Grow With Pastor Joe

Last week we introduced the idea of cross examination in the courtroom setting. In our study of Isa. 53:4-6, we previously examined the cross to see the centrality and lethality of the cross. Today, we will see the legality of the cross. Many of us, myself included, are not overly knowledgeable of legal proceedings. If anything, we try to avoid them at all costs. When we get the dreaded letter in the mail summoning us for jury we duty we immediately find a way out if possible. No one likes to talk about legalities (except maybe lawyers and paralegals); however, when we think about the cross of Christ, we must see it as the cosmic courtroom of God where sin is dealt with. Sin has a penalty that must be paid and everyone is a sinner who stands guilty before God. God is the just Judge of the universe and must issue a verdict of justice according to His law. As any judge in our judicial system must render a just verdict, God does so as well. However, in this cosmic courtroom, there are no mistrials or poor judgments handed down. God is just and His judgment is perfect, holy, and sure. The cross declares the judgment that we deserve and the justice that God demands. It declares the sentence of His judgment and the satisfaction of His justice.

            Notice though, it was Jesus who is just, holy, and righteous who hung on the cross, not you or me. Our study of Isa. 52:13-53:12 has brought us to better understand the person and work of Christ so that we may sing in response to His glory, hallelujah, what a Savior! In the smack dab middle of this passage is Isa. 53:4-6 which is not only the heart of the chapter, but the heart of the gospel. It declares to us through the prophecy of the cross of Christ the doctrine of penal substitution. Jesus is our substitute who took our penalty and guilt upon Himself so that we might be forgiven. Before we dive into our last message on these three critical verses of scripture, I want us to understand a couple of legal terms in our theological understanding and application of this passage. Although these particular words are not used in Isaiah, they are critical in understanding and applying this very passage. These theological doctrines are terms of legality that help us to better understand what was accomplished by Christ on the cross. These doctrines are woven throughout the scripture as we saw in last week’s study, and we will hit some other key passages later on in today’s study. Each of the following terms are also interconnected to one another and the greater doctrine of our salvation. The word propitiation is a Bible word that means the satisfaction of God’s holy wrath and justice. Meaning, God’s justice which is His eternal holy righteousness expressed in His attributes, authority, and activity must be satisfied. God cannot and will not overlook sin. A good earthly judge cannot let the guilty go free and neither will the Lord who is the ONLY righteous judge of the earth. Another theological word with legal ramifications is imputation which means to reckon, account, or to apply to one’s account. According to Rom. 5:12-21 we were imputed Adam’s sinful guilt and unrighteousness, but Christ through His obedience in life and unto death has imputed His righteousness to our account. This leads us to the word justification which is the legal declaration from God that we are righteous in God’s sight. This is the believer’s positional standing and positional righteousness before God in Christ. The doctrine of justification hinges upon the propitiation of God’s justice and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to our account. No sinner can be justified before God by works of their own, keeping the law, or any other thing except the faith in the finished work of Christ. To put it together, I am legally in eternal good standing with God by grace through faith because Jesus, my substitute has satisfied God’s holy wrath and justice by God imputing my sins to Christ and Christ’s righteousness to me. When we say Christ died for us, we are declaring the legality of the cross.

            Please keep these theological words of the legality of the cross in your mind as we finish our cross examination in Isa. 53:4-6 which says, “⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Why does such a comprehensive study of the penal substitutionary atoning work of Christ matter? When we think about practical Christian living, we must think about the doctrines that make up our faith and salvation. At the heart of Christian doctrine and practice is the penal substitution of Christ. Nothing is more practical to our daily living then seeing in fullness what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross. The legal transaction of the cross leads to life transformation. Our sanctification flows from our justification by God’s grace which is accomplished by Jesus as He is the propitiation for sinners and imputes His righteousness to us. Because of what Christ has done, all that I am and do points to His grace and glory displayed at the cross. Today, we will see the legality of the trial, the transaction, and triumph at the cross of Christ.

            First, we must see the legality of the trial in Isa. 53:4-6. When it comes to our day in the cosmic courtroom of God, we have all the evidence stacked against us. We are guilty, caught in the act, and have no earthly representative that can be a good witness to our case. Our case as sinners is as good as done and the trial only shows our guilt as the proceedings play out. In the gallery, there is no one that can step up to plead our case. Man needs a representative or daysman (a daysman acted as a mediator or arbiter between parties) as Job looked for in Job 9:33. As you walk into the doors of your local courtroom and see the judge on his bench, you instantly feel this great distance between you and them. They stand in the place of authority and will soon pronounce a judgment upon you. We must understand that Jesus is the Just Judge and Justifier. He is holy and judges by His holy authoritative word for all authority to judge is His (John 5:22-30). No one can avoid standing before His throne and judgment seat (Heb. 9:27). All of mankind stands in a legal position of guilt. We all are born with an inherent imputed unrighteousness and guilt before God which makes us alienated with God (See Ps. 7:11; 145:20; Rom. 3:10, 21-23; Eph. 2:1-3, 11-22). What can the guilty do or plea before the Judge of the earth? How can the unrighteous and guilty sinner speak before the Judge? The answer is found in Isa. 33:22 which is in the middle of a greater passage that gives the promise of a future salvation, safety, and joy in the coming kingdom which the repentant remnant of Isa. 52:13-53:12 will know upon Christ’s return along with all of the redeemed in Christ. Isa. 33:22 shows us that Jesus is our coming judge and present Savior saying, “²² For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.” The One who has authority and ability to judge righteously also is the only One who has the authority and ability to save us and justify us. In Isa. 53:4-6 we see the legality of the trial as Jesus who is the Judge of the world steps in as our representative, mediator, and substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. He Himself steps in to the cosmic courtroom at the cross to take our guilt and penalty for sin so that we might be forgiven. He is struck down so that we who were guilty may be set free.

            Second, we must see the legality of the transaction in Isa. 53:4-6. The phrase “surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” is important in understanding the legal transaction that took place on the cross. The word “borne” is the word “nasa’” which means to carry or take away by enduring something unpleasant on behalf of others. The word “carried” is the word “sabal” which means to carry, bear, or transport a load. It gives the idea of servitude which is fitting for this passage which tells us of the Suffering Servant of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We then see that the “chastisement” or punishment of our peace was upon Him. Jesus was a willing and worthy substitute that took the place and penalty of sinners. Then the phrase “and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” further demonstrates the legality of the transaction on the cross. The phrase “hath laid on” is the word “paga” which means to cause anything to strike or fall on another. In other places it is used in a stronger sense of striking down. Jesus was indeed struck down as our sin bearing substitute. 1 Pet. 2:24-25 helps to understand this saying, “²⁴ Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. ²⁵ For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” Here, Peter gives great explanation of our salvation in Christ by connecting us back to the heart of the gospel in Isa. 53:4-6. All of these phrases also point to the Day of Atonement which we have discussed previously (See Lev. 16; Heb. 9). The legality of the transaction of the cross now brings us back to the theological words that have legal ramifications that we discussed in our introduction.

One, what we see in Isa. 53:4-6 and throughout the Bible is what we call double imputation. To put it simply, the legal transaction on the cross is as Jesus is dying in my place nailed to the tree, my sin is being imputed to Him and His righteousness is being imputed to me. Because we are alienated rebels, we need an alien righteousness that is not our own. Double imputation is at the very heart of the gospel and the foundational doctrine of sola fide or faith alone. We can’t be saved by grace through faith without Him taking our sin (and the penalty and guilt that comes with it) and then giving us His righteousness. Paul makes it clear in 2 Cor. 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” In the legal transaction of double imputation, we see that God is just and the justifier of man because of what Christ has done for us.

Two, what we see in Isa. 53:4-6 and throughout the Bible is what we call propitiation for sins. This has two parts to it. Christ being the propitiation for our sin deals with Him extinguishing God’s wrath against us and expiating (atoning) our sins. The doctrine of propitiation can be understood as Jesus satisfying God’s holy wrath and justice that was against us. He stood condemned in my place to absorb the wrath of God so that I’ll never have to touch a flame of Hell. He drank every drop and dreg of the cup of God’s holy, wrathful, hatred of sin so that there is no more wrath left for me. Instead, I drink of the never ending well of grace and my cup runneth over. This doctrine is often forgotten or overlooked because it makes people, believers included, uncomfortable. We should be comfortable with uncomfortable doctrines. Col. 2:11-15 help put both of these incredible transactions together. To help put the legality of the transaction on the cross together, hear the words of Geoffrey Thomas who writes, “We need to understand the solemnity of His infinite integrity and wrath that must be dealt with. He does not condone; He does not tolerate; He does not look the other way; He does not excuse. What does the sinless God do? He does the unimaginable. He imputes all our guilt, our blame, and our judgment to His beautiful, beloved, eternal Son. Jesus chose to endure in His own soul and body the just wrath of God for what we have done. He actually interposed His own sinless self between the righteous wrath of God and our sinfulness because He loves us with a deep, deep love. He hung naked, exposed, and unprotected under the retribution that the multitude of our iniquities deserves, but He has borne once and for all that guilt and condemnation. It was His unimaginable affection for these former rebels that kept Him there suspended by nails under the judgment of God on the cross until our debt had all been cleared to the last penny, and then He could cry out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).” The only thing that He wore on the cross was my sin and shame. The legal transaction of the penal substitution there at the cross is a rags to riches story. He went from riches to rags and we traded our rags of unrighteousness for His robes of righteousness. This legal transaction is accepted by God as Jesus breathes His last breath on the cross having hung there for hours estranged from God as He bears the curse of sin upon the cross for us. Jesus alone can atone by imputation and propitiation as He unites all of the redeemed to Himself.

Third, we must see the legality of the triumph of Isa. 53:4-6. The cross to the world and the Devil seems like Jesus’ defeat, but instead it is Christ dying triumphantly as He accomplishes the salvation of all believers while crushing death, sin, and the Devil forever. Our legal triumph is that we who walked into the cosmic courtroom guilty get to walk out forgiven. We aren’t given a ticket. We don’t have court fees. We don’t have to serve community service. We aren’t given jail time. None of those things could atone or redeem us anyway. Only Christ and His finished work offer us forgiveness. God, the just judge, is just because Christ takes our punishment and is the justifier as He declares us righteous before God through imputation. Rom. 3:24-28 says, “²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; ²⁶ To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ²⁷ Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. ²⁸ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Justification is a benefit of the believer who is declared righteous before God. It is the free gift of His grace. It is not earned or merited apart from Christ. Our justification by faith alone is to stand on the merit of Jesus Christ. Now, as God looks at me, yet still sinful in this present fleshly body, He sees the righteousness of His Son applied to my account. I am complete in Christ because I am completely in Christ. I am freely (by grace) fully forgiven (justified, redeemed, adopted, reconciled, saved) forever (safe, secure, and sealed for eternity). Eph. 1:3-14 is the greatest sentence in human history that tells us of the eternal riches of His grace and glory that accomplished our salvation. I want us to understand the triumph of the transaction at the cross so that we might live in victory that Christ has given. Many believers are defeated because they don’t see the depth of victory that took place. Jesus’ triumph at the cross is my triumph. Rom. 8 shows us that now in Christ there is no more condemnation for the believer and that there is no more separation between the believer and God because of the legal trial, transaction, and triumph of the cross. There are no more charges against you, dear believer. Not one. There is still an accuser of the Brethren, Satan; however, his accusations fall on deaf ears for God is satisfied to look on Christ and pardon me freely by His grace forever. There is no accusation thrown that could ever change my legal standing before God. God is satisfied; therefore, I am satisfied. Nothing is as satisfying as knowing where you stand before God.             When you stand before God, what will you stand on? There is nothing that you can stand on except the blood and merit of Jesus Christ. Salvation is available and applied by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. Drop the works of your hands at His feet. Put away the idols of self-righteousness. Flee, flee from the wrath to come by fleeing to the cross. There at the cross, God’s judgment and mercy meet in the person and work of Christ. Now, for those who receive Jesus Christ, we will only know mercy, never wrath. Furthermore, for those who know Christ, these legal truths of our standing before God in Christ are blessings to understand and apply. Don’t waste the privileges that the cross has provided by playing with sin or putting on your own prison garments. You’ve been given the righteous robes of Jesus, your Savior, Lord, and King. Why would you want to wear anything else? We need to comprehend the depth of Isa. 53:4-6 so that we might better live worthy of the gospel that saved us. Here is the heart of the gospel in the declaration of the penal substitution. Deep doctrine should lead to high doxology so that now and throughout eternity, we may sing, hallelujah, what a Savior!