He Was Pierced For Our Rebellion

Today we commemorate the death of our Savior on the cross. I could write today about the horrors of crucifixion. I could give details about the grotesque and inhumane torture one went through when crucified. However, we have posted about this previously, so you can search our posts to get this information. I felt led this year to take a look at one of the prophetic writings about the crucifixion. Isaiah described a very clear picture of the sacrifice and substitutionary death that would take place for mankind and the fact that Jesus would be greatly rewarded and honored for His obedience.

I have included the entire chapter of Isaiah 53 below in the New Living Translation (NLT). Read it slowly and consider each and every verse in the light of what we know about Jesus’ sacrifice. Isaiah was shown something by the Holy Spirit that would not come true for hundreds of years in the future, yet his writing is as accurate as if he was there when it happened.

1 Who has believed our message?
    To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
    like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
    nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
    a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
    He was despised, and we did not care.

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
    it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
    a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
    crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
    He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
    the sins of us all.

7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
    yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
    And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned,
    he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
    that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
    for the rebellion of my people.
9 He had done no wrong
    and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
    he was put in a rich man’s grave.

10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
    and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
    he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
    and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
    he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
    my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
    for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
    because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
    He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

Jesus fulfilled it all for us. He willingly gave His own life for ours. I have to believe that Jesus was quite possibly thinking on verses 11 and 12 while He was on the cross. After all, Hebrews 12:2 tells us that for the joy that was set before him, He endured the cross, despising the shame. He was counted as a rebel, a common criminal, so we could be declared, “not guilty.” What a wonderful Savior He is!