This verse states He has borne our griefs, pain, and sin.
God loved us so much that He carried and lifted our burdens, saw our sorrows
and griefs in our sin, and sent His Son to redeem us. If someone bears another
person’s burdens, does this mean the burden is literally transferred to their
being? No. This means we are helping to support someone through their grief to
bring help and healing to them. If someone lifts their own life to the Lord,
does this mean God is punishing them? No. It means they are surrendering
themselves to God’s will to honor Him. Christ endured with us and lifted Himself
up as a self-giving offering to God that He might save His people.
This is how the Bible tells us Isaiah 53 ought to be
interpreted in Matthew 8. Anyone who is versed in hermeneutics knows that
before one’s own understanding is inserted into the text, one must first see if
the text itself explains its own meaning. In the Hebrew mind, to bear someone’s
burdens (whether sin or otherwise) is not to transfer it to their account. In
the Hebrew mind, this means to come alongside someone, lift them up, and help
them with their affliction. This is why Matthew references Isaiah 53:4 after
Jesus healed the sick.
Matthew 8:17 This
was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses
and bore our diseases.”
When Jesus bore their diseases, it did not mean He absorbed
their disease or that it was transferred to Him. When Jesus bore their
sickness, it means He empathized with them, lifted them up, and brought
healing. This is why in verse 7, Jesus says, “I will come and heal him.” He
bore our griefs by becoming flesh and suffering the pain of mortal death. He
bore our sins by lifting them up and cleaning them, just as He cleansed the
sick of their illnesses. This understanding is the only way we can remain
consistent with this sort of language throughout scripture. Otherwise, we end
up saying in one instance, “bear” means to transfer or absorb, while saying in
the other instance, it means to come alongside or lift up. This is unnecessary;
Jesus bore our sins by lifting mankind up to the Father and purifying them with
His blood—by bringing restoration.
In addition, it says “we esteemed him” or “accounted” him
to be stricken by God. The NASB states we “assumed” He was afflicted by God. It
does not say He was stricken by God, but we considered Him to be.
It is directly speaking of the people witnessing these violent acts and
attributing it to God. Much like today, whenever a tragedy takes place, many
views it as God being the author of that tragedy. This is an erroneous view of
God as He is not the author of evil, but rather the deliverer from it. This
verse is commentating on the flawed human perspective when beholding the
suffering servant. Oddly enough, this appears to be speaking against PSA,
because PSA believes He was stricken by God. This text is saying He was
not afflicted by God but was considered to be anyway.
Even so, if God sent Jesus to be smitten, this does not
mean that He needed some form of satiation through Jesus’s murder. All this
would prove is that it was God’s desire for Jesus to die, not for retribution,
but for the love of His creation, to destroy the power of sin. Much like how a
solider might wish to sacrifice himself for the lives of his squad to achieve
an objective. However, I do not believe that it is what Isaiah 53 is getting at.
Although I do believe God willed Jesus to die through His foreknowledge so that
He might save His creation (Acts 2:23), I do not believe that is what
Isaiah 53 is referring to, It is referring to those seeing the suffering of
this servant and attributing it as a punishment from God when it was not.
One key to understanding this passage is knowing that it
is written from the perspective of onlookers in neighboring kingdoms. When it
speaks of the suffering servant bearing burdens and receiving the iniquities,
it is referring to the great injustice the suffering servant was experiencing
at the hands of other nations. It is dealing with the wrath of man, not the
wrath of God. By receiving all the hate, oppression and persecution from these
sinful nations, the suffering servant truly did bear their trespasses and have
their iniquity laid upon Him. With every attack, Israel bore their enemy’s sin.
With every stripe, Jesus received iniquity. IT is not referring to sin
transference; it is referring to sinful actions being done directly to a
receiving party and Christ lifting up their sins to have them purified. (William
L. Hess, Crushing the Great Serpent: Did God Punish Jesus? [2024], 200-2)
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