Isaiah 53:7 – As a Lamb to the Slaughter
Here is the Spirit of God enabling Isaiah to write of Christ’s life in general, but in particular from the point where the mob comes to take Him at Gethsemane until His crucifixion the next day. He was taken, and He willingly went, taken before the Jews, taken before the Gentiles, judged and accursed by them all, and then judged and accursed by His Father in heaven there at the cross, oppressed and afflicted indeed. Why did He have to do this? It was because He took to himself the guilt of His people’s iniquity. Jesus lived perfectly and then died as a sinner, so that we who have lived imperfectly, really horribly, actually might live as those who were righteous. We’re justified by what Jesus, the lamb of God, did for us at the cross long ago.
Jesus was taken to death. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. Jesus put up no more resistance to His own slaughter than does a lamb. He could have destroyed them all. He showed his power and ability to elude them, to be rid of them. Yet willingly He went, because He was yielded to His Father’s will. We do not hear Him questioning His Father’s understanding of things, His Father’s goodness, His Father’s right to do this. There is no questioning whatsoever. He opens not His mouth. He goes before the Sanhedrin. He said nearly nothing until He was forced under oath. He goes before Pilate under the judgment of the Gentile magistrate. He is shuttled off to Herod under the Jewish civil magistrate, back to Pilate again. And they are all marveling, all astonished, that they cannot get a word out of Him. He will not defend himself. He will not let justice be deferred. Rather, He’s like a sheep being shorn, quietly taking it. Even at the cross He only says what is necessary. He endures with hardly a word there, only saying that which is necessary for us, His people, to be assured of His atoning work there.
For you and for me, He willingly went. And it was that love for you, His people, for you, Christian, that put Him on the cross, that kept Him on the cross till the last farthing was paid, till He was able to say with joy, joy that it was accomplished, joy that He had done it, joy that He had redeemed.
Question
- How does this passage tell us about Jesus?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that Christ willingly went to the cross for you.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.