Articles
The Man Of Sorrows (part 2)
“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…” (Isaiah 53:3). How much sorrow do we have to bear in our lives? Can any of us truly say that we are “a man of sorrows?” No matter how hard we think our lives are, no amount of tribulation can compare to the suffering of our Lord, both on and off the cross. In His life, Jesus bore the weight of knowing that the Jews would be destroyed in only one generation (Matthew 23:36). He carried the burden of sorrow, of rejection by His own people, and the unappreciative masses of Jews who flocked to Him one moment, and turned on Him the next. In His death, He suffered great shame and agony. The pain is almost indescribable, and incomparable to anything that we have to experience in this land of peace and prosperity. From kids to adults, from rich to poor, our problems (school, bullies, arguments with siblings, broken bones, ongoing health difficulties, financial problems) do not measure up to the weight of carrying the world’s sins.
“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (53:5). This is a very significant verse to the Christian because it explains, quite clearly, why we have the opportunity to be saved. Because Jesus Christ offered Himself up for us, we are free from the eternal penalty of our transgressions. Notice the way the four phrases in this verse are worded – it was not for His own transgressions, His own iniquities, His own well-being, or His own healing that all of these trials befell Jesus Christ. Rather, it was for ours. All of the sins that we commit are deserving of a punishment, but none of us have to bear the ultimate price of sin if we obey Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:10 says, “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all.”
“By His scourging we are healed…” (53:5). Consider 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” Also see 1 Peter 2:24, “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds, you were healed.”
