“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
I am going to guess that when Isaiah finished putting those words down, that he placed his writing utensil back in its place, took a deep breath, and began to contemplate just what it was that he had been led to write. A man was going to arrive on the scene, God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, and He was going to offer Himself as the only and perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.
To this day all these years after the Lord called me to Himself, I still find it difficult to read Isaiah 53, I cannot see anything in myself that would cause the Lord Jesus Christ to do what He did for me, much less chose me as one to live with Him forever in His Kingdom. Everyone who has been crucified with Christ believes that his or her name should be where Paul put his in 1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
There is nothing in any of us who are chosen by the Lord that merits what He did for us, nothing of any beauty or value, we were His enemies. You must always remember this, what He did for us He did not have to do, He was not forced to take our place under the wrath of God, His love for us made that decision easy for Him.
Which of you would not do the same for your loving spouse, for your child, which of you could say, “I love you so much I would die for you?” “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.” (Romans 5:7)
That is why it bothers me so much, why my frustration levels rise to their highest point when I converse with someone who believes that we must perform some work before the Almighty will accept the sacrifice of His Son for us, they do not hear the Holy Spirit speaking to their soul when they read that 53rd chapter in Isaiah, they find no need to turn their head as they watch the nails pierce His hands, their heart does not break as they read Matthew 27:46, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
The empty tomb to them is just a hollowed-out place in the side of the mountain.
The great joy of the knowledge of the assurance of our salvation can never be fully recognized until we feel the pain in our heart for that chapter. He hung up there alone, He did not wait for you to perform some deed before He sprinkled His precious blood on the alter in heaven.
“Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” (Acts 2:27)
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:4)
He walked to the place of the skull with you in mind, He thought of you as they drove the spikes through His hands, He died thinking of you. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3)
Isaiah may have put his pen down, stepped outside, looked up at the stars and said, “Not for me, I am not worthy of that kind of love.”
Have you pondered this, have you taken the time to look up at His face as He hangs there bleeding, and as He looks down at you have you said, “I am not worthy of this.”
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) If you were the only person ever born, He would have done what He did just for you.
We my friends are never, not through all of eternity going to realize the depth of that love, we can never thank Him enough, we can never praise Him enough. When you meet the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time, look at the scars in His hands, then look in His eyes and try to say, “Thank you.”
“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” (Isaiah 49:16)
