4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 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. (Isaiah 53:4–6, ESV)
After the Vietnam War, a United States military officer commented to a North Vietnamese officer that the United States had won all the battles. The North Vietnamese officer replied, “That may be so, but it is also irrelevant.” If you recount history, you will remember that the United States fought this conflict winning every battle, inflicting tremendous casualties on the enemy, but ended up withdrawing all forces. The ultimate result of the United States withdraw was that North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam. The problem was that the United States fought valiantly but failed to achieve complete victory.
A country wages war on many fronts. In Vietnam, the United States waged a war on not only the front of South Vietnam, but also on the political front at home. While the United States forces did valiantly in the combative front of Vietnam, they lost on the political and home front. The point is this. For true victory the victor must win the conflict on every front.
Thus far in the book of Isaiah we have seen a picture of the Messiah primarily as a glorious conquering King who will reign over a kingdom of righteousness. Isaiah records that the Messiah will come, conquer the nation’s oppressing enemies, putting the unrighteous to shame, and will establish a reign of righteousness, justice and peace. Yet if the battle stopped here victory would be incomplete. One problem would remain. What would remain is the problem of sin.
Sin was the root of the nation’s problem in the first place. Their propensity to grow cold towards God, their propensity to follow idols, and their propensity to be self-sufficient, led them to a myriad of unnecessary struggles with foreign nations. Without victory over sin there would not be complete victory. No Messianic reign would be possible.
In Isaiah 52:13-53:12 we see the battle plan of the Messiah to defeat sin once and for all. The Messiah would personally fight the battle and defeat sin, achieving complete victory for all of us. He would do this by going to the cross and taking upon Himself our transgressions. This is the picture that Isaiah gives us. It is that of the Suffering Messiah.
Why could mortal man not fight and win this battle for himself? Well, history shows us that man has never been able to conquer sin. Israel could never do it. We cannot do it. The reason is the fact that there is none “righteous, no, not one.” This means that all are unrighteous and unrighteousness cannot ever defeat unrighteousness. Only righteousness can defeat unrighteousness and only Christ is righteous.
Therefore, to win this battle over sin Jesus Christ the Righteous One needed to fight for us by taking upon Himself the penalty of sin. Isaiah wrote that He bore“our griefs and carried our sorrows,” that He was “smitten by God, and afflicted,” “pierced for our transgressions,” “crushed for our iniquities,” and much more. Christ bore the battle scars to gain the victory over sin that we could never win ourselves. I hope you might read the entire of Isaiah chapters 52-53 and consider the complete victory that Christ has won for us.
Renewing the Heart 