The Sin-Bearer

He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. 

Isaiah 53:11 

Christ is the Sin-Bearer. The concept of sin bearing runs throughout the Scripture and through Isaiah 53 in particular. Verse 6 remarks, ‘the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’  Our text reiterates the same idea by saying, ‘He shall bear their iniquity.’ Later on we read, ‘He bore the sin of many.’ Paul puts it this way, ‘For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’ This lies at the very heart of justification. God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us. The transaction has another element to it. He imputes our sin to Christ. Thus, Christ, bears our iniquities. The Old Testament ceremonies graphically portray this with illustrations like the scapegoat, which symbolically bore away the sins of the people into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement. In another way, Christ is the Sin-Bearer in that He bears the punishment that we deserve. In ancient Jewish custom, a second goat was sacrificed on the Day of Atonement. Thus by bearing iniquity, and by sacrifice, Christ accomplishes what is necessary to remove our sin. He bears our iniquity. There is no other Sin-Bearer. Christ is ‘the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.’ 

Our Gracious God and our Savior, 
We rejoice that You have borne our iniquities. 
We praise You that with Your stripes, 
we are healed. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning