world how much He loved His Father by going to the cross to suffer and die. His perfect obedience was our of love to the Father and was to the glory of God. “But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here” (John 14:31). This was in the last few days of the life of Christ and He knew exactly where He was going and what He was heading for.
The beauty and glory of perfect love that the Son had for the Father was on display. His love for the glory of the Father was far more than His love for safety, security, and no pain. He was keeping the commandment to love God with all of His being. His love for the glory of God was such that He turned down the demands of the people to be king over them and instead went to the cross where the glory of God shown forth with much glory. It is something like the resurrection of Lazarus when He told Martha that if she believed she would see the glory of God. For those who believe and look to behold the glory of Christ at the cross, they see a glory there that makes them love the cross of Christ and never tire of hearing more and more of Christ and the cross of Christ. This is so much more than just a story with facts about Jesus, but instead it is all about the glory of God shining forth in and through His Son. We must behold Christ and in that behold the glory of God.
God Loves... Himself 
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