Opposed For Our Well-Being - Isaiah 53 part 3

"He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He did not open His mouth;

like a lamb that is led to slaughter,

and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,

so He did not open His mouth.

By oppression and judgment He was taken away;

and as for His generation, who considered

that He was cut off of the land of the living.

For the transgressions of my people

to whom the stroke was due?

(vs 7-8)

This morning I honestly do not own words to speak of the grandeur of these things. Thankfully Mr. Henry does.

"Though He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth, no, not so much as to plead His own innocency, but freely offered Himself to suffer and die for us.

"This takes away the scandal of the cross, that He voluntarily submitted to it, for great and holy ends. By His wisdom He could have evaded the sentence, and by His power He could have resisted the execution; but thus it was written, and thus it behoved Him to suffer.

This commandment He received from His Father, and therefore was led as a lamb to the slaughter. As a sheep is dumb before the shearers, nay before the butchers, so He opened not His mouth, which denotes His cheerful compliance with His Father's will. By this will we are sanctified, His making His own soul, His own life, an offering for our sin.

"The consequence of this to us is our peace and healing. The chastisement of our well-being was upon Him. He is our peace (Eph 2:14). Christ was in pain that we might be at ease, knowing that through Him our sins are forgiven us. Hereby we have healing; for by His stripes we are healed.

"Sin is not only a crime it is a disease, which tends directly to the death of our souls and for which Christ provided the cure. By His stripes He purchased for us the Spirit and the grace of God to mortify our corruptions, which are the distempers of our souls, and to put our souls in a good state of health, that they may be fit to serve God.

The dominion of sin is broken in us and we are fortified against that which feeds the disease."

He willingly did this for us. He willingly did this for Lori - for the transgression of my people for whom the stroke was due? The wages of sin is death - He took my death upon Himself. "He was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised up because of our justification." (Rom 4:25)

How I needed these words this morning. Apply them to my soul and my mind O Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Needful of continued healing,

Lori