Leiper's Fork church of Christ

If you remember the first time Moses received the Ten Commandments inscribed in the stone tablets, Moses came off the mountain only to find Israel worshiping the idle which they had made, the golden calf. This of course breaking the first of the Ten Commandments as it reads, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), and being angered Moses destroyed the tablets of stone. However, if we fast forward to the second time Moses receives the Ten Commandments, this time having to inscribe them in stone himself, we learn an important truth concerning God. While Israel had sinned by breaking the first commandment, God was willing to forgive them because the Lord is a “compassionate and gracious” God, a God who is “slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth”, and a God who “forgives iniquity”, forgives “transgression”, and forgives “sin” (Exodus 34:6, 7). What a wonderful description!

However, while God is loving, compassionate, patient, and gracious, and while He desires to forgive man of his iniquity, sin, and transgression, the text makes it clear that God will not save man solely because He loves them. “Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus 34:7). God’s word is clear – Transgression deserves condemnation. The guilty are going to be punished for their deeds, but aren’t we all guilty of sin? Yes, we are. So how can one be innocent? How can one not receive the wrath of God which will come against sin? The answer is in Jesus Christ and Him alone.

Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 53. This chapter you will recognize as Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the suffering Servant, in other words the suffering which Jesus would one day endure, but notice the use of the three words we have seen in Exodus 34: 6, 7 – INIQUITY (perversion before God), TRANSGRESSION (rebellion against God), and SIN (missing the mark). While Exodus 34 teaches God will forgive these three acts, Isaiah 53 explains how forgiveness is possible.

Isaiah 53 declares, Jesus “was pierced through for our TRANSGRESSIONS” (5), and Jesus “was crushed for our INIQUITIES” (5). The text continues saying “The Lord caused the INIQUITY of us all to fall on Him” (6) and “He was cut off out of the land of the living for the TRANSGRESSION of my people” (8). It was Jesus, “The Righteous One, My Servant” who would “justify the many” (or in Exodus 34:7, “the thousands”) and it was “The Righteous One, My Servant” who would “bear their INIQUITIES” (11). Yes, it was Jesus who “poured out Himself to death and was numbered with the TRANSGRESSORS” (12), although He had never committed sin, “Yet He Himself bore the SIN of many” (12), and it was Jesus who “interceded for the TRANSGRESSORS” (12).

The fact is, the debt of my transgressions, your iniquities, and our sin remains to be unpaid without the death of Jesus on the cross which is His interceding on our behalf. How do we get forgiveness of sins and have our sins washed away? Only by coming in contact with His blood in baptism (Acts 2:38; 22:16). While Isaiah 53 is a chapter concerning Jesus, it could equally be said that this is a chapter about us. How? Because it was “OUR griefs He Himself bore” (4), “OUR sorrows He carried” (4), “WE OURSELVES esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (4). Why would Jesus go through this suffering? Because of my sin and your sin! “He was pierced through for OUR transgressions, He was crushed for OUR iniquities, the chastening for OUR well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging WE are healed” (5). Jesus went through this suffering because he loved every one of us even though “all of US like sheep have gone astray” (6) and “each of US has turned to his own way” (6). Stop turning to your own way and turn to His way, because Jesus paid the price we could not pay. He made forgiveness possible! How? Because “the Lord has caused the iniquity of US ALL to fall on Him” (6).

In three weeks I, with the rest of the nation, will be celebrating the holiday Thanksgiving. While I have a lot to be thankful for this year (I killed my first elk last month, went deep sea fishing with my family over the summer, I’ve been given the opportunity to go to school at Bear Valley in one of the prettiest states in our country, I have a wonderful girlfriend, and my list could continue), but I am thankful that Jesus made this great sacrifice for me, and I am thankful that I serve a God who made forgiveness possible because He is a God who is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6, 7).

Travis White

This article can also be view at White Stone Weekly.