THE FORBIDDEN CHAPTER: Message 5
By Solomon Ostrovsky
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.- Isaiah 53:5. God had a problem – not in the physical or material realm. He created worlds by the word of His mouth. “He spoke and it was done; He commanded and it came into being.” God wiped man from the face of the earth when He “saw that the wickedness of man was great … and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” To create the world, or to wipe man in judgment from off the face of the earth was no problem for an Omnipotent God. His problem was in the realm of the moral. To rescue man from sin, to heal and renew him, to restore in him the image of God, his self-control, to remove from man the sentence, which God in His holiness had pronounced against him WITHOUT VIOLATING THAT HOLINESS; to bring man to love good and not evil, to seek the things of heaven and not the things of earth – this was the problem. It was the problem of sin and its universal consequences – “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This was a greater problem than the creation or destruction of worlds.
B. Let us look back now to the verse quoted above: “HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS.” In the prophecies of the Tanach we encounter ONE MAN who was different from all others, a Man who is a world in Himself. He is described as “the fairest of the sons of men” , “without spot and without blemish.” In our text Isaiah introduces this Man to us as one who is absolutely UNIQUE, with no other like Him. We see this even more clearly in the next verse: “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.” WE ALL – the whole world – on the one side; HE – and HE ALONE – on the other, and HE bore the sin of the world.
“He was wounded for our transgression.” The meaning of the word “wounded” in this instance is “pierced through”, “fatally wounded.” Transgression means over-stepping the Law, out of ignorance or moral weakness. He, therefore, became the sacrificial Victim of our transgressions. He, who was without sin, the Unique One, bore our sin and died an atoning death.
C. HE WAS BRUISED FOR OUR INIQUITIES.
Iniquity is MORE than sin. Sin can be, as we have seen, the result of ignorance of the Law, or of momentary weakness. “Iniquity” suggests crookedness of spirit, inner corruption. And HE – this mysterious HE – the central Figure of all prophecy – is bruised on account of our iniquities. He is wounded; He is oppressed (this is the real meaning of the Hebrew term). In His body He is wounded by the sword of our transgressions; in His soul He is oppressed by the weight of our iniquities.
D. THE CHASTISEMENT OF OUR PEACE WAS UPON HIM.
The chastisement of our peace – the punishment that a Holy God pronounced against sinful man, causing the irreparable rupture of the link between God and man – this punishment was placed upon Him. For our sake He suffered in BODY, SOUL and SPIRIT.
At the moment when the anonymous Sufferer, the ‘HE’ of this prophecy, was suffering for the sin of the world, He was deserted and abandoned by God Himself – this despite the fact that He was holy and without sin. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” – His lips murmured in the terrible moments of His agony. Abandoned by God, He suffered in His spirit. “I am a worm and no man, a reproach of man and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head” – He suffered in His soul. “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast … dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and my feet” – He suffered in His body. In spirit, soul and body He suffered when He died to solve the sin problem.
“AND WITH HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED.”
The result of this sacrifice was HEALING. The righteousness of God was satisfied, His holiness vindicated, and the wounds of the righteous Sufferer became a source of healing, peace and life for all who believe on Him. And after bearing the sin of the world the unnamed Sufferer of this prophecy was made the Head of a new family of humanity. For “sin came into the world through ONE man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men … but the free gift is NOT like the trespass. For if many died through ONE man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that ONE man, Jesus Messiah, abounded for many … for as by ONE man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by ONE man’s obedience many will be made righteous … that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Messiah our Lord.” Truly “the sun of righteousness has risen with healing in his wings” – “since the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.”
“Who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?”
...Back to Messiah in the Tanach | Message 6...
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N
O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
©2004-2007 New Covenant House. All rights reserved. Copyright to individual articles held by authors. View Privacy Policy.