Summary of sermon by Erlo Stegen, 03 Apr 2015
Is 53:8-12
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You 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.11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
Christians all over the world remember the crucifixion of our Lord today. In the Eastern countries they will they celebrate Easter next weekend.
Jesus was bruised, crushed and stricken for our transgressions.
A blind man once came to the mission and I asked him what his problem was. He replied that he was blind and asked if I could pray for him. I said to him that before I can pray for his physical eyes to be opened, he first needs to be prayed for his spiritual eyes to be opened, that he can see Jesus who died for him. He replied that he wasn’t guilty of Jesus’ death. It was the Romans and Jews who did that. I said to him that although that was true, yet Jesus was bruised and crucified for his sin. I took him to my office and I mentioned different sins to him and asked him if he was guilty of any, drunkenness, immorality, anger, hatred etc. Those were the thorns that pierced His brow. Those were the nails that hung Him upon the cross. He had the power to come down from the cross. It wasn’t the nails that held him to the cross, but your sins, even those you call small and insignificant, like idle talk, gossip etc. God said that the soul that sins must die (Ezek 18:20). God is not like man who says something and doesn’t keep it, but every word He has spoken will happen. But Jesus said to His Father that He will come and take our sin upon Himself so that we might live. He died in our stead that we might live. Before the foundation of this world They agreed and ordained it all. As I was speaking to him he suddenly exclaimed that he understood and he started to confess his sin. As he was confessing his sin, he suddenly jumped up and said, “I can see, I can see”; God had opened his eyes.
As Jesus came walking along and John the Baptist saw Him in the distance, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world”.
We also read that “it was the Lord’s pleasure to bruise Him”. How is that possible? He not only forsook His Son but also beat and bruised Him? Why? We find the answer right here. He will see His offspring and prolong His days (Is 53:10). God crushed Jesus for you and me. He saw how we would be Redeemed by His suffering and death and it pleased God. Just see the love of God the Father!
Women know the pain and difficulty of childbirth. While they are in the birth pangs they don’t want another child, but once the child is born and is on her breast, she forgets her sorrow and rejoices for the child that was born (John 16:21). It’s the same with Jesus that He will see the result of His sorrow in you and me and will feel satisfied (Is 53:11).