SF053 - THE MEANING OF THE CROSS (Isaiah 53 10)
Isaiah 53:10
Introduction
Why is the cross it so important? What does it mean?
The text before us provides the answers.
We see in this text; the cause of Christ’s death; the reason for Christ’s death; and finally the consequences of Christ’s death.
1A. The Cause of Christ’s Death (53:10a)
“Pleased,” chaphets; to delight in; (Isaiah 42:21)
1B. Christ’s death was decreed by God. (Acts 2:23)
“Christ was put to death by the absolute foreknowledge and solemn decree of God the Father, and in this sense ‘it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief.’” (Spurgeon, The Death of Christ, Sermon #173)
2B. Christ’s death was the fulfillment of the will of God.
Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22)
Romans 5:8-10
3B. Christ’s death was the work of God’s hand.
God did not simply allow Christ’s death, He caused it. To quote Spurgeon, “the agonies that clothed the death of the Savior…were the effect of the Father’s bruising of Christ in very act and deed.”
His death was voluntary (John 10:17-18)
2A. The Reason for Christ’s Death (53:10b)
1B. He died as our substitute (1 Peter 3:18)
“Once for all” – completion
“The just for the unjust” – substitution
“Might bring us to God” - reconciliation
2B. He suffered the full price for our sin
Man was condemned to eternal fire.
Ø The suffering Christ endured was equal to eternal fire.
Man was condemned to abide forever in hell.
Ø God placed on Christ a punishment that equivalent to hell.
Ø Hell consists in the hiding of God’s face from sinners.
3B. He paid the full cost for our sin.
It is finished, paid in full!
“There was our debt, huge and immense; He paid the utmost farthing of whatever His people owed.
I had rather believe in a limited atonement that is efficacious for all men for whom it was intended, than an universal atonement that is not efficacious for anybody, except the will of man be joined with it.” (Spurgeon)
The limit is: He has died for sinners. (Revelation 7:9)
Ø Whoever inwardly and sorrowfully knows himself to be a sinner, Christ died for him.
Ø A sense of need and a thirst after Christ is the infallible proof of election.
3A. The Consequences of Christ’s Death (53:10c)
1B. Men shall certainly be saved - “He shall see His offspring.”
Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
2B. He has conquered death and the grave - “He will prolong His days.”
Romans 6:10 “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
3B. The Father’s good pleasure is fulfilled – “the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.” (Revelation 21:1-5)
“The hour approaches when old Rome shall shake upon her seven hills, when Mohammed’s crescent shall wane to wax no more, when all the gods of the heathens shall lose their thrones and be cast out to the moles and the bats. Then, from equator to the poles Christ shall be honored, the Lord paramount of earth. From land to land, from the river even to the ends of the earth, one King shall reign, one shout shall be raised, ‘Hallelujah, hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.’ Then my brethren, shall it be seen what Christ’s death has accomplished; for “the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.’” (Spurgeon)
Isaiah 53:10
1A. The ________________ of Christ’s Death (53:10a)
1B. Christ’s death was _______________ by God. (Acts 2:23)
2B. Christ’s death was the fulfillment of the _____________ of God.
Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22)
Romans 5:8-10
3B. Christ’s death was the ______ of God’s hand.
His death was voluntary (John 10:17-18)
2A. The Reason for Christ’s Death (53:10b)
1B. He died as our ______________ (1 Peter 3:18)
2B. He suffered the full price for our sin
Man was condemned to eternal fire.
Man was condemned to abide forever in hell.
3B. He paid the ____________ cost for our sin.
It is finished, paid in full!
The limit is: He has died for ______________. (Revelation 7:9)
3A. The Consequences of Christ’s Death (53:10c)
1B. Men shall certainly be saved - “He shall see His offspring.” (Matthew 1:21; John 6:37)
2B. He has conquered death and the grave - “He will prolong His days.” (Romans 6:10)
3B. The Father’s good pleasure was fulfilled – “the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.” (Revelation 21:1-5)