Apr 18 - The Ultimate Sacrifice

Read Isaiah 53:6-12

Context: Continuation from yesterday

Text:
6 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.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression [a] and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken. [b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes [c] his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life [d] and be satisfied [e] ;
by his knowledge [f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, [g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong, [h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. (NIV)
Footnotes:
Isaiah 53:8 Or From arrest
Isaiah 53:8 Or away. / Yet who of his generation considered / that he was cut off from the land of the living / for the transgression of my people, / to whom the blow was due?
Isaiah 53:10 Hebrew though you make
Isaiah 53:11 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint Masoretic Text does not have the light of life .
Isaiah 53:11 Or (with Masoretic Text) 11 He will see the result of the suffering of his soul / and be satisfied
Isaiah 53:11 Or by knowledge of him
Isaiah 53:12 Or many
Isaiah 53:12 Or numerous
taken from www.biblegateway.com

Verse six says we have all gone astray. How many bulls, goats, lambs, and doves would we have to raise to keep making sacrifices for sin? Just imagine the uproar from the PETA group if those sacrifices were still being made today!

God had lots of choices in the way he moved the Israelites to the new way of thinking. Over the years, sacrifices had become ritualized and many lost the remorse and reverence that went with the process of making an offering to the Lord. God could have repealed the law, but the law was created for our own good...to repeal it meant that even more evil would infest the world. He could have sent a really big bull and relayed to the people that it was the last one to be sacrificed, but that would remove the personal connection. He could have had any man fulfill that role, but again people would see that as disconnected to their own sin.

Instead he sent the one most precious to him, his son. Wholly man and wholly God, only he could legitimately take the weight of our sin on his shoulders and provide salvation personally to each one of us.