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 passage above is a passage of glory if we have the eyes to see. In it is a display of the glory of God at the cross of Jesus Christ where He suffered and died for the sins of sinners across history. In the prayer that Christ prayed and we have recorded in John 17, there are many places where the glory of God shines ever so brightly. In verse 1 of that chapter Christ said this: “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.” This chilling verse tells us how Christ viewed His work on the cross. He saw it as the Father glorifying the Son so that the Son could and would glorify the Father. In verses 4-5 of John 17 He said this: “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” The work of Christ was all about complete and total obedience to the Father and in doing so shining forth the glory of God.
Verse 10 if Isaiah 53 tells us that “the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief.” If we are not numbed by hearing this passage to much or simply by darkness of heart, we would be shocked at this. Just before the text says that it tells us that “He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.” This is to say that Christ was completely and totally innocent in and of Himself and there was no guilt on His part. Yet the LORD was pleased to crush Him and to put Him to grief. How can the LORD take pleasure in crushing the Son and put Him to grief? Can the LORD do something so unjust as this and yet take pleasure in it?
Before we accuse the LORD of being unjust we should take note that this passage in Isaiah says over and over again in different ways that it was for the sins of others that Christ suffered for. In New Testament language, the sins of the people of God were imputed to Christ and He willingly took them to Himself. When the LORD beheld the Son on the cross the Son was guilty of the sins of all those who would be saved. It was because the LORD hated sin and loved righteousness that He crushed the Son. It was because the LORD loved His own glory that He put His own glory on display through the Son at the cross and there we can behold the beauty and glory of righteousness, holiness, wrath, and love. It was at the cross where the Son’s love for the glory of the Father is seen at its very brightness, but it is also where the glory of the Father and love for the Son’s glory is also seen. If the Son had taken on the guilt of sinners and the Father would have withheld His wrath, that would not have been a display of love but instead of sentimental feelings.
We can see the glory of the LORD’s pleasure as He loves perfect justice and the display of His holiness. We can see the glory of the LORD’s pleasure in His Son’s obedience. We can see the glory of the LORD’s pleasure in the people He would save by pouring forth His wrath upon His Son. We can see the glory of the LORD’s pleasure in satisfying His own wrath and as such making a way for sinners to become objects of His mercy, grace, and love. The love of the LORD is put on display at what He was willing to do in order to save sinners. The glory of such grace is put on display as we can see what sinners deserved at the cross. The cross shines forth His glory.
God Loves... Himself 
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