By Glenn Metts
Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church, Seymour
Focal Passage: Isaiah 53:1-12
The richness of knowing Christ in a personal relationship is discovering the depth of His love and what He has done for our salvation. I am 56 years old and I am still overwhelmed when I think of what my Savior has done for me.
I hope I will always be overwhelmed at His love for me and for you. I hope my response to the Lord will always be praise, worship, surrender, and service. Our God is a forgiving God and He justifies believers by taking their sin on Himself. That is the most incredible story this world has ever heard!
There is a song that comes to my heart when I read Isaiah’s words that so vividly describe what the Suffering Servant (Jesus) went through for us. A man by the name of Marvin P. Dalton penned the words to this song in 1948. It has been a well-loved song ever since. The words go:
“Once I was straying in sin’s dark valley,
No hope within could I see,
He searched through Heaven, and found a Savior
To save a poor lost soul like me.
O what a Savior, O hallelujah!
His heart was broken on Calvary,
His hands were nail scarred,
His side was riven,
He gave His life-blood for even me.
“He left the Father with all His riches,
With calmness sweet and serene,
Came down from Heaven and gave His life-blood,
To make the vilest sinner clean.
“O what a Savior, O hallelujah!
His heart was broken on Calvary,
His hands were nail scarred,
His side was riven,
He gave His life-blood for even me.”
I once heard a sermon illustration that portrayed a young boy who got in trouble in school one day. This was back in the day when a student could be paddled by his teacher.
The young boy was small in frame and somewhat frail. So when the teacher called him up to receive his punishment, an older student raised his hand and spoke up. He was a larger, more muscular young man and he couldn’t bear to see his friend punished with a paddling. So he asked his teacher if he could take the place of his young friend. Because punishment had to be carried out, the teacher gave it some thought and agreed. The older young man went to the front and took the punishment for his young friend.
That is a simple illustration of justification. Jesus willingly took our place so that we would not have to pay for our sin before a Holy God. Sin had to be dealt with, but God dealt with our sin by giving His only begotten Son. Jesus suffered and took our place. He was the suffering Servant Isaiah wrote about.
I would like to share one final thought with you. The illustration I just shared can’t even begin to do justice to what God did to justify us. One word in Isaiah’s description has always broken my heart. It is Isaiah 53:5.
In the NIV, it describes it this way, “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, by His wounds we are healed.” Jesus was crushed for our sins. Do you understand? We will spend forever and eternity trying to comprehend how much He suffered and the depth of His love for you and me. Praise His name! B&R