But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. – Isaiah 53:5
Seven hundred years before Christ, Isaiah the prophet was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write what many theologians say is the Gospel of the Old Testament. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna in the first century, called Isaiah 53 “the Golden Passional of the Old Testament.” An anonymous scholar in Germany wrote, “It looks as if it had been written beneath the cross of Golgatha… Many an Israelite has had it melt the crust of his heart. … This chapter is the most central, the deepest, and the loftiest thing that Old Testament prophecy outstripping itself has ever achieved.”
British theologian Adam Clarke wrote in his commentary, “This chapter foretells the sufferings of the Messiah, the end for which he was to die, and the advantages resulting to mankind from that illustrious event. … This chapter contains a beautiful summary of the most peculiar and distinguishing doctrines of Christianity.”
Pastor and author Jeffrey Curtis Poor states, “Transgressions are willful and rebellious sins that humankind has committed. Our rebellion is what caused Christ’s wounds. … Isaiah is saying that Messiah will be crushed under the weight of our sins so that all who look to him can be saved. … The punishment that Messiah endures is to bring us peace.”
God sent Jesus who lived and died in order to restore the world’s relationship to Him. He willingly went to the cross to ransom you from your brokenness and sin. Always remember the price He paid for you. “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best for a world of lost sinners was slain.”
Today’s Verse: Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Isaiah 53
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
