Day 7: The root problem of the human race

Isaiah 53 contains an important and remarkable prophecy about Jesus, the Messiah. But it also reveals the basic problem of the human race. It is stated in Isaiah 53:6, which says:

“Each of us turned to his own way...”

That's the universal guilt of humanity. Not all of us have committed all of the specific sins. Not all have committed murder or adultery or other such sins. But there is one problem of which we are all guilty, each of us has turned to his own way. That's stubbornness, disobedience, rebellion.

That is the root problem of the human race. And that is the problem that Jesus dealt with by His death on our behalf, on the cross.

The full verse of Isaiah 53:6 says: All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The last part could be explained as: "The Lord made to meet upon Him the rebellion of us all." Rebellion and all its evil consequences met together that day upon Jesus as He hung there on the cross.

You need to understand that all through the history of the human race, sin and disobedience against God have always brought a curse.

The first example in human history is found in Genesis chapter 3, which records the temptation of Adam and Eve by the serpent - the serpent being the disguise that Satan came in - and their subsequent disobedience. When this disobedience was disclosed and God took judgment on it, this is what God said, and notice the recurrence of the word "curse." Genesis 3:14, 16, 17:

“And the LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat all the days of your life. To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, In pain, you shall bring forth children; Yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Then to Adam He said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.”

So you see that as soon as sin entered the human race it was followed by the curse. The curse descended upon the serpent and upon the ground and the result for Adam and Eve was toil and pain. All these are the outworking of the curse brought upon man by his sin.

But God always brings hope. When a doctor examines a patient, he starts with determining the correct diagnose. Once the diagnose is clear, he can determine the cure. The Eternal God, who is our Healer, is also first settling the diagnose for the human race. But praise Him, because He has the cure, too! This is what we will examine in the next few days.