Born to Die For Us

Isaiah 53:1 through Isaiah 53:6 (RSV)

¹        Who has believed what we have heard?

          And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

²        For he grew up before him like a young plant,

          and like a root out of dry ground;

          he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him,

          and no beauty that we should desire him.

³        He was despised and rejected^ by men;

          a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

          and as one from whom men hide their faces

          he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴        Surely he has borne our griefs

          and carried our sorrows;

          yet we esteemed him stricken,

          smitten by God, and afflicted.

⁵        But he was wounded for our transgressions,

          he was bruised for our iniquities;

          upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,

          and with 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.

The shepherds who visited the baby Jesus were possibly those who watched over the sacrificial lambs. Perfect lambs, without spot or blemish, were used to make atonement for the sins of the people. These lambs visited the perfect infant, who, like all infants, was innocent of sin. This perfect infant grew to become a perfectly sinless man. This sinless man, like the spotless lambs, died to atone for your sins and mine.

My identity as a Christian ought to rests solely on the suffering of Jesus. If I try to add my suffering to Christ’s suffering, I, in fact, contribute nothing. If I think my suffering will aid in my salvation, I may run the risk of negating the all sufficient nature of Christ’s suffering. Our hymns give us good counsel in this regard. “Jesus Paid it all, All to him I owe, sin has left its crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.” “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” “There is a fountain, filled with blood, from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plugged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.”

Jesus Christ was born to die for the sins of those whom God as chosen. Our salvation is completely secured by the finished work of Jesus Christ, which  began with his birth and ended with his resurrection and ascension. All this is left is to gather his people and to end history with his second coming.

Christ has turned all our sunsets into dawns.

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215)

Christ is full and sufficient for all his people. He is bread, wine, milk, living waters, to feed them; he is a garment of righteousness to cover and adorn them; a Physician to heal them; a Counselor to advise them; a Captain to defend them; a Prince to rule; a Prophet to teach; a Priest to make atonement for them; a Husband to protect; a Father to provide; a Brother to relieve; a Foundation to support; a Root to quicken; a Head to guide; a Treasure to enrich; a Sun to enlighten; and a Fountain to cleanse.

John Spencer (1630–1693)

Christ’s life outwardly was one of the most troubled lives that was ever lived: tempest and tumult, tumult and tempest, the waves breaking over it all the time. But the inner life was a sea of glass. The great calm was always there.

Henry Drummond (1851–1897)