“The Lord hath laid on Him — the iniquity of us all!” Is.53:6 “For He hath made Him to be sin for us…” 2Co.5;21 “Who His own self — bare our sins — in His own body — on the tree…” 1Pe.2:21
In these terse statements of holy scripture — from three different men — Isaiah, Paul and Peter — there is reference being made to the one and the same person — the Lord Jesus Christ. And, that which is being referred in regards to Him is the eternal purpose — of the eternal three-in-one, holy and almighty God! This is referring — specifically — to when God the Father and God the Holy Spirit — literally “cut”– in the person and work of God the Son — the — from everlasting unto everlasting — covenant — to eternally save all His loved and chosen ones “in Christ” [Eph.1;1-3] .
Let’s reflect and meditate upon these three texts — written by these three different men. Let’s begin with Peter’s first. Peter was an eyewitness of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. He could bare testimony to what had actually happened at Calvary. The Holy Spirit revealed to Him — that what He actually saw was when God the Father made Christ Jesus, the Savior the owner and the bearer — in His own body — of all our sins — on His own cross — at Calvary. His death was truly an holy and eternally atoning death! His death was divinely directed and approved — by Triune God!
Paul’s statement dogmatically clarifies the gospel grace truth — that Christ’s death was a substitutionary death. As you may recall, the whole of 2Co.5:21 says: “For He hath made Him to be sin for us — who knew no sin — that we might be made the righteousness of God — in Him!” What a perfectly wonderful transaction of substitution was historically made on that day by the determinate counsel of the most high God!
Finally, Isaiah’s statement — because it was prophetically revealed and written over seven centuries before the actual time that the eternal, incarnate Son of God would historically come to pass — is perhaps the most remarkable! Isaiah is the only one of the three who gives us a graphic description our crucified Lord and Savior. We know, therefore, that what He wrote was entirely by — and because of — divine revelation! But, like Peter and Paul — Isaiah was granted a revelatory realization of the purpose of the Savior’s death, viz., to eternally redeem His people from their sins. He explicitly says: “the Lord hath laid on Him — the iniquity of us all”. Note the tense of the verb. He saw that the Lord — had already caused it happen — our sins — and our Savior — to meet! How wonderful is that? Because the Lord Jesus Christ was (and, still is — thanks to His resurrection) the eternal Son of God — all the sins and iniquities — of all the eternally loved and chosen children of God — were, in essence, taken away — from eternity — in eternity — and for eternity! Hence, does Rev.13:8 refer to the Book of Life as: “the Book of Life — of the Lamb slain — from the foundation of the world!” Praise the wonderful name of our Lord!
– For Christ’s Glory Only!
John Carpenter
