WWUTT 2114 All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray (Isaiah 53:4-6)

Isaiah 53 -6 says all of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Isaiah, we've been in chapter 53, this glorious chapter that reveals to us the wonder of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Even though we are 2 ,000 years since Jesus lived, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, yet this chapter of the

Old Testament, 700 years before Jesus' earthly ministry, reveals to us so much about who he was and what he accomplished.

So we're taking this slowly, going through it three verses at a time. Last week we looked at verses 1 -3, this week it's 4 -6, and I'll read that far in the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground.

He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him.

Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried.

Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

The chastening for our peace fell upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way.

But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

Last week when we looked at verses 1 -3, we read about Jesus being a man of sorrows, how he was despised and forsaken by men.

And again, these things being prophesied centuries before Jesus' earthly ministry, and yet these things are talked about in the past tense as though they have already happened.

He was despised and forsaken, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

That wonderful hymn, Man of Sorrows, is one of my favorites. Not the more recent version that came out from Hillsong.

I don't care for that one. I'm talking the classic hymn that was written by Philip Bliss, who also wrote great songs like Jesus Loves Even Me and Wonderful Words of Life.

In Man of Sorrows, the first verse goes like this, Man of Sorrows, what a name for the

Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim, hallelujah, what a

Savior. And that's what we read about in this next section, verses 4 -6, the ruined sinners that Christ reclaimed.

In fact, this particular section is about the sufferings of Christ, and it's through His sufferings that we're saved.

We're looking at verses 4 -6 today, 7 -9 next week, but really 7 -9 also continues that description of the sufferings that Christ went through for us.

As we read about in 2 Corinthians 5 -21, for our sake He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

And so we read here in verse 4, surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows

He carried. Now, right away, whenever we read about griefs and sorrows, where does your mind go?

You think of sadness, right? Maybe depression, anxiety, all of the burdens that I feel because life is just weighing down on me.

People are, they betray me, the opportunities I thought I would have, I haven't had, and I've even been infirmed with many weaknesses, sicknesses, and diseases.

I've seen hardships galore, whatever that might happen to be for you, to which you would attribute your griefs and your sorrows.

But that's not what's being described here in Isaiah 53. The greatest griefs and sorrows that we will ever endure are the griefs that we feel because of our sin.

When you come to the realization that you have betrayed God and what you deserve for that, because you rebelled against God, because you broke

His law and you committed treason against the High King of the universe, what do you think you deserve for that?

What you deserve for that is judgment by the King of Kings. You deserve to be destroyed.

And because God is eternal, and there is no way that we can cover over the sins that we've committed against a holy

God, then the sentence that we deserve is eternal. You deserve to be eternally separated from God and under His wrath.

That's what you deserve. And realizing that, doesn't that fill you up with grief?

It's not just the person who realizes their sin who is grieved and full of sorrow.

You can see this in the world, even among people who don't believe in God. You see people that are burdened by guilt and sorrow over their sin.

They just may not realize that their sin is the cause of the depression that they feel.

They'll try to mask it and cover it up with prescription medications or even drugs, like illegal, illicit drugs, alcohol, maybe addictions in other ways, stuff that appeals to the flesh.

Maybe for them, it's jumping in and out of the beds of others that helps to mask that pain or cover it up.

And instead, they go from one sin to the next and just heap upon themselves more and more guilt, more and more purposelessness and sorrow when life has no meaning or significance.

These things that I have used, these pleasures that I have used to try to get something out of life, and I'm not getting anything out of life.

I feel like I need more of it to get the kind of high that I got the first time when I tried this. And that's with anything.

I'm not just talking about drugs. It can be sex or it can be greed.

It could be materialism, any of these things. A person feels like they need more and more of it to get the fix that they got the first time and it fills them up with grief, though they don't realize this is the reason for their depression, that they are trying to handle their sin on their own instead of coming to Christ who forgives our sin and makes us right before the

God whom we have all rebelled against. Consider what Psalm 32 says.

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered?

How blessed is the man whose iniquity Yahweh will not take into account and in whose spirit there is no deceit?

A man is blessed. When he knows, Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 32 goes on. When I kept silent about my sin, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained as with the heat of summer.

I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not cover up. I said,

I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah. Therefore, let every holy one pray to you at a time when you may be found.

Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. You are my hiding place.

You guard me from trouble. You surround me with songs of deliverance.

So you hear there how relieved, how at peace the man is who knows his sins are forgiven because he has put his faith and trust in Christ who paid the price for our sins.

So, our griefs he bore. Our sorrows he carried.

He didn't have to. We did not deserve it. He does it by his grace. Yet, as verse 4 goes on to say,

Isaiah 53 .4, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

In other words, when we saw what Jesus went through on our behalf for our sin, we thought he is getting that because he does not have the favor of God.

That's why this judgment is coming upon him. Not recognizing that Jesus laid his own life down for us in submission to the will of the

Father. Consider the way that the people there at the foot of the cross responded to Jesus as he was dying, saying, hey, call upon God to take you down off of that cross, right?

If you really are the son of God, he's going to come rescue you. And when Jesus called out, they said, hang on, hang on.

Maybe he's calling Elijah and they waited to see if Elijah would come and rescue him. All this mockery that was going on of Christ, believing that they were in the right and that God had abandoned him.

Jesus had committed this blasphemy, right? At least according to the high priest and the Pharisees, they believed that he had spoken blasphemously.

So here's the judgment of God coming upon him as punishment. But that was not the motivation at all.

That was not the reason for all of this. Jesus took our sin upon himself, willingly.

He did that for us. Indeed, he was being crushed by God, but it wasn't because he did anything wrong.

It's because we did something wrong. Jesus was without sin. Again, as I quoted from 2

Corinthians 5 21, he became sin who knew no sin. And we also read in Hebrews 4 15, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things like we are yet without sin.

And we also read in first Peter 2, 21 and 22, for to this you have been called since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

He who did no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, who being reviled did not revile in return while suffering, he did not issue any threats, but he kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that having died to sin, we might live to righteousness by his wounds.

You were healed for you were continually straying like sheep, but now we've returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

Sounds familiar, right? Peter is quoting right from Isaiah 53 verse five.

He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. And by the way, that line begins with, but.

So we just read at the end of verse four, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

But that wasn't the reason why he was dying. He was pierced through for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. It wasn't because he did anything wrong.

It was because we did something wrong. And Jesus paid the price for us.

He was pierced through with nails as he was nailed to that cross, pierced through his side with the spear after he died.

These things happen for our transgressions because we had sinned against God and what we deserved was judgment.

Yet Jesus gives himself for those whom the father would give to him as his inheritance.

Jesus paid the price with his life, pierced through for our transgressions, crushed by God for our iniquities.

The Romans and the Jews didn't crush him. The hand of God crushed him. Just like we read there in Psalm 32, your hand was heavy upon me.

So God is weighing down on the person who has sinned against him and has not confessed their sin.

So think about the crushing weight of all of our sins that were upon Christ, the sins of those that he would pay for past, present, and future, all those who would believe in him and trust on his name.

He took those sins upon himself and was crushed by God for them. What an incredible weight.

You feel weighed down and burdened by your sin when you feel guilty and you have not confessed.

So think about what Christ felt taking all those millions, billions of people's sins on himself when he died.

He was pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and the chastening for our peace fell upon him.

Chastening is a rebuke. It's a humbling, really. But to make for the way of peace,

Christ took this upon himself. We would not have been able to handle the rebuke of God.

The rebuke of God upon us for our sin would have resulted in our damnation. But Jesus dies for us, takes our chastening upon himself for our peace, and now we have peace with God, a peace that Paul describes in Philippians 4 as a peace that is beyond all understanding.

This is not the kind of peace that is without conflict as we know it in the world, right?

Maybe you consider your life peaceful because you own your own home, you own a car, I've got a job, the weather's nice, my kids are all getting along right now,

I don't have anything at work that is pressing against me. So right now, everything's going well,

I'm healthy, I'm at peace. That's generally the way that we measure peace. But the peace that we're talking about here, as Paul mentioned in Philippians 4, as we read here in Isaiah 53, we're talking about peace with God.

Jesus' death, his resurrection for our justification, Romans 4 .25,

has made peace with God for us. So now the judgment of God is no longer upon us.

We are not under his wrath, but we are the objects of his love and affection. We are not at enmity with God, we are friends of God, through Christ and what he did for us.

And we're talking specifically here about those who are in Christ Jesus. For as said in John 3 .36,

he who has the Son has life, he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

This is not peace upon all mankind. This is the peace of God that is upon those who believe in Jesus because he has paid for their sins.

Verse 6, this is just like what Peter quoted in 1 Peter 2, all of us like sheep have gone astray.

Each of us has turned to his own way. We've all gone our own way.

Every single one of us have rebelled against God, even those whom God had elected from before time began, from the foundation of the world, those whom

God had elected to be holy and blameless before him, as said in Ephesians 1, we would still be born under the federal headship of Adam under a curse and would grow up to sin and rebel against God.

We were by our natures rebels of God. We have all gone astray. We have all gone our own way.

That's every one of us. And yet Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

And this brings to the attention of the Hebrews that would have been reading this at this time, the sacrificial system, right?

Whenever a lamb was sacrificed, the head of the household would take the lamb to the priest. It would be put upon the altar.

The head of the household would place his hand on the lamb's head. The lamb would be slaughtered.

And that gesture of putting the hand on the head symbolized that the sins of him and the family would be transferred to this animal that was dying, being slaughtered, the life being given, the blood being spilled in his stead, in the sinner's stead.

Now, as Hebrews points out, the blood of bulls and goats was never enough to take away sin. So all of this was a type and a shadow of the lamb of God who would come to take away the sin of the world.

Just what John the Baptist said in John chapter one. And so reading here that we are all like sheep who have gone astray and each of us has turned to his own way.

What do we deserve? We deserve to be the ones who are slaughtered. But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

It's like it's been transferred. The sins don't come upon us as sheep, but instead upon the shepherd.

Now, I'm kind of mixing metaphors a little bit because, of course, Jesus is the lamb of God. He fulfills that sacrificial system.

But here in the case of the illustration that's being painted in Isaiah six, we're like sheep.

We deserve the judgment. But instead, Yahweh caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

Our great high priest is the one who has taken our sin.

So that we have the peace of God and by his wounds, we are healed.

Now understand the context of that. Isaiah 53 five does not mean as some of the prosperity preachers will claim as the word of faith heretics will will proclaim by his wounds, we are healed does not mean that because Jesus died for us, all of our infirmities are going to be healed and you should never be sick with anything.

That's not what that means. Our infirmities will be healed when we get to glory when we step through heaven's gates on that day and we are with God forever with new bodies.

That day we will be healed for of all of our infirmities. And in that sense, this statement certainly applies.

But again, we're talking about sin here. That's the picture. We have sinned. We deserve judgment, but Christ took it in our place.

So by his wounds, we are healed. It was by it was by his body being wounded on that cross for us that we've been healed of the disease of sin that afflicted us of the open wounds and sores that we had.

How disgusting we were because of our sin against a holy God. Jesus has cured all of that.

He's taken it all away. And by his wounds before God, we are made right.

We are holy. We are righteous, clothed in his righteousness that we might stand holy and blameless before him.

Praise God. Let me come back again to that that hymn, man of sorrows, guilty, helpless, lost were we.

Blameless lamb of God was he sacrificed to set us free.

Hallelujah. What a savior. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read here regarding what you had accomplished through Jesus Christ, our savior, by his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave because of his wounds, we are healed.

And so may it be as Peter rightly applied it in first Peter two, that we would walk in the manner of Christ that we would be dead to sin.

So we might live to righteousness for by his wounds, we are healed. We were continually straying like sheep, but now we have returned to the shepherd and overseer of our souls.

So teach us to walk in a way that is pleasing and honoring of you in imitation of Christ, our savior, who gave himself for us.

And it's in Jesus name we pray, amen. This has been when we understand the text of pastor

Gabriel Hughes for all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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