THE PUNISHMENT THAT BROUGHT US PEACE

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. —Isaiah 53:5

The description of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53 is one of the Bible’s most poetic descriptions of Jesus’ mission and sacrifice. Not only does it describe His suffering and death, but it also highlights the fact that Jesus’ sufferings would work to bring us peace, to remove the fear that had come over us, and to bring reconciliation between God and humanity. The importance of this reconciliation project cannot be underestimated.

In the Bible’s story, that project stretches from the evening in the garden of Eden described in Genesis 3:8–10 to the world re-created when “God’s dwelling-place” will be among the people and “he will dwell with them” (Revelation 21:3).

But, perhaps more poignantly, that restoration plan drew God’s one and only Son into the history and pain of this world at great cost to Himself and even at remarkable risk to God. It is the mechanism by which our fear of God could be eradicated and our relationship restored. As such, Isaiah 53 is not only great poetry, nor merely a foreshadowing of the cruel and humiliating ways in which Jesus would be tortured and would die, but also a manifesto for reconciliation and fearlessness in the relationship between God and human beings. Contemporary author Douglas Coupland was once asked about his greatest fear.

He replied, “That God exists but doesn’t care very much for humans.”* In Jesus and His crucifixion, God took away this great fear. It shows that God does care very much for humans. He was prepared to sacrifice His existence to demonstrate how much He cares and to make our eternal reconnection, rescue, and relationship with Him possible.

* Douglas Coupland, “P.S.: About the Author,” in Girlfriend in a Coma (New York: Harper Perennial, 2004), 2.