During the war between Britain and France, men were conscripted into the French army by a kind of lottery system. When someone’s name was drawn, he had to go off to battle. There was one exception to this, however. A person could be exempt if another was willing to take his place.

On one occasion the authorities came to a certain man and told him he was among those who had been chosen. He refused to go, saying, "I was shot 2 years ago." At first they questioned his sanity, but he insisted that this indeed was the case. He claimed that the military records would show that he had been conscripted 2 years previously and that he had been killed in action. "How can that be?" they questioned, "You are alive now!"

He explained that when his name came up, a close friend said to him, "You have a large family, but I am not married and nobody is dependent upon me. I’ll take your name and address and go in your place." And that is indeed what the record showed.

This rather unusual case was referred to Napoleon Bonaparte, who decided that the country had no legal claim on that man. He was free. He had died in the person of another!

This principle of substitution is, perhaps, the hardest for us to understand. Yet, it is also at the heart of the gospel. The Savior willingly took our place because of his infinite love. He died in our stead and paid the penalty for our sin. (www.bible.org)

When we read the book of Isaiah, we discover the very nature of our sin and our need for a substitute is even more urgent. Israel had been suffering under the burden of her sins. The book of Isaiah is like a loud cry to hold on! Salvation is on the way.

As you read the Book of Isaiah chapters 1-39, you find the harshest judgments against Israel and against the nations. God’s judgment was sure and final. His holy patience had run out and it was time to bring judgment against Israel. Judgment must come before deliverance. Judgment is not only a just pronouncement against us, it shows us our true, hopeless condition. How could we have any hope of salvation when we have been judged and found guilty before God?

Starting in Isaiah chapter 40, you see a change of tone and a message of hope and comfort. God began to weave a tapestry of love into the words of Isaiah. Slowly he painted a picture of the One who would come as Messiah. He would be God’s agent of comfort and salvation. Israel would be restored and "They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary."

Many have questioned who could be this Servant of God? He is the Anointed One. He is God’s chosen, chosen before birth. God’s Spirit is upon him. He acts with the authority of God. The Servant comes to redeem and restore Israel. Some have said that it was the Prophet Isaiah himself. Others have argued it was some other prophet. While still others have said, it is the nation Israel. But, when you come to Isaiah 53, you know that it could not be Isaiah or another prophet or even the nation Israel, for whoever it is, will die and be an atonement for our sins!

Isaiah says "who has believed our message?" It is as if the message was so shocking, so out of the ordinary that no one would believe it. Up until that point this Servant of God was a redeemer, a deliverer, but his method of delivery had not been revealed. But, now, who will believe us, our report is so shocking! What God promised is beyond human comprehension. We come to realize that this is so huge that Only God could do this.

Isaiah is talking about Jesus in this passage even though it was written 700 years before his birth. He said that he is a man despised and rejected, a man familiar with suffering and pain—our suffering and our pain. Even though he is God, He became ugly for us. He is not one who comes in majestic form. Rather, he came as the least among us. The Maker of all beauty became as one from whom men hide their face. The gospel was birthed because of the poverty of the human soul. God knows our emptiness and yet, God still loved us.

"Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried." The servant would become our substitute. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. As our substitute, he dealt with every aspect of our need, the moral and the spiritual wrongs as well as the guilt of our sins. He pays the price and he sets us free, brings us healing and peace.

Isaiah's words turned from words of suffering to words of violence. "We considered him stricken by God." Stricken mean infliction by blow, as if someone struck violently. "Smitten and afflicted" expresses both the divine act of punishment against him and the personal suffering he suffers on our behalf. "He was pierced for our transgressions, to be pierced means to be pierced fatally, it is a death blow. "He was crushed for our iniquities." The idea of crushing is to be trampled upon, to be trampled to death. He was trampled to death by our sin. "The punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed." He was our substitute. He suffered our penalty. He was cut off from the land of the living for our transgressions. This is the description of suffering, substitution, and propitiation. He comes as our guilt offering. God submitted himself to the violence of human sin for our sakes. God’s Suffering Servant would be an atonement for many.

The people said to crucify him. So Jesus was hung naked on an executioner's cross on a sunless day. The gawking crowds mocked him "come down from the cross and save yourself." In response, He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus did this not because he wanted to suffer though he truly suffered. He did not do it because he sought glory though through the cross he was glorified. He did it because of love. He came to be our substitute. He, who was sinless, died for us so that we might not have to pay the price for our sin. He paid it for us. He died for you and he died for me. He then rose again so that he might defeat death and all those who accept him have the promise of eternity.

Isaiah knew the truth. Christ came not only to suffer for us but also with us. I know that there are those here who suffer silently because of hurts and disappointments. There is the lingering ache of harsh words spoken against you. There is the haunting pain of broken relationships. There are lost opportunities that can never be regained. There is the unresolved conflict with those who will never speak to you again or who can never speak to you again. There are personal failures and sin that haunt us. There are hurts so deep that no one knows them but you – and God. Even for these sorrows, Christ came to die. Ultimately, through the cross, God redeems us and our world.

The cross, why did he do it? He did it for you and for me. He did it so that we might be saved from our sins. From the moment that Adam sinned, the cross cast a shadow upon mankind. And if you are to come to a right relation with God, you must understand that the cross was for you.