Our Sacrifice

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his stripes 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 was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for sin,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors. [1]

Christ Jesus is our Lord. The title, “Lord,” sounds somewhat dated or even stale to our ears. Perhaps we should more properly state that Jesus Christ is our Master. According to the Word of God, the demonstration of His right to mastery over our lives lies in the fact that He is risen from the dead. Paul insists that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of Holiness by His resurrection from the dead [Romans 1:4]. Those words force us to confess a wondrous truth—Jesus our Lord conquered death, rising from the dead. That He was dead was attested by the Roman soldiers who lanced His side and by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who removed His body from the cross and provided a hurried burial. The evidence attests that Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice because of our helpless condition just as He said He would.

I confess dismay at the lack of contemporary preaching presenting Jesus as the divine sacrifice for mankind’s sin. I hear multiplied calls to belief in Jesus, and we must indeed believe that He died for our sin and raised for our justification, but knowing that He sacrificed Himself because of our helpless situation leads to belief in Him.

With some reluctance, this past Spring, together with Lynda and some friends, I attended a screening of the movie The Passion of the Christ. The emphasis of the movie was, not surprisingly, the Passion of the Christ. There was a disturbing degree of liberties with the Gospel accounts—far more than mere artistic licence would demand. There was also considerable distortion of events, as Mr. Gibson interpreted Scripture through Catholic cultural lens.

Mel Gibson is a devout Catholic, therefore it is not surprising that he emphasised the suffering of Jesus. The universal icon adorning each Catholic edifice is a crucifix, with Christ forever affixed to the cross. Contrast that to the emphasis of the Apostolic Faith, which is an empty tomb. Christ is risen from the dead; He is no longer hanging on the cross. This emphasis of the movie upon the physical torment Jesus experienced implies in part, expiation of sin through Christ’s physical suffering, laying, no doubt, a foundation for the popish doctrine of Purgatory as a necessary provision to permit man to make expiation for his own sin—if not in full, then certainly in part.

What astonishes me, yea, even appals me, is the apparent lack of theological perspicuity demonstrated among otherwise esteemed and sound evangelical leaders. Godly men whom I respect in the Faith of Christ Jesus our Lord seem unaware of—or at the very least unconcerned with—the error associated with emphasising the suffering of Christ even as playing down the deliberate sacrifice of Himself because of our sin.

Did Christ suffer? The answer is self-evident. Of course He suffered, and no one would deny that physically He suffered most horribly. However, I must insist that focusing on the physical suffering alone obscures the point of Christ’s sacrifice because of our sin. Whilst the physical suffering of our Lord must surely have been great, it is not the suffering per se that is emphasised throughout the Word of God, but rather the willingness of His sacrifice because of our helpless condition.

As result of viewing this movie, I am concerned that I have provided inadequate teaching concerning the sacrifice of our Lord. I am determined to at least provide a more solid foundation for this congregation, presenting yet greater emphasis upon the atonement of Christ our Lord. In that vein, I invite your attention to the passage chosen for our study this day. Turn to what must assuredly rank as one of the most powerful books of the Old Testament, the Book of Isaiah.

Why Must Christ Sacrifice Himself? The sixth verse of this marvellous prophecy details the sole reason the Servant of the Lord—Christ our Saviour—must suffer.

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.

The inspired Word declares that we are the cause of His sacrifice. Our choices and our actions demanded His sacrifice if we were to ever receive relief resulting from our fallen condition. These words demand that we take the time to remember how we arrived at our current condition and that we recall precisely what that condition is.

Our first parents were created to know God and to walk with God and to enjoy God. They were placed in a perfect environment and charged to care for the Garden that God had prepared for their enjoyment. At some point following the Creation of all things, the guardian cherub grew proud and sought to displace God on His throne. Precipitating rebellion against Holy God, he was cast out of Heaven together with one third of the angels. Cast to the earth, He seduced our first mother and she was deceived. She was led into rebellion against the command of God. Her husband, our first father, however, chose to rebel against God’s will and thus plunged the race into ruin.

Death now reigned where life had previously prevailed. Entropy defined all systems ensuring that the whole of creation would move inevitably toward destruction. Decay became the fate for all living entities and corrosion defiled all materials. Man was separated from God and from conception he began an inexorable march toward death. Though the Spirit of God would call man to remember His Creator, entire societies and whole cultures would ever after move ever further from God; and man himself was suddenly thrown into the situation where he was utterly incapable of pleasing God.

This is what Isaiah is speaking of when he says,

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned every one to his own way.

We are utterly helpless to change our condition. We are utterly incapable of seeking God in our own strength. We may be religious, but we always seek to establish our own righteousness instead of seeking the righteousness of God. We are hopelessly lost as we become captives to urges and drives that are not only beyond our capacity to resist, but too often we are even unaware that we are surrendered to those very drives.

The Psalmist has pointedly defined our condition in his pitiful confession:

Indeed, I was guilty [when I] was born;

I was sinful when my mother conceived me.[2]

[Psalms 51:5]

Poor, pathetic creature! Man is utterly hopeless before God.

Perhaps you will remember the startling confession of the Apostle to the Gentiles? I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me [Romans 7:15-20].

We are sold as sinners, swept along by forces of life that we cannot even understand. We may wish to be good, but we know that our goodness is insufficient to placate the wrath of Holy God. We are offensive, even when we don’t mean to be so. Isaiah has quite accurately defined our condition before God.

We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

[Isaiah 64:6]

What can we do? We are incapable of pleasing God! We are unable to change our condition! We are condemned and under sentence of death! Precisely because of our feeble condition, it was necessary that a Deliverer be provided. This is what Isaiah refers to in that sixth verse when he informs us that the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Paul, recalling our condition and the intervention of Christ our Saviour, writes these words. While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us [Romans 5:6-8].

We were weak, and Christ died for the ungodly. We were sinners, and Christ died for us. John defines love in the following way. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins [1 John 4:10] [3]. This is what God has done for us. He has provided His own Son as the sacrifice for our sin. We were unable to make ourselves acceptable to God. We were unable to do anything about our fallen condition. We were under sentence of death. We were rightly charged with lèse majesty against the True and Living God. We were guilty of violating divine love.

The issue is no longer “what can we do,” but rather it is “what has God done.” God has presented Jesus His own Son as a sacrifice because of our sin. Nor should we think of the Father as a cosmic bully, for the Son of God loved us and gave Himself for us. Amen. Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him [Hebrews 9:24-28].

What Does it Mean that Christ Suffered as Our Sacrifice? Consider the vivid description of the Messiah as He sacrifices Himself because of our fallen condition.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his stripes we are healed.

…He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

…Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for sin,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

[Isaiah 53:4, 5, 7, 10, 11]

The words of the Prophet speak of something far greater than mere physical suffering, as even a casual perusal of the passage attests. That He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows speak of deep emotional distress. To be smitten by God and afflicted speaks of separation that creates intense anguish. Knowing that it was the will of the Lord to crush Him must surely have caused unspeakable torment for our Saviour. I find it striking that the Lord has put this Suffering Servant to grief. Notice the opening statement of the eleventh verse as Isaiah speaks of the anguish of His soul. One need not be a scholar to quickly realise that much, much more than mere physical agony is spoken of through these verses.

I confess that human language must fail to convey the depth of suffering the Master experienced for us. The reason for this lies within the theology of His sacrifice. Remember that God presented Himself as a sacrifice because of our sin. When we looked into the Person of Christ some weeks past we saw that it was necessary that God present Himself as a sacrifice because of our sin. This was necessitated by the fact that our sin was against the infinite and holy God. Therefore, we transgressed infinitely because of the One against whom we sinned. All sin is against God and all of us have sinned. Therefore, God must present Himself as a sacrifice.

Moreover, since it was man who sinned, man must pay the penalty. Man sinned and therefore man must make propitiation. It was necessary that God become man in order to provide an acceptable sacrifice. This was accomplished through the Incarnation of Jesus our Saviour. He is very God and He is fully man. He has presented Himself as a sacrifice to redeem us from death.

Because this is true, it is relatively easy to think of the physical suffering He experienced during the beatings and the crucifixion itself. We can even imagine the indignity of being stripped naked before the mocking eyes of the wicked crowd that called for His death, the helpless feeling as He was bound and subjected to insult and abuse. However, we cannot even begin to enter into the anguish of soul the Master experienced as God was made sin because of His helpless, fallen creature.

The words of the Apostle are a mystery, though we nevertheless accept them as true and precious. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God [2 Corinthians 5:21]. No mere mortal can begin to enter into the agony of soul that accompanied the sinless Son of God being made sin. The most anguished soul among the sons of men can never begin to approximate what it meant for the Son of God to be condemned in our place. No wonder the angels long to look into the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories [see 1 Peter 1:10-12]. How can it be that the Holy Son of God would willingly suffer separation because of our sin?

Think with me of a thought that should astonish each of us. Because Christ the Lord is infinite, when He took upon Himself our sin, though from our calculation He was separated from the Father for a period of but three hours, the separation was yet infinite. It must have been that the Master experienced an eternity of separation from His glories. We may only hypothesise concerning this matter since we are but finite creatures of time. And though one may speculate, I am compelled to confess that my thoughts are mere conjecture. Though I may attempt to imagine what must have transpired during that period when the Saviour offered up His own blood as a sacrifice for sin, I cannot do so.

Consequently, when I consider the sacrifice of Christ the Lord, I am forced to simply bow my head and worship, for Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross [Philippians 2:6-8].

No wonder, then, that God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father [Philippians 2:9-11].

Why would anyone refuse to worship such a Saviour? Why would any mere mortal not confess Him as Lord? It is only our wickedness that would keep us from worshipping Him. It is only the demonstration that we are morally depraved and sinful should we fail to submit to Him now. When we reject His grace and refuse to accept His sacrifice in our place, we prove that He is righteous and verify our own condemnation.

Nevertheless, no one of our fallen race needs to be condemned. Not one single soul need suffer separation from God, for His sacrifice is sufficient. In fact, it is to this end that we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe [1 Timothy 4:10].

I’ll not wait! I will confess His Name as Lord, and not merely Lord of all, but I will confess that He is my Lord… my Master… my Sovereign. Believing that He died because of my sin and believing that He has raised for my justification, I will love Him and I will serve Him.

Was Christ’s Sacrifice Sufficient for Us? Is it enough? Is the sacrifice of Jesus sufficient to expiate my sin, our sin? The prophecy clearly states that His work is complete. He has made atonement for sin.

When his soul makes an offering for sin,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

He shall see and be satisfied. He shall make many to be accounted righteous. He shall bear their iniquities. There is something further in that sixth verse that is not immediately apparent in our English tongue. Listen to the words one more time.

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.

When we read that the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all, the Hebrew presents an image that would have been graphic in the mind of those first readers of the words. Quite literally, “the Lord has struck Him with the perversity of us all.” Iniquity [÷/[;] is that aspect of life or that action which is warped, twisted, distorted or perverted. Hence, the concept conveyed is both iniquity or guilt—the action and the consequence.[4]

Therefore, all that warps and distorts our lives, all that prevents a full relationship with God, and additionally all of our guilt, has been laid on the Saviour. Consequently, we are now forever freed from any charge arising from whatever evil may have once contaminated our lives or which shall yet contaminate us in the future. Our guilt and the twisted aspects of our lives that caused that guilt, has been charged to His account.

According to the prophet, those for whom this sacrifice has been offered are now accounted righteous. For whom did the Saviour die? I recommend that no soul will be in hell that will be able to say, “There was no provision for my salvation.” We pray for those in authority of civil government so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. The Apostle states that this is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth [1 Timothy 2:1-4]. Peter insists that the Lord is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance [2 Peter 3:9].

In our text, I invite you to review yet once again the sixth verse.

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.

All of us have gone astray. Each of us has lost his way. Thus, it was necessary that the Lord should lay on the Saviour the iniquity of us all.

There is the promise. No one need suffer separation from God. No one need be excluded from salvation. Provision is made for all. Of Christ the Lord, the author of the Hebrews letter has written that we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone [Hebrews 2:9]. If you continue separated from the grace of God, it is because you will not come to the Lord Christ. If you are condemned and banished from the love of God for all eternity, it is because you refuse to receive the One Sacrifice God has provided to all mankind.

This is the call we now issue, pleading with all to receive the grace of God in Christ the Lord. This is the message of life we proclaim, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].

The response demanded is simple. Believe that Jesus has given Himself as a sacrifice because of your sin. Believe that He has conquered death by rising from the dead. Believe that He is the True and Living God and submit to His rule over your life. Confess Him as Master and believe that He has died because of your sin. Do this and you will live. Amen.

Indeed, I was guilty [when I] was born;

I was sinful when my mother conceived me.[5]

[Psalms 51:5]

Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins [1 John 4:10] [6].

When we read that the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all, the Hebrew presents an image that would have been graphic in the mind of those first readers of the words. Quite literally, “the Lord has struck Him with the perversity of us all.” Iniquity [÷/[;] is that aspect of life or that action which is warped, twisted, distorted or perverted. Hence, the concept conveyed is both iniquity or guilt—the action and the consequence.[7]

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[2] Holman Christian Standard Bible, (Broadman & Holman, Nashville, TN 2004)

[3] HCSB

[4] See R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, article 1577 in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Volume 2 (Moody Press, Chicago, IL 1980) 650-652; also, consult K. Koch, ÷/[; (art.) in G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Febry, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Volume X (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI 1999) 554-559

[5] Holman Christian Standard Bible, (Broadman & Holman, Nashville, TN 2004)

[6] HCSB

[7] See R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, article 1577 in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Volume 2 (Moody Press, Chicago, IL 1980) 650-652; also, consult K. Koch, ÷/[; (art.) in G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Febry, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Volume X (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI 1999) 554-559