The Chastisement that Brought Us Peace: 5 Reasons Jesus Died Part 2
Recap Acts 8:25-39 Philip had been sent by God to an Ethiopian Eunuch in the desert to preach Jesus to him. Isaiah lived and preached between 740BC & 680BC It is the most clear, broad, and deep explanation of the vicarious substitutionary atonement in all Scripture.
More Recap Amazing witness to the reliability of the Bible as the infallible, inerrant, Word of God Written 700 years before Christ lived. Reason #1 why Jesus died, for His own Glory.
Even More Recap In the first 3 verses God is speaking. He draws immediate attention to His Servant and declares that in what He does, the Servant of Yahweh will be successful. The effect will be the astonishment of many He will be so broken and torn that He will no longer be recognizable as a man and as a result
Recap Continued: This word Sprinkle conjurs in our minds the picture of the High Priest Sprinkling the blood on the altar on the day of atonement. This will be People from all over the world, Jews and Gentiles alike. The Servant will receive all the Glory.
Reason #2: Man s Unbelief Israel is speaking No one among them has believed the message, that s the problem. So to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? All the nations! Their heart is broken over how they ve ignored the plain truth.
Reason #2: Man s Unbelief This first line is a simile, they re describing that the Servant grew up in a nothing place as a nobody. Physically He was nothing special either. There seemed nothing about His life or where He came from that should give anyone reason to take any notice whatsoever.
Reason #2: Man s Unbelief What does it mean here by despised? This word is Nazah (Naw-Zaw), is a swift dismissal of something or in this case someone as Worthless and therefore undeserving of any attention from anyone. If we passed Him on the street we wouldn t make eye contact The Servant of Yahweh, Jesus Christ, Died because of our Unbelief.
Reason #3 Jesus Died, though Innocent, to bring us Peace We got it all wrong They say But what are Griefs exactly? This word is only used one time in this form in the entire Old Testament The word is Choliy (Khol-ee) It can mean Disease, grief, sickness. But it can also mean calamity, or more simply a really bad event
Reason #3: To Bring us Peace What does Isaiah mean by the word Bore? The word in Hebrew is Nasa (Naw-Saw) and used here it means to take or carry far away. Jesus carried our sins and the judgment for those sins far away. David tells us how far in Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west. He is the scapegoat of Leviticus 16:22
Reason #3: To Bring us Peace He didn t receive the judgment for His own sin, no, He took the Judgment for OUR SIN in our place! Notice how much more brutal the language has gotten regarding what He suffered. The phrase translated in our English text as Pierced Through is the very strongest term for violent and excruciating death in all of Hebrew This is how seriously God takes our rebellion against Him
Reason #3: To Bring us Peace But someone HAS born the punishment. Believers have Shalom, they have complete peace with God. Jesus Christ, the Servant of Yahweh, has taken upon Himself the just punishment for our sins in our place. In verse 6 Israel is confessing the source of its own iniquities
Reason #3: To Bring us Peace We are like sheep who ve left their shepherd and run rampant across the Hills as we like, not considering the consequences. When the sheep metaphor is used to describe us, it s describing all the bad traits of the sheep, that they go astray and so forth. But here when it s applied to Jesus, it s only the good traits of the sheep described.
Reason #3: To bring us Peace In every way, the judgment (His Trial) was unjust, mishandled, and that s what is being referenced in this first line of verse 8. That s the judgment that took Him away. In Jewish culture, to live a life without having had any children, without leaving that legacy and passing on your wisdom, was to have lived a useless and pointless life.
Reason #3: To bring us Peace Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, took Jesus Body and placed it in His new tomb instead. Verse 9 actually tells us why, which does not occur anywhere in the New Testament! It was Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. He took our place in judgment and brought us Peace with God.
Reason #4 It was God s Sovereign Will. The Lord, that is Yahweh, was pleased to crush the Servant. The ESV renders this as Yet it was the will of the Lord to Crush Him; he has put Him to grief. The NASB better captures the full image of the Hebrew text by saying that the Lord was Pleased to crush Him.
Reason #4: It was God s Will Jesus death on the cross was an atoning sacrifice The moment that Jesus Died on that cross, All of God s people would be restored to Him for all time! He did it of His own volition We are His offspring After he submits Himself to death as an offering, He will be resurrected and live on!
Reason #5 Jesus died to Justify the many God Begins speaking again in verse 11 All the suffering has lead to this moment when the Servant can sit back and look at his finished work and be utterly happy. By knowledge of Him, that is, Faith, the Servant will Justify many.
Reason #5: To Justify the Many Jesus has born the suffering and judgment for our sins and because of it we, the many, will know Him and be justified. Now God returns to using victory language He humbled Himself by becoming a man and living a perfect life
Reason #5: To Justify the Many The picture is of a great Conqueror riding in a Victory parade, bringing back the rewards of the Conquest to share with His subjects. He has Justified the many, bringing His people back into a right relationship with Yahweh.
Conclusion 5 reasons Jesus Died: For His Glory Because of Unbelief To bring us Peace Because it was God s Will To Justify The Many.
This is The Gospel! Jesus Christ Died in our place, for our Sins, and brought us Peace with God so that we could have a relationship with Him Forever!