[Repeat of series introduction that began on 17 December 2023: Where would you go today in the Old Testament to argue that Jesus is the Christ? There’s so much to this that cannot be dismissed. We’re given in many ways what the Messiah would be like, what his character would be, how he’d be received (even by different people), what he’d do, how he’d redeem, that we’d have his lineage, what he’d say, how it would all end, how he’d come and more. So much, and we see it all done in just one man! How would you know that he is the promised Messiah? Jesus’ birth, life, suffering, and glorification all demonstrate the facets of his excellent work. Jesus himself asked two of his disciples the same question I could ask you today, and then went to the same source to explain it that I’d like to go to as well in this series: “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Luke 24:26-27. Jesus had to suffer to then enter into his glory he said. With this premise, he goes through some measure of the 39 books of the Old Testament revealing himself to them thereby. This is the same Old Testament we have today. I wish we were given the transcript of that talk, but God didn’t wish to give it. But can we see it? Many historical events in the Scriptures could be fulfilled by men and women, but no one but Jesus (Messiah) could fulfill them all. The Lord himself demonstrated that he was and is the Christ, and our New Testament reflects that its writers were well aware of this. The clear approach of the Apostles was to argue the same from the Bible that Jesus read- the 39 books we now call the Old Testament. To know what it means that Jesus is the Christ is to show the fulness of God’s revelation to mankind in the New Testament in him. In the Old Testament, God said he’d defeat sin and death; the New Testament shows us that work done. There are so many ways to talk of this. So many passages. I won’t exhaust them, but in this series, I wish to examine some of these passages. These passages are how I would prove Jesus is the Christ from the Old Testament].
Continuing on in Isaiah 53:6 we read,
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
Why is it that 100% of the people you meet, “…have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. Why have you? The answer is a condition brought upon you by your father. Not your immediate one, but the first one. We’re all on “Team Adam” from birth. No, we have no say in the matter…obviously. Believe it (like it) or not, your team has been sited with a serious foul and is penalized. Some surely call God petty for this, but what we see in the Bible is that he’s not petty, he’s holy. Wholly holy. This is an attribute of God we would all adore and love if it was not the seat of the enmity between us! If you look at the Ten Commandments, you see as clear as anyone that the holiness of code reflected in that law calls out for your countless offenses against God. All of your offenses are a result of your condition. We are not sinners because we break God’s moral law; we break God’s moral law because we are sinners. When Isaiah says, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” it is a seventh century identification of an every century empirical reality. Humanity as whole, both Jew and Gentile, is “astray.”
But look at part b of Isaiah 53:6, “But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” I will have to resist a book-length dealing with such a statement. From the beginning of man’s wayward or wandering, God has covered humanity. “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21. We see the Gospel of Jesus Christ cryptically delivered already in Genesis 3:15. We can now understand this fully given Jesus’ teachings and Resurrection. God has covered man and will restore mankind to glory. God will do it. How? It was all settled beginning with, “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” God does not ignore sin. It is a complete shattering of creation. To justify a lavish re-creation of it in his own eyes, the plan was to make the virgin-born Son of Man (Jesus) bear the weight of it all and offer himself up for it. Yes, like a noble king who offers himself up for his own people, that’s what it means that our iniquity falls upon him. He made propitiation for it all. He alone is able to bear this weight.
In his letter to Diognetus, the first to second century Christian known as Ignatius of Antioch wrote: “He himself took on the burden of our iniquities, He gave his own Son as a ransom for us, the Holy One for transgressors, the Blameless One for the wicked, the Righteous One for the unrighteous, the Incorruptible One for the corruptible, the Immortal One for them that are mortal. For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than his righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, other than by the only Son of God? Oh, sweet exchange! Oh, unsearchable operation! Oh, benefits surpassing all expectation! That the wickedness of many should be hid in a single Righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!” He’d read Isaiah 53 and spoke of the great exchange we Protestants understand in full detail!
I would argue in every generation from this passage that this is the reason the Christ was made to suffer to then enter into his glory. We may take such passages for granted, but they establish the details of the life of Christ. Why a Cross? Why would we proclaim such a death for the very Son of Man himself? What was his crime? No! There was no crime perpetrated. So, why the death? Why did he do this?! The answer is what we see here in Isaiah 53. “Iniquity” fell “on him.” Why? “The Lord caused” it to. Why? This is the triune God’s work. It will be to his glory forever, and it will lead to the salvation of his people forever. Salvation from all that sin is. Repent, trust in Christ today. You will be numbered too among those whose sins were imputed to Jesus so that his righteousness would be imputed back to them. Don’t miss the very meaning of human existence. It’s here. It’s in the shadow of a glorious triune God who stands over a rough and despised Cross. Oh, that I would view my sins as I view that Cross itself and be separated from it to the arms of the one who through it conquered death itself!
God bless!!!
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