Redemption Through Suffering

MEMORY VERSE: “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.” —Isaiah 53:5

ISAIAH 53:4-9, 12

THE birth of Jesus marked an important step forward in the plan of God for man’s salvation from sin and death, but it is through his sacrificial death that life was provided for the sin-sick and dying world. The caption given to this lesson, “Redemption Through Suffering,” does not convey the full thought of redemption. It was necessary that Jesus should die, not only suffer, if man was to be redeemed. As Isaiah foretold, he was “cut off out of the land of the living,” and “poured out his soul unto death.”

Psalm 16:10 speaks of Jesus’ soul being “in hell.” The Hebrew word here translated “hell” is sheol, meaning the death condition. Jesus’ soul went into death, taking the sinner’s place in death. Paul described this as “a ransom,” or corresponding price, and he tells us that this ransom was provided for all, and that all will be saved from death that this great fact may be made known unto them.—I Tim. 2:3-6

“Who shall declare his generation?” Isaiah asks and then says, “for he was cut off out of the land of the living” Jesus died without children, so there is no generation bearing his name. However, in verse 10 we read, “He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” “The pleasure of the Lord” is the restoration of Adam’s children to life. These will be the “seed,” or “generation,” of the Redeemer, who because of his faithfulness was raised from the dead and highly exalted to the divine nature, that he might exercise divine power in the resurrection of the dead.

The high exaltation of Jesus in the resurrection is foretold in verse 12: “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the Great.” The “Great” referred to here is none other than Jehovah, our Heavenly Father, the Creator of the universe. Prior to his coming to earth, Jesus was the “Word,” or “Logos,” of the Creator, that is, his spokesman, or representative. He is still the Father’s representative, and in his resurrection he was highly exalted to the throne of God, thus given a portion with the “Great.”

Jesus referred to this in Revelation 3:21, which reads, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Jesus did not occupy this high position on the throne of his Heavenly Father until after his resurrection. He attained this position through his faithfulness in suffering and dying for the sin-cursed world of mankind.

In the 12th verse of our lesson it is foretold that Jesus would divide his reward, referred to as “spoil,” with “the strong.” This is a reference to the faithful followers of Jesus. They are depicted as “the strong” because they are admonished to overcome the world and to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.” They are not strong in their own strength, but in the Lord, for he has provided an armor of righteousness for them.

One of the tests of faithfulness for the followers of the Master is their willingness to lay down their lives in sacrificial service, overcoming the world and the selfish spirit of the world. It was to these that Jesus said, in the text already quoted, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.” In effect, Jesus is here saying that he will divide his reward with his followers, the “strong” ones, the overcomers, just as Isaiah had foretold, even as the Father had fulfilled his promise in exalting him to a position on his throne, thus giving him “a portion with the Great.”

John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) Isaiah foretold that Jesus would be led “as a lamb to the slaughter.” As we have seen, after his “slaughter” Jesus was highly exalted, and in Revelation 14:1 he is represented as being on “mount Sion.” We are told that with him are “an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”

We are informed that these are the ones “which follow the Lamb” into death and that they are a “firstfruits” unto God. These are the ones with whom Jesus shares his reward of exaltation and glory. But they are only a “firstfruits” of his redemption. Later there will be the general resurrection of all the dead.

QUESTIONS

Did Jesus’ suffering alone provide redemption?

How will Jesus see his “seed”?

What reward did Jesus receive in his resurrection, and with whom does he share this reward?

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