Day 18: The Servant
“But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.”
Isaiah 53:5
Isaiah 53:5 is a prophetic arrow fired straight into the beating heart of the gospel. Substitution. The scriptures are full of metaphor and symbols used to describe the cross work of Jesus. Lambs, bulls, sprinkling, burning, fragrances, incense and alters. Each of these metaphors and symbols explain something about what Jesus is doing, accomplishing, or being as He goes to the cross. They are pictures that help us grasp the awesome reality of what Jesus loving sacrifice.
But there is one word that theologians and pastors use that we should never allow ourselves to think of as metaphorical or symbolic that word is substitute. There is absolutely nothing metaphorical about this biblical truth. As surely as Steven Davis came off the bench to replace Fashion Sakala for Rangers on Thursday night. Jesus took the place of His people on the Cross. Because of my rebellion I deserve to pierced by the justice of God, because of my iniquities I deserve to be crushed under the wrath of God, because of my hostility and enmity with God I deserve righteous punishment, because of my sin sickness I deserve to receive holy wounding. Because of my wickedness I deserve to spend eternity in hell.
I deserve it, be absolutely certain of that. I am a hell deserving sinner by nature and choice. But I will never endure so much as a nano-second of hell. Because Christ Jesus is my substitute. He came to take my place.
He came to provide me with that which I was incapable of achieving on my own. Perfect Righteousness. He came to deliver me from the wrath of God by taking my place and absorbing God’s Holy wrath at sin and sinner in my place.
In 2 Corinthians 5:21 apostle Paul wrote:
“He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The Great Reformer Martin Luther called these words and this truth the Great and Wonderful exchange.
“This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s, and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied Himself of His righteousness that He might clothe us with it and fill us with it; and He has taken our evils upon Himself that He might deliver us from them. Learn Christ and Him crucified. Learn to pray to Him and, despairing of yourself, say, ‘Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am Thy sin. Thou hast taken upon Thyself what is mine and hast given to me what is Thine. Thou hast taken upon Thyself what Thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not.’”
Jesus my Substitute is Jesus my Righteousness.
Written by Andrew Mathieson
A Thought to Remember: He Suffered so we could be healed.
A Bit More to Read: 2 Corinthians 5:21, Mark 10:45, Isaiah 52:13-53:12
A Question to Ask: Can I say Jesus my Substitute is Jesus my Righteousness?
A Song to Sing: Man of Sorrows
A Picture for the kids: Crown of Thorns