Isaiah 53:10-11 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed… It is strange but true, that the saddest, darkest day that ever broke upon our world is destined to cure the sadness and dissipate the darkness for evermore. It is to the passion of the Redeemer that loving hearts turn in their saddest, darkest, most sin-conscious hours to find solace, light, and help.. As though to obviate the possibility of mistaking its meaning, we are reminded again, and yet again, that the death of the Divine Servant was no ordinary episode; but distinguished from all other deaths, from all martyrdoms and sacrifices, in its unique and lonely grandeur — the one perfect and sufficient sacrifice and oblation for the sins of the whole world. The prophet s thought will become apparent, if we notice — I THE COMMON LOT OF MAN. It may be summed up in three words — suffering, sin, death. II. THE NOTABLE EXCEPTION OF THIS CHAPTER. The Divine Servant presents a notable exception to the lot of man; not in His sufferings, for He was "a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief;" nor in His death, for He died many deaths in one (ver. 9, R.V., marg.); but in His perfect innocence and goodness. He had done no violence, neither was any deceit m His mouth. The Divine Servant has passed through every painful experience; has drunk to its dregs every cup; has studied deeply every black-lettered volume in the library of pain. In His case, at least, man's hastily-formed conclusions are falsified. Generally we pass from singular suffering to discover its cause in some hidden or remote transgression. In the case of Jesus Christ, however, this explanation of His unique sufferings was altogether at fault. Another explanation must, therefore, be forthcoming to account for the sufferings of the innocent Saviour. The explanation lay hid as a secret concealed in a hieroglyph, in the vast system of Levitical sacrifice which foreshadowed the "offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." So, under the Divine guidance, men were led from the conclusions of ver. 4 to those of ver. 5. These conclusions expressed here as the verdict of the human conscience, after scanning the facts in the light of history, are confirmed and clenched by the unanimous voice of the New Testament. This is the great exception which has cast a new light on the mystery of pain and sorrow. It may be that there is other suffering, which, in a lower sense and in a smaller measure, is also redemptive, fulfilling Divine purposes in the lives of others; though no sufferer is free from sin as Christ was, and none has ever been able to expiate sin as He. III. THE PERSONAL APPLICATION OF THESE TRUTHS. "Thou must make his soul a guilt-offering" (R.V., marg.) This term, "guilt-offering," occurs in the Book of Leviticus. If a man committed a trespass in the holy things of the Lord, he was directed to select and bring from his flock a ram without blemish. This was his "guilt-offering" — the word used here. He was to make a money restitution for his offence; but the atonement was made through the ram (Leviticus 5:1-16). Similarly, if a man sinned against his neighbor, either in oppressing him or withholding his dues, or neglecting to restore property which had been entrusted to him, he was not only to make restitution, but to bring his guilt-offering to the Lord — a ram without blemish out of the flock — and the priest made an atonement before the Lord, and he was forgiven concerning whatsoever he had done to be made guilty thereby (Leviticus 6:1-7). Is there one of us who has not committed a trespass and sinned in the holy things of the Lord? Is there one of us who has not failed in his obligations to neighbour and friend? How certainly we need to present the guilt-offering! There is no mention made of the necessity of summoning priestly aid. This is the more remarkable, when we consider the strict Levitical system in which Israel was cradled. It would seem that in the great crisis of its need, the soul of man reverts to an earlier cult, and goes back beyond the elaborate system of the temple to the practice of the patriarchal tent, where each man acted as his own priest, and offered the guilt-offering with his own hand. No third person is needed in thy transactions with God. Jesus is Priest as well as Sacrifice. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. |
    |