Pierced for Our Transgressions

Overview

Isaiah 52 is the best chapter in the whole Bible to explain what happened on the cross. We know that because the New Testament writers were constantly referring back to it. It was the basis for their understanding of what happened on the cross.

As I stand as a preacher before this text, I not only see too much in it to tell you, I feel too much about it to express to you. Therefore, I want to give you a due sense of the solemnity of this text. I want you to exercise the mental equivalent of taking your shoes off, because this is a holy place.

Looking at each of the five stanzas, it teaches us to 1) understand the mixture, 2) accept the ordinariness, 3) realize the magnitude of the love, 4) commit to justice, and 5) live out of and live off of the principle.