GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 14 ~ ~ Isaiah 53:10 ~ ~ “The Lord was pleased to bruise him: He has put him to grief.”

Continuing excerpts from Chapter 6 of John Piper’s book.

“The Lord was pleased to bruise him: HE has put him to grief” Jesus was not swept away by the wrath of uncontrolled men. He was bruised by his Father.

Or as Peter said: “Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Why did God bruise his Son and bring him to grief? He did it to resolve the dissonance between his love for his glory and his love for sinners.

We get a glimpse of this in Isaiah 53:6 “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” Notice two things. Again it is the Lord who is at work: It is the Lord who laid the iniquity on him. Then notice that the issue is INIQUITY, which is just another word for sin.

The Son was bruised because God-dishonoring sin could not be ignored. Why couldn’t it be ignored? Why couldn’t God just let bygones be bygones? Because God loves the honor of his name! He will not act as though sin, which belittles his glory, didn’t matter.

It cannot simply be swept under the rug of the universe, as though nothing awesome were at stake. The judge of all the earth will do right –Genesis 18:25. he will judge the world in righteousness –Psalm 9:8.

So God the Father makes an agreement with his Son that he will demonstrate to all the world the infinite worth of the Father’s glory. How? By taking the punishment and suffering that our sin deserved.

Isaiah 53:5 is more explicit:

“He was wounded for OUR transgressions, he was bruised for OUR iniquities”

Similarly verse 12 says:

“he bore the sins of MANY and made intercession for TRANSGRESSORS.”

Verse 8 also says:

“he was stricken for the TRANSGRESSIONS OF MY PEOPLE,” while verse 9 makes plain that the bruising was not because of the Son’s own sin: “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although HE HAD DONE NO VIOLENCE, AND THERE WAS NO DECEIT IN HIS MOUTH.”

It was not for his own sin that the Father bruised the son. It was because he wanted to show us mercy. He wanted to forgive, heal, save, and rejoice over us with loud singing.

But he is righteous. That means his heart was filled with love for the infinite worth of his own glory. But we were sinners. That means that our hearts were filled with God-belittling affections.

So to save sinners, and at the same time magnify the worth of his glory, God lays our sin on Jesus and abandons him to the shame and slaughter of the cross.

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