Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows….”
Isaiah 53:4
Surely, certainly, truly, absolutely, he has borne our…….
choli: sickness, illness, disease. From chalah; malady, anxiety, calamity—disease, grief, sickness.
makob: pain, sorrow, suffering......
Isaiah 53 is a "Servant Song" that speaks of God's redemptive plan for mankind. This chapter specifically reveals an individual as the Suffering Servant. Jesus, the Servant, has become redemption to all who believe. As the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, our Heavenly Father was pleased to accept His sacrifice of life and blood as the payment for mankind's sin.
Isaiah 53:3 highlights His suffering: "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” As the Son of Man, Jesus experienced the full range of human emotions and is able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).
As we consider Isaiah's prophetic words concerning Jesus, we gain a deeper understanding of God's purpose in sending His Son. Genesis reveals God's original intent: heaven on earth, with mankind ruling and reigning over His creation. Adam's disobedience— that is, failing to guard the garden and choosing to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—transferred dominion to Satan, who became the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested: to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin..." (2 Corinthians 5:21).
"But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).
Oswald Chambers wrote in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest, "Sin is the only explanation for grief and sorrow."
On this earth, we will continue to experience the effects of sin. Through the new birth, however, our spirit is made alive unto God. Becoming one spirit with the Lord, we are no longer under the dominion of sin. Sin shall no longer have dominion over us (Romans 6:14). While this is a legal and spiritual reality, we are still affected daily by the fruit of sin—not only through our own temptations, but also through the choices and actions of others.
This may seem like an impossible situation to overcome, yet God's Word declares that every victory we experience comes as we agree with His Word and walk in obedience to His instruction.
"I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). He makes the way of escape.
He sends His word (and has sent His word), the word made flesh and the word written, that heals and delivers us from destruction.
"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).
The victory in life and over sin is found in and through Jesus Christ as Lord.