Isaiah 53: Surely He Has Born Our Grief

Surely He Has Born our Grief: Isaiah 53
What God Accomplished at the Cross

Read Isaiah 53
Usually on Palm Sunday I like to preach a message about Jesus’ triumphal entry. I think I’ve preached that every Sunday for about the last seven years. Then on Good Friday I preach Jesus’ humiliation and the following Sunday, his resurrection. But I decided to do it a little different this year. Because I reserve the meaning of his death for Good Friday, and not everyone comes to church on Good Friday, I miss a great opportunity every year to expound on the death of Jesus. So this morning I’m going to talk about what Jesus accomplished at the cross; that is, what did he bear when he bore my grief?

The key word when talking about the cross and what was accomplished there is atonement. Paul gives a good definition of the meaning of the atonement in Romans 5:8-11
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. …having now been justified by His blood… saved from wrath through Him. …reconciled to God through the death of His Son …saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through ...Jesus Christ….

But like every essential biblical doctrine, Satan has his counterfeits in which he distorts and disfigures what is clearly taught in scripture. As a result, many false teaching about the atonement have arisen in order to rob the Good News of the gospel of its being truly good news. Let’s look at some things that are falsely taught of the atonement:

I. What the Atonement is not

1. An Example
The first thing the atonement is not is that it is not simply an example. I say, ‘not simply’ because while it is true that the atonement is not just an example, it is intended to be an example.

For instance, Husbands are commanded in Ephesians 5 to “love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (v. 25). It’s pretty clear that Christ’s obedience unto the cross and his humility and longsuffering on the cross are exemplary to husbands in the Christ like manner in which we should suffer on behalf of our wives. But no one would ever assume that by suffering on behalf of our wives we are able in any way to accomplish what Christ accomplished on the cross.

Ephesians 5:22,27 goes on to say that Christ died, “…that He might sanctify and cleanse her… that He might present her spot[less]… that she should be holy and without blemish.” No husband can do that for his wife and it is utter idolatry for any woman to think of her husband in that manner. Your husband is not your saviour; your saviour, Jesus Christ, is what your husband aspires to be like.

Many who minimize the atonement to merely an example of obedience and love that believers must emulate often cite 1 Peter 2:21 as their key text, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps…”


The problem with limiting the atonement to simply an example is that it encourages people to think that they can not only duplicate what Christ did on the cross, but that they must duplicate it in order to be saved. This is works salvation and the Bible is clear in teaching that it is impossible for sinful men to atone for their own sins. Only an infinite God/Man can offer a sin that atones for the sins of all humanity while at the same time being infinite enough that it does not require an eternity in hell to accomplish that atonement.

If you read on in 1 Peter you will see that neither did Peter hold the example view of the atonement, for he writes in v. 24:
[Jesus] who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

2. Divine Child Abuse
Something else that the atonement is not is, it is not divine child abuse. Some so-called evangelicals are attempting to slander God by robbing the cross of it love and mercy and calling it divine child abuse. This is the view of Brian McLaren, a leading thinker in the Emergent Movement, in his book Generous Orthodoxy (which is neither generous nor orthodox).

God is not a vengeful, unjust, abuser of the innocent and defenseless.

How many here have ever suffered injustice and in your heart cried out for true and perfect justice? If our world can be characterized as anything, it is injustice. But God is wholly separate from this world and is the perfect expression of justice. If God does not give us the justice we not only cry out for, but also deserve, then He is not just. And our heart’s cry for true justice is sounding brass.
When God poured out His wrath on Jesus at the Cross, it was the perfect expression of anger and wrath and justice. But it was also the perfect expression of mercy and love and grace. Only Jesus could take the wrath of God on our behalf and live to talk about it.

3. A Mistake
Another thing that the atonement was not is that it was not a mistake. Nor was it plan B after plan A had been thwarted by Satan in the garden.

Jesus was not simply a victim of circumstances. His death… his substitutionary death was planned before the foundations of the world. Revelation 13:8 calls him the “Lamb slain from the foundations of the world.” Our text this morning certainly depicts the violence and the intention of Christ’s death. Verse 4 says He was stricken and smitten by God; crushed, wounded, chastised, and striped (repeated blows) in verse 5. Verse 8 says he divided from the land of the living. And verse 10 tells us that it was the will of Yahweh to cause him this grief. It literally means that the Lord was pleased to crush him.

Jesus was never in the dark about his fate. Three times he predicted his coming death: “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day” (Mk 9:31).




4. Universal
The fourth thing that the atonement is not is it is not for each and every person. The Bible does not teach a universal atonement. It teaches that Christ died for believers. In other words, in order to benefit from the cross, we must believe in Jesus Christ and repent of our sins.

Jesus’ atonement accomplishes its task and not a drop of his blood is wasted on unbelievers. It is efficacious and effectual. Unbelievers certainly benefit from a type of common grace; living in a world that, though deserving the wrath of God, perseveres for a time and even prospers and experiences goodness, while God gathers his church from among them.

II. What the Atonement Is
No let’s quickly look at what the atonement did accomplish. I am only going to introduce them here and on Friday I will expand on them.

1. Sin Bearing
The First thing that Jesus did at the cross in the atonement was that he bore our sins. That’s what Isaiah is saying in verse 4, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Verse 5 says it was our transgressions iniquities for which he was wounded and crushed. Transgressions and iniquities are synonymous here; they mean our rebellion (which began in the garden) and our guilt. Verse 6, the Lord has laid the iniquity of us all on him



2. Grief Bearing
The next thing that Jesus bore is our grief. This is not just the theological sense of grief in which we are grieved by sin; but the grief of sorrow and despair and mourning that lost people must experience. What hopelessness and despair there must be to live in a world where there is no hope, no certainty, no assurance. When they suffer injustice; there is no promise that a just God will one day set things right; when they suffer affliction of disease and human frailty, there is no hope that one day our resurrected bodies will be raised in perfection like Christ’s resurrection body; when they lose a loved one in a tragic death or to old age, there is no assurance that they will one day see them again. They bear much grief.

But praise be to God that Christ Jesus bore our grief- he took it from us and carried it to the pit of hell and poured our grief into the flames to be consumed and never to be restored. In exchange of our grief, he has given us joy and hope and assurance and security. That was won for us in the atonement.

3. Sufficient
Finally, Jesus’ death was sufficient. There is nothing more to be done. It did everything. No more acts of contrition, no more penance, no more purging our sin in purgatory, no more religious acts.

By His stripes we are healed (v. 6). The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand (v. 10). There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!