Isaiah 53:7-9 – Christ took the condemnation due to us

In three verses, Isaiah portrayed the meekness and submissiveness of the Messiah. He painted how unjustly Jesus Christ was treated to accomplish God’s purpose. Three aspects of what Jesus went through are being described briefly in these three verses. Firstly, in Isaiah 53:7, we are told that He was submissive and silent before His accusers. In saying that He was silent, Isaiah was merely saying that He did not protest or retaliate in the face of His unjust trials. Even in facing the certainty of death, the Messiah made no attempt to defend Himself. He was like a sheep being led to the slaughter, yet remained meek, silent, and submissive throughout.  

Secondly, in Isaiah 53:8 the prophet speaks of Christ’s unjust trials and sentence which  He had to endure alone. This was affirmed in the Gospel where we saw Christ standing alone to face the accusations hurled against Him before the High Priest Caiaphas, the governor Pilate, and King Herod. No one came to His defense. He had to stand and face the harsh judgment all by Himself. No one cared about the miscarriage of justice. Even as He was being led away to be executed, no one attached any significance to His death. No one gave any thought to His seeming untimely death at so young an age. However, what He did, accomplished perfectly the purpose to which God had sent Him to do. He came to bear the consequence of the transgressions which people would otherwise have to bear. In being cut off from the land of the living, He delivered His people from death, the wages due to sin.  

 

Thirdly in Isaiah 53:9, the prophet gave hint about the Messiah’s humble grave. In His death, Jesus was assigned among wicked men. The Bible made it clear that the consequence of sin is death. But Christ as the sinless perfect Son of God could not die. But in becoming man, He took our wicked sin upon Himself to die in our place. In this sense, He had made His grave among the wicked. However, we know from the Gospel that He was buried in the grave of a rich man. This was fulfilled when Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate and requested for the dead body of Christ. In Matthew 27:57 we are told that Joseph was a rich man. He had a new tomb hewn from the rock and the body of Jesus was buried there. Isn’t it amazing that Isaiah could foretell all these hundreds of years before they happened? It had to be the work of God.

 

Out of the worst evil of man, God brought about the greatest good. Out of the greatest tragedy in human history, God brought about the noblest accomplishment and the salvation of mankind. If not for Jesus, His ministry, and His finished works at Calvary, we would forever have been lost. In gratitude now let us never outlive our love for Him. Don’t just love Him, make sure that we also serve Him all the rest of our lives!