The Very Last Abuse of Jesus

By the Spirit of Christ, Isaiah makes it clear that Jesus was punished in the place of His people when our sins were laid upon Him.

But in case it is unclear to us, Isaiah underlines this fact: that Christ was put to death in our place. His was no mere grievous punishment - it was death itself.

His life was cut short in death, after a cruel and contrived trial and conviction for made-up crimes.

His line was cut off by death, and all this for the transgression of His people.

Isaiah is also at pains to repeat, over and over, that the judgment against Christ was principally from the hand of God Himself, that it was God's wrath for our crimes that rained down on our Savior.

This truth is repeated five times, with the addition that God was pleased to punish Jesus, that He made Christ's soul an offering for sin.

Not only so, but God was satisfied by the judgment that Jesus suffered at His hand, because by being punished by God in our place, the Lord Jesus justifies His people.

No wonder God is satisfied with the offering of Jesus -- for by it He declares poor sinners who trust in Jesus completely without fault. Christ's death is pleasing to the Father because it justifies His loved ones!

But in Isaiah 53:9, the prophet records the very final act of humiliation and reproach against the body of Jesus: He was buried in a rich man's tomb.

Wicked men no doubt meant for Jesus to be dumped in some mass grave for criminals, but God intended His burial to be an honorable one.

This was God's way of showing that the death of His Son was not because He Himself was disreputable.

Not for any crime of His own, but on behalf of sinners did Jesus die!