yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. [isaiah 53:10]
one of the most difficult doctrines is this:
“yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him”
one of the most beautiful doctrines is this:
“yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.”
why would our Father crush the son? why would he forsake him?
God the father was fulfilling a promise he made in genesis 3, speaking to the serpent in the garden, he says:
i will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” [genesis 3:15]
God had a plan from the beginning–he promised that he would send his son to die–but that in dying his son would bruise–(and crush [NIV]) the serpent once and for all, putting an end to sin and death, thereby reconciling us to God!
the difficult doctrine of God’s will to crush his son, to make an offering for our guilt is a beautiful truth that, if understood and believed, gives us hope in something beyond our own obedience and goodness. we cannot save ourselves–because of our sin, we deserve nothing but a crushing death and damnation.
but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. [1 peter 2:9]
for those of us who have believed, we have a hope in our great God–he has shown us great mercy! let us worship our God’s plan to reconcile us–let us proclaim the cross of Christ!
~conor eastman