The Stricken King

Introduction

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.

a song sung around the world, especially today

when people around the world gather to remember the day Jesus went to the cross

This is an historical event, but it was also a prophesied event

hundreds of years before the first Christmas morning was a prophecy of the suffering servant found in Isaiah 52-53.

Isaiah 53:4–6 CSB

4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.

PRAY!

the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all

What He Carried to the Cross

Isaiah 53:4 CSB

4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

He bore our sickness and carried our pains

what is sickness and pains

what I believe a false teaching to be

we do not need the sacrifice of the suffering servant for God to heal the sickness that is rampant in the Genesis 3 world. We need a sacrifice to pay for what made this a Genesis 3 world in the first place, our addiction to sin

ESV, NASB and KJV are better translated

he bore our grief and sorrows

Matthew 5:4 CSB

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

there is nothing that should grieve man more than the sin that separated him from God

He counted him stricken / afflicted

he was struck down by God

delivered by the jews,

crucified by the Romans

struck down by God

Speak of the crucifixion

start with his arrest in the garden

mock trial in front of the sanhedrin

dropped in the hole to the dungeon where he would have been tied up, beaten

delivered to the Romans

beaten with cat of nine tails

offered back to the Jews

they chose Barrabbas a known criminal

crowd chanted crucify him

Crucifixion

taken to calvary - would have been at the base of the hill along the damascus road right outside the gates of the city

nailed to the cross by pulling his arms wide most likely dislocating the shoulder joints

railroad spikes driven through the wrists of his hands

flesh torn, loss of blood significant, the weight on his lungs would have been what completed the task

having to push up, pull up to get a good breath

Why He Carried it to the Cross

The first thing that comes to mind is the song, oh how he loves you and me…

he gave his life, what more could he give

I do not know what classifies as an old song, but google told me that song is about 25 years old

yes he came because of his love for his people

but look what the text tells us…

Isaiah 53:5 CSB

5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.

Because of our rebellion

every sinful act that I have done

there has been more than I will ever be able to count

every violation of the law that God put down

Wednesday we went over the 10 commandments at TeamKid

some of their faces when I told them that every time they did something that list said to do it was a sin

Because of our iniquity

iniquity = our guilt, immoral behavior

as we know from the sermon on the mount in Matt 5, It is not just the actions

our heart is sinful

so not just our sinful acts, but the sinfulness in us

all of this separates us from God, puts us at war with him

To bring us peace

Romans 5:1 CSB

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

if there is no cross, no sacrifice, there is no peace!

How Did He Carry it to the Cross

I think when we see Peter deny Christ 3 times on that night we know what we would have done if we were in Jesus’ place

we would have gone down swinging

like James and John we would have called down fire from heaven!

and left all people to stand for themselves and spend eternity in hell

Isaiah 53:6–7 CSB

6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth.

Willingly

a lamb led to the slaughter…

there is no fighting, no condemnation

instead he prayed for and asked that those who nailed him to the cross would be forgiven

the creator God willingly allows His creation to murder him

and evil humanity gleefully does just that

Silently

there is no argument made, no begging to be done

he willingly and silently went and offered his life in passive obedience to the father

As we will be before the Lord in our guilt

without Christ we stand in our shame, not able to argue about our rebellion when we see his glory

John in Revelation fell as if dead