Title: Strikes by God (Lent Day 16 Sermon)
Smitten by God
Isaiah 53:4-6
4 Truly he has borne our sorrows and borne our sorrows; but we thought that he was chastised, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 He was pierced for our transgressions, and he was bruised for our iniquities. By his chastisement we have peace; by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricten, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 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. 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. (NKJV)
An event is located at the center of the Christian life of faith. The event actually happened. However, it is a once for all event that cannot be repeated. It is the event that the Son of God died on the cross.
The cross is central to the message of the New Testament. Without knowing the cross, we cannot understand God's message of salvation in the New Testament. Many people know the basic facts about the death of Jesus Christ. 「The Passion of the Christ」 showed the death of Jesus Christ in a very provocative screen. There are still scenes that are too cruel to be erased from our heads.
However, not many people know why he had to be whipped like that, and why he died that way. Theologians use the word “atonement” to explain what God did on the cross. Theologians define the atonement as “the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ”. However, non-theologians do not have to read all the difficult treatises written by theologians to understand the cross. Knowing just a few Bible verses is enough to understand the cross.
It was not because of his own sins that Jesus suffered on the cross. He suffered for our sins. He took the pain we deserve, and the sorrow we deserve. He was pierced for our transgressions and wounded for our wickedness.
Today's reading of Isaiah 53 is controversial among theologians, but it was written around 600-700 B.C. At a later date, it may have been written during the return from the Babylonian captivity. If so, it is possible that it was written before 539 B.C., when Babylon fell and Persia entered. At that time, God had a prophet named Isaiah to write about the sufferings of Jesus Christ. It is written about the suffering and death of Jesus, 5-600 or 6-700 years before he died. How could this be possible without believing that the Bible is the inspired Word of God?
Who Killed Jesus? Did the Jews kill them? Or were they killed by the Roman soldiers who pierced Jesus' side with a spear? There is a funny story. In the past, there was something called baptismal questions and answers. To be baptized, you must meet the pastor and ask questions. When a pastor asks a question, you must answer it. An old woman was baptized. However, I am not the only one who is worried about this grandmother's question and answer. The daughter-in-law said, “Mother, the pastor will surely ask who killed Jesus. Then, you must answer that I killed it.” Not surprisingly, the pastor asked the grandmother, “Who killed Jesus?” I asked. A funny episode has been told that this grandmother was so happy that her daughter-in-law told her, “My daughter-in-law killed her”.
“Are you Jews or Roman soldiers? Or else, since they say that Jesus died for our sins, then did we all kill Jesus?” Anyway, Jesus died, and there must be someone who caused Jesus to die. However, if we look at the words of Isaiah 53 today, we find a very shocking message. It means that God beat Jesus, tore him, and caused him to suffer. “We esteemed Him stricten, smitten by God” comes out. “We thought that he was struck by God.”
Everyone, take a good look at today's message. “He was pierced for our transgressions, and he was so bruised for our iniquities, by which we were all healed, that we thought he had been beaten by God.” So, we were wrong. Yes. We got it wrong. It was purely because of our sins and our transgressions that He, who was innocent, suffered so much, that He bore our sorrows and bore our sorrows, and we do not know that, and He He thought he had been beaten.
On the other hand, if we meditate on these words more deeply, it is true that Jesus was beaten by God. “He was stricten and smitten by God” is correct. Why did God strike his son? Does it make sense that God beat his son?
Because God is the judge of the whole world. Only God can give a just punishment for our sins. No other sacrifice would have been enough to forgive our sins. No sacrifice can take the place of our sins. No lamb without blemish could have forgiven our sins. The best way to forgive our sins was for Jesus, the Son of God, to become a lamb without blemish and become a sacrifice to God.
what do you mean? In the Old Testament times, people offered sacrifices to ask God for forgiveness. But the offering was not perfect. So they had to make a sacrifice every year. However, Jesus, the Son of God, became the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
A righteous God cannot simply forgive our sins. The punishment for our sins must be paid. However, no one could take the place of our sins. God has chosen to bear the pain on his own. God, who had previously made himself known to Abraham as the God of “Jehovah Jireh,” decided to prepare the sacrifice himself again this time. While suffering his own pain, he prepared his own son as a sacrifice.
This means that our sins are that great. Our sins were so great that even if we offered all the sacrifices in the world to God, our sins could never be forgiven. At the same time, this means that God loves us that much. God never gave up on us. God, who had his beloved Son crucified, took us as his sons instead.
The Apostle Paul seems to have had that thought while meditating on the cross of Jesus. Explaining Christ's death on the cross to Christians living in Rome, he said, "For those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8: 29)” he said. He used the term “firstborn” here. Because of Christ's death on the cross, we become sons of God and brothers with Christ.
There is another word to meditate on while thinking of the cross of Christ. That's what Romans 5:8, 5:10 says. “God demonstrates his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us… … If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” “God demonstrates his own love for us.” We had no remedies. He was still in sin, with no way to escape from it. God Himself has prepared everything for our salvation. We have done nothing for our salvation. That's why we call God's grace "free grace". In the face of this free grace of God, there is nothing we can do but praise and give thanks for that grace.
We were all like sheep lost. We each went our separate ways. This was our sinful life, and it was our destiny to each go their own way. How can we have our sins forgiven, and how can we be reconciled to God? Everyone, as you read the Bible, did you pay attention to the words “He is without sin” and “He is without blemish” among the words about Jesus? Why does the Bible say that the Son of God is blameless? Why is it that He, the Son of God, is said to be without sin? It is because he who is without blemish and without any sin can take our place of our sins as the Lamb of God.
Now I have one last thing to tell you. Jesus Christ bore our sins on the cross. This means that when we believe in Jesus Christ, His death on the cross applies to us. All our sins are fully paid for by His death. His death leaves us fully forgiven of our sins. Our sins are covered forever, and the “righteousness of God” that He accomplished on the cross is given to us as a gift. We must praise this wonderful biblical truth. We should praise this wonderful God's redeeming grace in Christ. And, we should be thankful for this wonderful saving grace that God has accomplished in Christ.