More From The Book of Isaiah

Tom:

As we mentioned last week, Isaiah 53 is an astounding picture of the Cross—An incredibly clear presentation of what Jesus did for us, isn’t it?  Well, let’s continue with verse 5:  “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.”  Dave, this is the Lord of the universe here.

Dave:

It’s telling us that God’s justice had to be satisfied.  I remember having a debate recently with a Roman Catholic apologist and he was denying that.  He was saying that God was appeased, that Christ didn’t pay the penalty.  Well, it clearly says:  He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities.  The chastisement, that is, the judgment that we deserve was upon him and, with his stripes we are healed.  By the way, it doesn’t mean physical healing; it means spiritual healing.  Healed from sin and it’s penalty and we get that in 1 Peter:2:24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
See All..., “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should henceforth live unto righteousness; by whose stripes we are healed.”

Tom:

And that doesn’t mean,—just going back to the debate that I was stunned to watch, because this apologist kept saying, No, Jesus did not pay the full penalty, this says, healed.  This is God, who became a man to pay the penalty for our sins.  Where would you come up with the idea that he only partially paid—

Dave:

Because, as you know, in Catholicism, if He paid the full penalty, then the Catholic Church is out of business.  Because this is what the sacraments are about.  This is what the Eucharist, or Mass is about.  You never get saved but you get another infusion of grace; the graces and merits that Christ won on the Cross, so they would say, are being dispensed to us gradually and continuously through the Mass.  But if Christ paid the full penalty, then why do you have to keep saying Mass after Mass, after Mass?  In other words, when evangelicals meet to take the bread and the cup it is, as Christ said, in remembrance of him; remembrance of a finished work; whereas, for the Catholic it’s an on-going sacrifice.  There is a sacrifice for the Mass and there is an anathema if you dare to say that this is not a propitiatory sacrifice that is offered for the sins of the living and the dead—anathema to you if you dare to say that this is a remembrance of something that was completed nineteen hundred years ago.  He had to say that.  But when Christ died upon the Cross; as he gave His spirit into His Father’s hands, He said:  It is finished!  There is no more sacrifice for sin, Hebrews 9 and 10, tell us; that Christ has appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice himself.  So, the work is finished.  This is an incredible verse here; it’s telling me the chastisement of our peace—for there to be peace with God the penalty had to be paid.  I had to be chastised—you know, you’re a father, you have five children—I’m sure you’ve had to discipline them from time to time—

Tom:

I still do—the young ones.

Dave:

Right.  And when there is a violation of the family rules or of God’s will, causes a breach in your relationship and that isn’t healed; there is no peace until there has been some chastisement.  The Bible says that God chastens every son, even after we are saved we are still being chastened, but there is a chastening for our sins paying the full penalty that we could never endure and so Christ endured that.  That is what this verse is very clearly saying.  Isaiah:53:4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
See All..., “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:  yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”  But the sorrows there are our sicknesses.  So, he fulfilled that when he healed, Matthew:8:17That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
See All..., tells us, specifically.  But the healing of our sin is through His paying the penalty upon the Cross.

Tom:

And that’s reconciliation which is what He accomplished for us.  Continuing on with verse Isaiah 53, verse 6.  “All we like sheep have gone astray:  we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  Dave, once again, the full penalty for sin is paid for by Christ.

Dave:

Sounds like it.  Sheep are very stupid.  I don’t know much about sheep.  I’ve had some experiences with them down in New Zealand; they have more sheep than people there, by about ten times as many but they are very stupid.  They have to have a shepherd.  Some of these little critters can do a pretty good job of taking care of themselves.  They peck their way out of a shell and immediately they can start pecking for food.  I’ve seen geese on a little island in a pond and the minute they were hatched they could swim.  But sheep have to have a shepherd; somebody that watches over them.  And, they are stupid; they will wander away.  And, we have wandered off of the path that God intended for us.  Like sheep, we have each taken our own independent way.  The Bible says that there is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the ends thereof are the ways of death.  So, it’s not just a light thing but turning away from God is unrighteousness.  Turning away from God is rebellion because we are not stupid as sheep are; we know what we are doing.  And, man has deliberately tried to play God and has taken his own way in opposition to what God created him for, what God wanted for him.  So, that’s iniquity and our iniquity was laid on Christ and again, it sounds like he paid the penalty for it.

Tom:

Isaiah:53:7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
See All..., “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth:  He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.”  There is a lot of controversy related to who killed Jesus.  You have the Romans being blamed and the Jews being blamed and so on but Christ was our sacrifice, wasn’t He?  I mean, it’s not to deny that we, all of us, crucified the Lord of glory, but still, it wasn’t against His will.  He went as the meek and lowly Lamb of God to the slaughter.

Dave:

He opened not his mouth because He stood in our place and we had nothing to say.  We had no defense; He took the penalty for us.  He was oppressed; He was afflicted:  that’s what men did to Him.  We have to understand that the physical suffering of Christ on the Cross doesn’t save anybody.  That would only add to our condemnation; that’s what we did.  So, the oppression and the affliction were on the part of man who mocked him and jeered and nailed him to the Cross and did what they could to make it painful for Him.  But, at the same time He was bruised—we come to that verse later—verse 10:  It pleased the Lord Jehovah to bruise him.  So, God put Him to grief and Peter could say on the day of Pentecost:  Him being delivered by the determined counsel and fore-knowledge of God, you have taken by wicked hands and have crucified and slain.  So, we have the two sides to this and Isaiah 53 lays it out very clearly.

Tom:

In Romans, chapter 5, verses 8 and 9, Paul writes, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”  We’re talking about our Lord and Savior here—what He did.  This is really staggering.

Dave:

Amen.