Isaiah 53: a Weapon of Mass Destruction or a Shelter

  After listening to a very thought-provoking sermon from another pastor on Isaiah 53, I began to wonder how those who only want to focus on God's love and grace and get upset if you talk about sin think they will stand. God's character and our nature are basic principles of Truth. Getting them wrong separates one from the wheat and defines one spiritually as a goat. 

KJV Bible (Photo credit: knowhimonline)

 Maybe you think I am too harsh in my judgment but take a moment and read Isaiah 53. I'll wait...

 The pastor I listened to spoke of how this passage clearly defines what Christ was going to do and then answers over and over why He did it. So, why did God become man and suffer death on the cross to be raised again? Well, let's just look at the passage:

- Why? Isaiah 53:5a - he was pierced for our transgressions

- Why? Isaiah 53:5b - he was crushed for our iniquities

- Why? Isaiah 53:6a - All of us like sheep have gone astray 

- Why? Isaiah 53:6b - Each of us has turned to his own way

- Why?  Isaiah 53:8 - stricken for the transgression of my people

- Why? Isaiah 53:10 - his soul makes an offering for guilt

- Why? Isaiah 53:11 -make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities

-Why? Isaiah 53:12 - he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors

 Hmmm, seems that this short prophecy makes it very clear why the perfect sinless person of Christ died. It speaks of a well thought out plan that foreknew the cost. Obviously, it is rooted in love but the great cost came in part because God is holy, righteous, and just and to just let us slide after offending His very Word and nature would render Him none of those things. So Christ knowing that He would be despised and rejected (Is 53:3), came to take on our grief and sorrows (Is 53:4) and be stricken, smitten, afflicted (Is 53:4), pierced, crushed, chastised (Is 53:5), oppressed (53:7), judged (Is 53:8), put to grief (Is 53:10), anguished (Is 53:11), and poured out to death (Is 53:12) all for something that we should not talk about or focus on too much????

 How will a person stand if they discount sin? If you believe God is love (and He is), you can rest assured that He loves His Son. For all of us, who are enemies of God by nature, to shrug at sin and not take it seriously, not feel the heft of it, or understand the implications, we are rejecting the very work of His Son that reconciles us to God and piling up a condemnation of nuclear proportions. 

 Do you want to only focus on God's grace and love? Then I beg you to first rightly understand why you need grace at all and the great cost at which it comes. I beg you to be broken by Isaiah 53:7 and 11 knowing that God in the Father and the Son knew what it would take to be able to restore you and He suffered it all in spite of our rejection and mocking.  Any appeal to God's love is truly made through the work of His love. 

 Jesus as propitiation for our sin is the only shelter.