Christ’s sufferings at Gethsemane and Golgotha are described. He took upon himself the pains and sins of the world to heal and redeem mankind.
Referring to Jesus’ suffering for “our transgressions” and “our iniquities,” Isaiah makes us aware of our personal involvement and responsibility for the oppression and affliction of the Savior. Jacobus Revius, a Dutch poet and theologian (1586–1658), powerfully teaches the same poignant lesson that Isaiah teaches:
It was not the Jews, Lord Jesus, who crucified you,
Nor the traitors who dragged you to the law,
Nor the contemptuous who spit in your face
Nor those who bound you, and hit you full of wounds,
And it was not the soldiers who with evil hands
Lifted up the reed or the hammer,
Or set that cursed wood on Golgotha,
Or cast lots and gambled for your robe;
It is I, O Lord, it is I who have done it,
I am the heavy tree that overburdened you,
I am the rough bands that bound you,
The nail, the spear, and the cords that whipped you,
The bloodied crown that tore your head:
All this happened, alas! for my sins.27
“The chastisement of our peace was upon him”—the English word “peace” is used here to translate the Hebrew shalom, which carries the connotation of wholeness and reconciliation. This is not the common greeting of “shalom” that the world extends, but the deeper doctrine of justification to dwell in God’s presence. The Savior suffered the chastisement so that we could be reconciled to the Father and become whole.
“With his stripes we are healed”—his “stripes” refer to his scourging, both the physical flogging and also the torturous flagellation caused by the sins of the world. Until we accept his stripes, we are spiritually sick; we need to follow the prescription of the Master Physician to be healed. It is ironic that we are healed through his stripes; our peace comes through his pain.