But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5-6
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 constitutes one of the most transformative passages in Scripture. The Ethiopian eunuch’s response puts this transformative power on display (Acts 8:26-40). As Philip approached his chariot, the eunuch was reading Isaiah 53 concerning the Suffering Servant. When he asked Philip who the prophet had in view, Philip preached Jesus to him from this Scripture (Acts 8:34-35). In the end, the eunuch was converted and went away rejoicing (vv. 38-39).
The impact on the eunuch was immediately evident as grasping the depth of such love from the Suffering Servant moved his heart to obedience producing salvation in Christ (Hebrews 5:9). We must remember that the goodness of God promotes repentance (Romans 2:4). Recognizing that the sinless Son of God paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay, what else could we do but bow at His feet saying, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)?
To further imbed this thought in our hearts, we consider some principles from this passage: 1) the necessity of His vicarious suffering, 2) the severity of His vicarious suffering, 3) the result of His vicarious suffering, and 4) the reality of our relationship with God when the gift was given. Fully grasping these realities should move our hearts to greater faithfulness and fullness of joy recognizing the great love with which God loved us (Ephesians 2:4).
Make no mistake, Jesus had to suffer for our sins (Hebrews 2:17). He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows on the cross (vs. 4). He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities (vs. 5). It was for our peace that this chastisement fell on Him (vs. 5). His stripes were for our healing (vs. 5). He took our iniquities upon Himself (vs. 6, 11-12; 1 Peter 2:24-25). And He made an offering for our guilt (vs. 10: Hebrews 9:11-14). The separating power of sin necessitated His sacrifice to reconcile us to God.
In Isaiah 52:14, we read that His “visage was marred more than any man…” From the scourging to the crown of thorns to the piercing of His hands and feet, His body was marred and mangled to appalling proportions. In John 19:31-33, we see Jesus died before the two men who were crucified with Him. This may hint that He suffered greater wounds prior to His crucifixion. This horrible suffering should impress upon us the seriousness of sin. Neither the Jews nor the Romans killed Him, our sins did.
The results of His vicarious suffering are profound. Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2; 1 John 1:5-6), so it must be fully dealt with. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a; Genesis 2:17), so atonement is necessary for redemption and reconciliation (Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 9:22). Notice what Isaiah says about the suffering He endured. His stripes healed our souls (vs. 5; Matthew 13:15; Mark 4:12), brought us justification (vs. 11; Romans 3:23-26), and provided us an advocate to intercede for us (vs. 12; Romans 8:34; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:25; 9:24; 1 John 2:1-2).
That He secured all this for us at all is sufficient to claim our hearts for all of life. The condition of our hearts at the time makes this reality even more profound. Such would be a remarkable gift if given to the best of friends. However, Jesus gave this gift to His enemies (Romans 5:6-11; Luke 23:34). We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Such love moves us to faithfulness to Him and His will (John 14:15; 15:13-14). Let us never forget the debt we owed that He paid for us!