◄ What Does Isaiah 53:7 Mean? ►

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.

Isaiah 53:7(NASB)

Picture courtesy of Plusping

Verse of the Day

When Adam sinned, it was an innocent animal that God slew to cover their nakedness, but the blood of bulls and sheep can only cover sin. It can never take away the sin that stains man's soul and separates fallen humanity from a holy God. From the beginning, God decreed that only the shed blood of a sinless human being who would willingly give up his own sinless life as the ransom price for humanities transgressions, would be sufficient to appease an angry God and to satisfy His great hatred of evil and judgement against sin, for the wages of sin is death and Christ's death on the Cross paid that tremendous price.

There was no man who could act as Kinsman-Redeemer, for all have sinned. There was no-one who was good enough to pay that tremendous price, for sin for God alone is sinless. And so God in His grace clothed Himself in human flesh so that He could live a sinless life and fulfil all the righteous requirements of the Law on our behalf and die in our place. Though sinless, Christ took our sin upon Himself and was punished in our place so that although we are sinners, we are clothed in His righteousness by faith, and freed from the consequences of sin and the curse of the Law which condemns all humanity to eternal separation from God.

The blood of innocent animals could only cover humanities sin until the perfect Lamb of God in the Person of the Lord Jesus came to earth to become that singular sacrifice Who alone was sufficient to cleanse us from all sin and clothe us in the righteousness of God, and we access His forgiveness of our sins by faith in Him.

But rather than being hailed as the sinless Son of God Who became Immanuel, God-in-the-flesh, to die on the Cross to save us from our sins, the Lord Jesus was oppressed and afflicted by those He came to save. The innocent animal in the garden of Eden and the yearly round of Israel's sacrificial feasts were a shadowy glimpse of the blood that pulsed through the veins of Christ in His humanity and which was poured out for our sake at Calvary.

Like a little innocent Lamb, He did not open His mouth to protest or complain, for He was dying in our place and we deserved the punishment of death for our sin. He could not proclaim His own personal, justified innocence, for to do so would render your sin and mine as remaining unpaid and unforgiven, through time and into eternity. Jesus had to die if we were to live.

And so for your sake and for mine, the Lord Jesus Christ was led like a lamb to be slaughtered, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, Jesus did not open His mouth so that all who believe on Him by grace through faith in His death, burial, and Resurrection would not perish but have everlasting life.

My Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You that Christ became the sacrificial Lamb on my account. I stand in awe that the eternal Son of God was born as the sinless Son of Man so that He could be my Kinsman-Redeemer. Thank You that Jesus took the punishment that I deserved and did not open His mouth to proclaim His innocence, but endured the Cross on my behalf. To Him be all praise and glory, AMEN.