Isaiah 53:7-9 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did
not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression
and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For
he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my
people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with
the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit
in his mouth.
Comment
Jesus said, "The Son of Man must suffer many
things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and
be killed, and be raised the third day." Luke 9:22 It was for such a purpose He came into the world. He said, "Now
My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this
hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your
name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will
glorify it again." John 12:27,28 He was a willing sacrifice to die for the sins of the world so that God would be appeased. Concerning His imminent death, "not My will, but Yours, be done." Lk 22:42
This is an essential aspect of the gospel as Paul wrote, "Now,
brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which
you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you
are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise,
you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you
as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures ..." 1Cor 15:1-4 Yet it is
this concept which is a stumbling block to many, particularly a
stumbling block to Muslim. For the Koran denies Christ's death and
resurrection as testified to by eyewitnesses recorded in the New
Testament and as such the "Jesus" of the Koran is not the Jesus of the
Bible.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by
becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who
is hung on a tree."Galatians 3:13 Though he was not actually accursed of God, seeing as he suffered as an innocent victim, as also the one next to him testified, "We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong" Luke 23:41 But
he was publicly reckoned accursed and a sinner. That was the public
reputation he had and which he need to have for them to crucify him,
though the reality was he was innocent. And he took upon himself
other signs of those often reckoned accursed by God, such as dying a
shameful
death being reckoned a criminal abandoned by this associates. He also
died
without having been married, having no offspring to speak of to carry on
his legacy. Such a condition was reckoned accursed by the Jews.
But since his resurrection Christ's death has been honored by Christians
throughout generations. And many yearn to die well in the likeness of Christ's
death. The apostle Paul expresses the yearning of his own heart saying,
"that
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of
His sufferings, being conformed to His death"Php 3:10 Thus
conditions which were once considered indicative of the accursed are now
considered indicative of the blessed.