Friday, March 18, 2005
Isaiah 53:10-11 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.
OUR ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE
These verses note God the Father's reaction to the Sacrifice which Jesus accomplished for us. The whole point of these verses is that the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross was acceptable in the sight of God the Father. This was the plan that He had outlined from the foundation of the world, and was finally successful on Good Friday. What was God's desire? What was it that pleased Him? It was Jehovah's will to crush His Servant, to cause Him grief. It was God's will that Jesus make the payment for our sins. That is why Jesus was bruised, that is why Jesus was put to grief. He was taking our place, being punished for our sins. Paul wrote of this in his second letter to the Corinthians, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Jesus made the payment for our sins. He has carried our sins and iniquities, and through His work of redemption we have been set free, justified - declared not guilty. It was God's desire to crush the Servant and as a result of that crushing, God's will did succeed. Isaiah says, "He (God) shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied."
From the Gospel records we know what great labor, toil and anguish Jesus went through as our sacrifice for sin. The verbal abuse, physical abuse from the Jews and the Romans. The greatest agony was to take place on Good Friday. God saw the agony that Jesus was going through. He saw the sacrifice that was made, and God saw that sacrifice in the same way that He saw the work of creation at the end of the sixth day. God saw the sacrifice of Jesus and behold, it too was very good. Jesus' sacrifice was acceptable to God the Father as a substitute for our death. Just like creation before the advent of sin, Jesus' work of redemption was perfect - a success.
Thanks be to God for giving us the victory over death, sin and hell through the acceptable sacrifice of His Righteous Servant! 