“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 53:6

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way …” the Bible says. All of us are, by nature, like lost and wandering sheep who have turned away from our true Shepherd and Maker. We have each turned aside to go our own way.

What an accurate description of mankind! Instead of following the LORD God and living in accord with His perfect will and design for us, we follow our own will and desire, go our own way and direction, and rebel against God and His Word. Instead of loving God and living for Him, we love ourselves and do as we please. Instead of listening to God’s commandments and obeying them, we shut our ears, justify our sins, and seek to establish our own compromising values in the place of His absolute truth.

Lost, wandering, and scattered sheep, each going in a different direction, well describes our world, with people wandering here and there and looking for life, happiness, and fulfillment in everything but the LORD God who created them.

“… And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” God took all our sins and all our guilt and punished them in the innocent sufferings and death of His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ! Our sins and iniquities were placed upon Jesus, and He was punished in our stead.

That is why darkness covered the earth as Jesus hung there on the cross. And that is why Jesus cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which is to say, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46).

Though Jesus died an agonizing and horrible death on the cross because of our turning away from God and sinning against Him, the beauty in this is that all of our sins and all of our guilt have been punished in Christ Jesus. “It is finished!” Jesus cried (John 19:30). The debt of our sins is paid in full!

Therefore, through repentance and faith in Jesus, our Messiah and Savior, we can have forgiveness and life everlasting! Instead of being judged and condemned for our own sins, God judged and condemned His own holy and innocent Son and offers and gives to you and me, through faith in Christ Jesus, pardon and peace with Him. What could be more beautiful to the lost and condemned sinner?

Because Jesus suffered our just punishment and paid in full for our sins and the sins of the whole world, the gates of heaven have been opened to us. Through faith in Jesus, we can have the assurance that on the day we die, we, like the penitent thief on the cross, shall go to be with Him in paradise (cf. Luke 23:43)!

Dearest Jesus, we, like lost sheep, have turned from following You and have gone our own way and sinned against You. Thank You for bearing on the cross the just punishment for our sins and iniquities that we might be pardoned and forgiven through faith in Your name. Grant us forgiveness and life with You in Your eternal kingdom. Amen.

[Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they struck Him with their hands. Pilate then went out again and said to them, ‘Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.’ Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the Man!’ Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’” John 19:1-6a

For what crime was Jesus guilty and deserving of death? The chief priests and a majority of the Jewish council had determined He should die and arrested Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, but then, after Jesus’ arrest, they met to come up with charges against Him and could not find any agreeing witnesses against Him.

When Jesus, placed under oath, admitted to being the Son of God and the promised Messiah, they considered Him guilty of blasphemy and deserving of death but needed a different charge in their attempts to convince Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, to execute Jesus, so they said Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews and opposed paying taxes to Ceasar, contrary to Jesus’ own words (cf. Matt. 22:15-22; 26:63-66; Luke 23:1-2; John 18:33-38).

Yet, after examining Jesus, Pilate repeatedly said, “I find no fault in Him.” Jesus admitted to coming into the world to establish a spiritual kingdom made up of all who heard His words of truth and believed. But He was not seeking to overthrow Rome or establish a worldly kingdom. And Jesus’ admission that He was the Messiah, the Son of God, who would establish an everlasting kingdom and judge this world on the last day, was not blasphemy; He spoke the truth!

So, what was really going on when He was hated and condemned by His own people and rulers and then found innocent but still crucified by the Roman governor? The Old Testament Scriptures explain it.

In Isaiah 53:5-6, we read: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 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.”

Jesus was not condemned and put to death for any fault in Him — He was, in fact, without sin and holy in His thoughts, desires, words, and deeds (cf. Heb. 4:15; 2 Cor. 5:21). We, on the other hand, are like wayward sheep. Instead of hearing God’s Word and living according to His perfect will, we all go astray. We turn aside from following God, our true and faithful Shepherd, and go our own way and do our own thing.

But our gracious and merciful God, not desiring to condemn us, laid the guilt and condemnation of all our sins upon the holy and sinless Son of God and punished Him in our stead when He suffered and died on the cross so that we might look to Him in faith and obtain God’s mercy and pardon and receive, instead of eternal death and damnation, forgiveness for all our sins and eternal life in communion with our God and Maker.

Earlier in His ministry, Jesus had told Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews who became a disciple of Jesus: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

Though innocent and without sin, Jesus was condemned to die and lifted up on the cross so that you and I might acknowledge our wayward ways and look to Him and His sacrifice on the cross for mercy and forgiveness and receive, instead of the death and condemnation we deserve, the eternal joys of heaven.

Grant, O Lord, that I see Jesus’ innocence and look in faith to Him and His death on the cross as my substitute so that I may receive Your pardon, forgiveness, and eternal life in communion with You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5

As Isaiah prophesied some 700 years before the birth of Messiah Jesus, He bore and carried in His sinless body the curse of our sins against the LORD God. He bore our griefs and sicknesses. He carried our pains and sorrows.

Yet the people of His day, and especially the religious leaders of Israel, viewed the sufferings and death He endured as the just punishment of God upon Him for His claims to be the promised “Son of man” (Daniel 7:13-14), the Christ, the very Son of God and Savior of the world (cf. Matthew 26:63ff.). And even yet today, many still view His execution as just because of His messianic claims.

But the real reason for His wounding (literally, his piercing) was our transgression of God’s holy commandments. We have not kept God’s holy and perfect will. We have transgressed God’s commandments in our thoughts, desires, words, and deeds. He was bruised and crushed — even forsaken by God the Father — upon the cross because He was bearing in His sinless body the just punishment for your sins, my sins, and the sins of the whole world (cf. Matthew 27:46).

It is as the old hymn states: “The sinless Son of God must die in sadness; the sinful child of man may live in gladness; man forfeited his life and is acquitted — God is committed” (Herzliebster Jesu, Johann Heermann, Tr. Catherine Winkworth).

The chastisement — the punishment — that we deserved on account of our sins was laid upon Him that we might be pardoned of God and forgiven. In Jesus and through His innocent sufferings and death in our stead, we have forgiveness for all our sins and peace with God our Father. The stripes we deserved were laid upon His back, and because He suffered the punishment we deserved on account of our sins, we are healed and made whole, forgiven, and cleansed!

As the Apostle John writes: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. … We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 1:7; 2:1-2).

While the world passed by the cross of Jesus, seeing only the judgment of God or that of a cruel Roman empire upon a Jewish Rabbi who dared to challenge the existing religious system of the day, Jesus, the very Son of God and promised Messiah and Savior, was suffering and dying to make atonement for the sins of the world. He was paying the price for your sins and mine that we might look to Him in faith and have pardon and peace and live forever with God our Maker!

Jesus, Son of God and Savior of the world, thank You for bearing in Your sinless body the sufferings and death I deserve because of my sins and transgressions. Grant to me pardon and forgiveness and a place in Your everlasting kingdom. Amen.

[Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’ And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, ‘I find no fault in Him at all.’” John 18:33-38

Jesus was charged and put to death under the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, as being “the King of the Jews.” This was the charge brought by the Jewish leaders, and this was the inscription on His cross. But was Jesus “the King of the Jews”?

Pontius Pilate asked Jesus that very question (v. 33), but Jesus’ answer to being a king and having a kingdom revealed a wholly different type of kingship and kingdom: “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice’” (John 18:36-37).

Jesus’ kingdom is not a worldly kingdom; it is a spiritual kingdom, the kingdom described in Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream regarding the kingdoms of this world being supplanted by a coming heavenly kingdom, recorded in Daniel 2:44: “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

The establishment of this kingdom and Jesus’ rule over the subjects of this kingdom will not be by earthly weapons and power. Instead, it will be through the preaching of the truth revealed in God’s Word. Those who are of the truth — who by the grace of God are chosen out of this world — will hear Jesus’ voice and believe the truth (cf. v. 37; John 8:31-32; Eph. 1:3-14; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; 1 John 1:5–2:2). They will believe the Word of God which tells them of their utter sinfulness and guilt before God; and they will believe that through faith in Jesus — who is “the way, the truth, and the life” and the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world — they have forgiveness for all their sins and life everlasting (John 14:6; cf. John 1:29; 1 John 2:2).

The world cannot now see or understand this kingdom or Jesus’ kingship, but those who are born again from above — born not of the flesh but of water and the Spirit, those who trust in Christ Jesus as their Savior and Lord and are baptized in His name, becoming partakers of the new covenant of mercy and forgiveness established through the shedding of Jesus’ holy and precious blood — are a part of this everlasting kingdom and have an eternal inheritance awaiting them in heaven (cf. John 3:3ff.; Gal. 3:26-29; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Pet. 1:3ff.).

O Dearest Jesus, our Savior and King, grant that we hear and believe the truth, trusting in You for our salvation and submitting to Your rule over us through Your holy Word. Amen.

[Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” Isaiah 53:1-3

Who believes what the Scriptures say of Jesus? Who believes that He is the long-promised Messiah and the Savior of sinful mankind? Writing some 700 years before the birth of Messiah Jesus, Isaiah the prophet spoke of His coming, His sufferings, death, and resurrection, and of His rejection by the people. And these words still hold true today!

Jesus, the arm of the LORD, the promised Messiah and Savior of the world, grew up before the LORD God humbly, “as a tender plant,” and in an unexpected time and place, being born of a virgin named Mary and growing up in Nazareth of Galilee “as a root out of a dry ground.” His form and appearance were nothing unusual so as to draw people to Him or permit them to recognize Him as the Messiah. And, as Jesus carried out His ministry, calling upon all to repent and believe the good news of forgiveness and life in Him, He was despised and rejected.

The religious leaders of Israel hated Him and viewed Him as a threat to their system of worship and sacrifice. The religiously conservative Pharisees hated Him because He pointed out their inner transgressions and failures to keep God’s law by loving Him first and foremost and then also loving their neighbor as themselves. The liberal Sadducees hated Him, for He pointed out their unbelief and rejection of the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. Many of the common people recognized His great power and longed to see His miracles, but still, for the most part, they failed to recognize Him as the holy Son of God, come into this world a true man to save sinners.

And what is different today? Who believes and recognizes that this Jesus is the LORD God Himself in human flesh? Who comes to Him in repentance and trusts that in Him there is forgiveness and life everlasting?

The Jesus of the Bible is a threat to many of the religious leaders of our day, for He did not teach that we can get to heaven by our good deeds, our religious works and church services, by church membership, or by charitable contributions to worthy causes. Jesus still calls upon all to repent of their sinful ways and turn to Him in faith for forgiveness and eternal life!

The Jesus of the Bible is too merciful for many of the religiously conservative, for He associated with the worst of sinners and offered them forgiveness and life through faith in Him. On the other hand, He is too zealous for the truth for the religious liberals of our day, for He taught the absolute truth of Scripture and yielded not a jot or tittle of God’s Word to popular opinion, holding to the Genesis creation, a bodily resurrection, a final judgment, and a literal heaven and hell.

Though Jesus came into this world to take our place under God’s law, to bear our griefs and sorrows, and to suffer and die in our stead, He is still “despised and rejected of men.” We hide our faces from Him and neglect the great salvation He has won for us by His innocent sufferings and death on the cross.

Instead of taking the time to consider Jesus — who He is and what He has done for us — we value Him lightly and neglect the gracious gift of forgiveness and life which God desires to give us through Him. Instead of considering the pain and anguish He suffered for us when He bore the guilt and punishment for our sins, we turn our heads and walk away in apathy and unbelief.

Yes, the inspired words of Isaiah, the prophet, still hold true today, but, more importantly, they reveal to us the truth about who Jesus was and is. They point us to Jesus, the Messiah and Savior rejected by men. They tell us what He suffered in our stead to save us from the punishment we so deserve. They offer to us forgiveness and life through faith in Jesus’ name!

O dear Jesus, forgive me for not recognizing You for who You are and for all that You suffered in my stead that I might look to You in faith and have forgiveness for all my sins and life everlasting with You in heaven. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]