Day 7: The divinely ordained exchange

Isaiah 53 verses 4, 5, and 6, are the very heart of the prophetic message about Jesus Christ. The human mind, I believe, can never fully comprehend all that transpired and all that was accomplished by the substitutionary death of Jesus. But let us bear in mind that Isaiah begins this chapter by warning us against unbelief. “Who can believe our message." So let us deliberately denounce unbelief. Let us not reject the message because it's difficult for little puny, finite minds to comprehend the infinite nature of God's love, mercy and wisdom. Let us be willing to believe.

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (NIV)

The emphasis is on "he" and then by contrast "us" and "our." So he became our representative, the Son of Man, the humble one, the one who fully partook of humanity. And then as our representative, Benadam, the Son of Adam, Baranush, the Son of human frailty, there on the cross he took upon himself all our burdens, our guilt, our shame, our pain, our sickness, our sorrow, our grief.

Let's look at the beautiful phrases there, "Surely he,". The Hebrew wording is such that all the emphasis is placed on the "he." - "Surely he." In other words look away from yourself. There is no solution to your problems in yourself. Don't dwell on your problem, don't bend and bow beneath the burden of your guilt and all your problems. The solution is in looking away from yourself, looking away to him, the substitute, the sacrifice, the Son of Man.

"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows." A better more accurate translation for sorrows is pains. "He took our infirmities," he carried our pain, "yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted." You see, unbelief only sees the outward facts of the death of Jesus, does not understand the inner meaning.