THIRD QUARTER 2022
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #5
JULY 30, 2022
“EXTREME HEAT”

 

 

Memory Verse: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.” (Isaiah 53:10, NKJV)

 

Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest and direct Messianic chapters in the Old Testament, and this chapter is clearly referring to the sufferings of Christ in Gethsemane and Calvary.  So, understanding this chapter is vital to our understanding of salvation and the character of God.

 

What does it mean that “the LORD” (Jehovah) was “pleased” to bruise “Him” (Jesus)?  Did the Father enjoy the sufferings of Jesus, as Jesus was nearing death on Calvary?  Does God like seeing others – particularly His Son – experience pain, guilt, shame, and suffering?

 

Well, when we approach a verse like this, the first step is always to determine what the verse actually says.  What do the actual words mean in their original language.  And then, what is the meaning of the passage.  As some have said, the way to approach a Bible verse is:  WHAT does the verse say?  SO, WHAT does it mean?  NOW WHAT do I do with that knowledge? → WHAT?  SO WHAT?  NOW WHAT?

 

It turns out that one of the common meanings here for the word, “pleased”, in the Hebrew “hapes”, is delighted or taking pleasure, etc.  So again, do we understand that God the Father was delighted and happy with Jesus’ sufferings in Gethsemane and at Calvary?  It would seem odd to believe that, and yet also believe that, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself”!  Would the Father be pleased to “bruise” Christ while the Father was at the same time in Christ and thus, in some sense, bruising Himself?  Or, is there a different dynamic going on here?

 

It turns out that there is also another meaning for the Hebrew word “hapes”.  And that meaning is “bending down”, or “moving”.  This meaning is intended to communicate that God was willing or allowing this “bruising” to go on.  And this is how the NIV and GNB translate “pleased” – as willing to have His Son suffer.  For what purpose would God be willing to have someone He loved suffer?

 

Well, what circumstances would make you willing to allow someone you loved to suffer?  Would it not be for a greater benefit or good?  Wouldn’t you be willing to allow yourself or your spouse to suffer for the greater good of your child?  For example, if your child had a fatal liver disease like viral liver cirrhosis, and your child needed a liver transplant.  Would not you and your spouse be at the front of the line to give part or all of your liver to save your child’s life.  And wouldn’t you be “willing” or even “pleased” that one of you could suffer to save your child’s life?

 

While no one wants or enjoys suffering for themselves or their beloved spouse – wouldn’t it still be true that you would be pleased if your husband or wife was able to “suffer” in order to save your child’s life, in giving them life through your spouse’s suffering?  This is the sense in which Jehovah was “willing” or “pleased” in the suffering of Jesus.  Not because He liked to see Jesus suffer, but because He knew that the suffering of His Son would ultimately lead to the salvation of a vast multitude of His human children, as well as securing the love and faith of the onlooking universe and faithful angelic hosts.

 

This is why the verse ends with, “He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.”  God could see the infinite blessing to all of Christ’s sacrifice, and thus the Father was pleased, or willing, to allow this sacrifice for the benefit of all.

 

Abraham’s call to sacrifice Isaac:

 

God hates child sacrifice!  Let’s state that from the beginning!

 

“They have built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!”  Jeremiah 7:31 (NLT) – see also Jeremiah 19:5 & 32:35

 

“With what shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”  Micah 6:6-8

 

“You must not worship the LORD your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.”  Deuteronomy 12:31

 

So why then did God command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac if God considers it an abomination, and it has never even entered into God’s mind?

 

First, remember that Abraham had grown up in, and been called out of, Ur of the Chaldees (Babylon).  The city of Ur means fire or flames, and it is likely that it was a place, like many others in that time of earth’s history, where child sacrifice was practiced.

 

So, God’s call to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, while having nothing to do with what was in God’s heart, did have to do with God attempting to fully and finally dispossess Abraham of the idea that God is the kind of being or person who is appeased by sacrifice.  God was teaching Abraham the lesson that, far from requiring or needing or even requesting a sacrifice to accept Abraham, God instead was the kind of God that provides a sacrifice for Abraham in order to win him (and us) back to Him.

 

We are the ones that need a sacrifice to have our hearts changed towards God.  Salvation is not God needing a sacrifice to have His heart changed towards us – that is the essence of paganism.

 

In the call to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God was definitively and finally eliminating from Abraham’s worship paradigm any idea that God needs to be appeased and replacing it with the understanding that God will give of Himself to win us back to love and believe in Him.  Genesis 22:8, 13.

 

“This great sacrifice was not made in order to create in the Father's heart a love for man, not to make Him willing to save. No, no! "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." John 3:16. The Father loves us, not because of the great propitiation, but He provided the propitiation because He loves us. Christ was the medium through which He could pour out His infinite love upon a fallen world. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 Corinthians 5:19.”  Steps to Christ p. 13.2

 

Secondly, God was giving to Abraham, as well as to us who have followed the father of the faithful, and also to the onlooking universe, a stark and vivid portrayal of the depth and nature of what the Godhead was sacrificing to win us back to Them!  No other lesson could have so effectively taught Abraham – and the rest of God’s intelligent creation – what it was costing divinity to save us from sin.

 

Just as Isaac was, covenantally Abraham’s only son, so Jesus was God’s only Son. Just as Isaac was willing to give himself, so Jesus gave Himself.  Just as Isaac carried the wood for his sacrifice, so Jesus carried the cross to His sacrifice.  Just as Abraham suffered with Isaac, so God suffered with His Son.

 

At the end of this story, Abraham was sealed – settled in to the truth intellectually and spiritually so he could not be moved (Manuscript 173, 1902).  As we exercise faith as did Abraham, we too will be sealed into who God is, and our love for Him will be pure and unselfish.  Then His goodness will lead us to a final repentance not to be repented of, we will receive the latter rain, and be able to “finish the work.”  May we labor to this end.

 

~Bob Hunsaker