"By His Wounds We are Healed"

Introduction

The Bible warns us against our own confidence in our ability to know the truth.

We need God’s revelation, that is, His word.

We are sinners, and therefore, we can have errors in judgment. We can see things wrongly.

The Bible calls upon us to examine the scriptures, to investigate the evidence.

Human beings can think they know the truth, when, in fact they do not.

2 Corinthians 1 is a passage I’ve referred to recently, but we need to be reminded of its truth.

God has structured salvation in such a way that human beings are not naturally inclined to see it or understand it.

Reality is the opposition of what humans perceive about God and salvation.

Never is that any more evident than when Isaiah is forced to reevaluate reality and to admit their initial perceptions about the Servant are wrong.

Isaiah 53:3

The main thought, this morning, will be upon the reality of substitution. In the doctrine of justification, the obedient Son of God, through his righteousness, provides the basis upon which God can declare those who believe righteous.

Don’t lose sight of the shock and awe Isaiah seems to feel in this passage.

Misinterpreted Grief and Sorrows

Isaiah takes “grief” first, observed last in Is. 53:3.

Surely! is an important word. It can refer to “Indeed,” or “certainly.”

It may also express that what had been previously imagined to be true turns out not to be the case. The opposite turns out to be the reality.

Grief here actually refers to sickness or illness, but most likely spiritual illness is in mind.

"Sorrows” refer to “pains,” and they could be mental or spiritual.

Isaiah is less concerned with mental pain as he is the spiritual pain.

Messiah would be intimately aware of the suffering of his people in much the same way that Moses knew of the Israelites’ sufferings in Egypt.

Mt. 8:17.

Notice the readmission of the misunderstanding...”we esteemed him...”

Stricken would imply the Servant to be under God’s divine judgment.

Afflicted, on the other hand, refers to his lowering or his humility.

God’s Substitutionary Smiting of the Servant

He would undergo a fatal wound, i.e. he would be “bored through.”

The focus here is upon a fatal wound.

This fatal wound was not, as it turned out, because God was striking him down.

Instead, it was because of Israel’s rebelliousness.

His lowering, now, takes on the form of him being “crushed.”

Notice the feature of the passive voice here.

It was not his own wrongdoing for which he suffered. It was someone else’s.

Peace was made possible for Israel through these sufferings.

His wounds result in their healing.

None of this was deserved by the Servant.

God did this for Israel through Him.