A Pathway to Joy through Jesus

The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

(Isaiah 53:4-9, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 7, 2019)

[4] Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

[5] But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

[6] All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

[7] He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not 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,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

[9] And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

OUR NEED FOR HEALING (Matthew 8:14-17, mortal bodies and beyond)

There is a verse in Jeremiah that speaks of the difficulty we have in knowing our own deepest thoughts. It can be a great comfort to us that there is a supreme being who knows us completely and has determined long before we were born to love us completely. Psalm 139:6 testifies that “such knowledge is too wonderful for me.”

At the center of this knowledge and love is something called sacrifice. The Bible has much to say about sacrifice. From the moment that God provided animal skins to Adam and Eve, our experience of peace with God has come through the shedding of blood.

For many centuries the Israelites were instructed to follow a system of animal sacrifice outlined for them in the Torah. They had specific men among them who were designated as priests from birth who were in charge of offering up the right animals at certain times and for specific purposes, creating the annual rhythm of life in the culture.

The Passover was celebrated in the first month of the year, involving the commemorative slaying of a lamb to mark the history of God's special mercy to Israel and his frightening power against those who would not let his people go. In the final cycle of festivals in the seventh month of the year was something called the Day of Atonement where the priest confessed the sins of Israel over the head of an animal as part of a detailed ritual to symbolize the freeing of Israel from her sins against Jehovah.

Sacrifice testifies to an immense problem between God and man that must be solved God's way. Our famous passage from Isaiah 53 is one of the most important in the Scriptures teaching us about our great need and about the Lord's shocking provision which would come many centuries later. First, our need. We are creatures that experience “griefs” and “sorrows” that testify to us that something is not good. God has laws for us, and we have many “transgressions” and “iniquities” that would “crush” us with an overwhelming weight that we could never bear. These sins are personally ours and not just something generally in the air of our environment. If our father in heaven were to give us the “chastisement” or discipline that we really deserved, it would be far too much for our survival. Why? Instead of following his word, we have wandered like lost sheep who don't hear God and have gone our “own way.” We stand in need of a sacrifice, not only to deal with this mountain of “iniquity,” but also to provide us with a new record of obedience that has been missing from our innermost beings and our lives.

AN IMPORTANT REVELATION – HIS PROVISION (Acts 8:31, a pathway to joy)

One of the shocking truths that was in part concealed in the Old Testament and was eventually more fully revealed by the Spirit of God in the New is that “the blood of bulls and goats” could never have taken care of our need (Hebrews 10:4). They prepared us for a far better provision—a person who alone had perfect, personal, and perpetual holiness, who became for us the lamb of God. We had a great need, and he has become our Passover, our Atonement Day, our only credible provision who could satisfy the one person whose opinion matters—God who alone must count us as righteous in his sight.

Jesus is this provision. What happened to him at the center of human history? He was “oppressed” and “afflicted” in a very quiet and humble way for us in his ultimate deed of obedience to his father—the cross. He took the “oppression” and “judgment” that stood against us, and overwhelmed them as he was “cut off” from “the land of the living.” Not only did he die like the most wicked man, he then was placed in a “grave” that was not his own, but was donated for the purpose by a sympathetic “rich” elder of the Jews.

The key to this sacrifice actually working in the way that fit God's eternal plan is stated wonderfully in verse nine: It was because “he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” Such perfect holiness can only proceed from a sinless heart. Though many might imagine that they have no serious sin, who would claim to have perfect, personal, perpetual obedience to all of God's commandments (James 2:10)? We have nothing close to that to offer our maker and judge. But we don't have to, because the one who knows us completely and who loves us completely, has done this for us.

What just happened? Hebrews 12:1-2

Those who observed this all actually happening at Calvary, when the unthinkable became history, when it was all over might have asked themselves, “What just happened here?” The Lord God Almighty had an eternal plan of salvation joy for his very needy children. That plan required a worthy substitute who could carry the weight of a broken world. Jesus was that suffering servant—the lamb of God. Only he was able to put death in a grave through his own cross and burial. He is our ultimate healing and resurrection.

Two applications: 1. Help in sorrow: Think of the death of death. 2. Celebrates the great knowledge of God. Not one sin of yours was overlooked. As Jesus said, “It is finished.”

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 103 – Bless the Lord, O my soul!

New Testament Reading—1 Corinthians 15:50-55 – Behold! I tell you a mystery.