He Has Borne Our Griefs

Isaiah 53:4-6 ESV

 

“Surely he has borne our griefs

    and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

    smitten by God, and afflicted.

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.

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.”

 

HE has borne our griefs

 

Jesus Christ is God. He is the Son of God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Over 2000 years ago he left his throne in heaven, came to earth, and took on human form. He was born as a baby to a human mother with God as his only Father. For he was conceived of the Holy Spirit. So while he lived on this earth he was fully God yet fully human. And so, not just in his death, but in his life on this earth, he did indeed bear our griefs and our sorrows, for he suffered just like we suffer.

 

But he was also tempted to sin as we are tempted to sin only without sin. He remained forever perfect so that he could become our perfect Lamb sacrifice on that cross for our sins. But I am getting ahead of myself here. For while Jesus lived on this earth, particularly during the last 3 to 3 ½ years, during his earthly ministry, he fed the hungry, healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, performed many miracles, and comforted the sorrowful, and he upset the hypocritical religious heretics.

 

But that is not all he did. Jesus taught the Scriptures to the people. He taught them the Word of God because he is the Word of God. And he taught them that if they were to come after him they must deny self, take up their cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For, if they held on to their old lives of living in sin and for self, they would lose their lives for eternity. But if they died with Christ to sin and gave up their lives to follow Jesus in obedience, then they would have eternal life (Lu 9:23-26).

 

Jesus told the people the truth of what they needed to hear, not the lies that tickled their itching ears and that made them feel good about themselves. And he didn’t soft pedal the message in any way. Jesus was a “straight shooter.” He made it very clear that to follow him meant dying to sin and to self, not just once, but daily, and it meant walking in obedience to his commands, even if it cost us our lives, our reputations, our friends, etc. Jesus did not paint a rosy picture of Christianity, but that of a hard road.

 

And he let us know, too, that if we did not follow him in obedience to his commands, and if we did not walk in his ways and in his truth, but if we followed the course of this world instead, and if we lived to please the flesh and not him, and if we walked in deliberate and habitual sin against him, and if we did not walk in righteousness and holiness that we would not inherit eternal life with him. And it doesn’t matter what we confess with our lips. It is our actions that prove our faith to be genuine or not.

 

Well, all the things that Jesus said and taught angered the hypocritical religious heretics who were zealous about keeping outward forms of religious practice but who were secretly giving their hearts and lives over to sin. They were the transgressors, but they were not the only ones. They were the rebellious who walked (in conduct, in practice) contrary to God’s moral laws. They were those who deliberately, habitually, and arrogantly defied God’s boundary lines and who did what was evil, instead.

 

So, what did they do about it at Jesus’ words? Did they bow the knee to him and submit to him? No! They plotted evil against him. They plotted his death on that cross because they hated him for who he was and for the things that he did and said. And so they had him hung on that cross to die, as though he was a criminal. And they did so in hopes to silence him so that he and his messages to the people would die, and so that they could go on with their lives of living for self and sin without interference.

 

Smitten by God

 

But it was in God’s design and purpose for Jesus that he should die on that cross. For in his death, he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. He died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died so we would no longer live for ourselves but for him, and he shed his blood on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so we would now honor God with our bodies. And he died to free us from our slavery (addiction to sin) so we would live for him.

 

[2 Cor 5:15,21; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Cor 6:19-20; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17]

 

Pierced for Our Transgressions

 

Jesus Christ did not die that horrible death on a cross just to forgive us our sins and to promise us heaven when we die. When he died on that cross he became sin for us so that when he died he put our sins to death with him. And when he was resurrected from the dead, he rose victorious over sin, hell, death, and Satan. And all that he did in order to set us free from our slavery (addiction) to sin and from the dominion of sin over our lives, and to empower us to live godly and holy lives for his praise and for his glory.

 

He did not die just to deliver us from the penalty of our sin, as some suppose that he did, but he died in order that we would no longer live as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. He didn’t die just to forgive us our sins but to eradicate sin from our lives so that we would now live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for his return. He gave his life up for us on that cross to turn us from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so we would receive forgiveness of sin.

 

So, by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with him in death to sin and we are resurrected with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old self is crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we will no longer be enslaved to sin. Therefore, we are to let sin no longer reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions, but we are to be the Lord’s instruments of righteousness, instead.

 

All Have Gone Astray

 

When we are born into this world out of the wombs of our mothers we are born with sin natures in the image of Adam, the first man God created, and the first man to sin against God. We are separate from God and unable in and of ourselves to be made righteous before him and to be acceptable to him. All of us have sinned. Only Jesus Christ was sinless when he lived in a human body on this earth. So all of us are headed for hell and not for heaven unless we repent of our sins and we obey the Lord, in practice.

 

But thank the Lord that Jesus died on that cross for our sins so that by faith in him, via dying with him to sin and being raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, we can be delivered from our slavery to sin and we can now walk in holiness and righteousness to the glory of God. We can’t do this in ourselves. None of us can! But God made the way for us all to be delivered from our addiction to sin so that we can now walk in holiness and in righteousness and so one day we will be with Jesus for eternity.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-11; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Eph 2:8-10]

 

He is Lord / Unknown

 

He is Lord; He is Lord.

He has risen from the dead,

And He is Lord.

Every knee shall bow,

Every tongue confess

That Jesus Christ is Lord.