Christ’s Sorrow And Reward

Reading: Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
Text: Isaiah 53:10-11
- Written over 700 years before Christ fulfills the prophecies.
- Isaiah speaks with all these details of what Christ will be, His ministry and what He will do for us.
- We will focus on a couple of verses
"Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:10-11, ESV)
What is the real meaning of the death of Christ?
- Many churches focus on these things when talking about Christ's death on the cross - His innocence, His suffering & pain, His love for sinners, etc.
These are all true but fall short of the real reason He died.
- The suffering of Christ is imposed on Him by the Father. This may be shocking to hear for some but nevertheless the truth. The crucifixion is an act of God.
"It is the will of the Lord to crush Him..."
Proverbs 17:15 says, "He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD."
This is where the tension comes because we know that we are all sinners who have been justified and, Christ, the innocent, has been condemned.
But it is this: Christ stood on behalf of a sinful people taking the wrath of the Father that was to be poured on them. On the other hand, we stand in Christ who was innocent and sinless. There has been a transfer (imputation) and justice has been perfectly served.
God wanted to save sinners but He also is a just and righteous God. He cannot wink at sin nor sweep it under the rug. How did He show justice and mercy? It is by Jesus' sacrifice.
Romans 3:23:26 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
- the pain of the cross is not the main reason for Christ's sorrow. He is the man of sorrows because He comes under the wrath of God. Christ on the cross saved us from God Himself (and His punishment).
Romans 5:8-10, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.'
What is the true meaning of the resurrection?
- the main point of resurrection is that Christ may receive His reward that He earned by His obedience.
Philippians 2:8 says, "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth"
- what Christ's reward is YOU. The ones He has given His righteousness to, the ones He saved, the ones He reconciled to the Father are YOU.
Look upon the One who endured great suffering and worship Him.