Redeemer Lutheran Church
Quincy, IL
Rev. Larry D. Troxel
Good Friday at Noonday
Friday, March 21, 2008 at 12:00 N
“He Bore Our Sin and Freed Us”
(Isaiah 53:12c)
He bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is a time of somber celebration. Today we both mourn our sin which caused our Savior’s death
and celebrate the great salvation which Christ Jesus has accomplished for us. It is quite fitting that we gather
at this Noon hour. On that first Good Friday, as Jesus hung on the cross, darkness came over the whole earth
from Noon until three p.m., because the sun stopped shining.1 As the One through
whom all things were created2 died, the entire creation mourned. And it would seem
fitting that we also should mourn. But instead we celebrate the death of our Savior, not because we are crass
and unfeeling but because we are so grateful for what He has accomplished for us and for all people.
The prophet Isaiah unravels for us what otherwise might seem an emotional oxymoron. The fifty-third chapter
of Isaiah’s prophecy has been called the Gospel in the Old Testament. Because we know “the
rest of the story,” it does seem that Isaiah was sitting at the foot of Jesus’ cross on Golgotha
when Isaiah wrote this great chapter. But we know, in fact, that Isaiah lived seven centuries before Jesus life,
death, and resurrection. It was God the Holy Spirit who guided Isaiah as he wrote the book which bears his
name. It is God the Holy Spirit who gave Isaiah the faith by which he believed the Word of God that he wrote.
And it is God the Holy Spirit who has given us saving faith and the Christ-centered insight by which we read
and hear these words and recognize the presence of Jesus in them.
Our text is the final, concluding sentence in Isaiah chapter fifty-three. And as such it is the climax of celebration
of what Christ Jesus, God’s suffering Servant, has accomplished.
“He bore the sin of many.” This is the vicarious atonement, the Great Substitution, the heart of
Jesus’ redeeming work. All that Jesus did, all that He suffered, all that He endured, He did for us as
our great Substitute. Saint Paul wrote in the last verse of Second Corinthians chapter five: “For our
sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of
God.”
God did this because God’s divine justice had declared: “The soul who sins shall die.”3
Jesus was born sinless and lived a sinless life as the Substitute for us in keeping and completing all the
demands of God’s Law. Because He was sinless He was not able to die because “the wages
of sin is death,”4 and divine justice declared that “the soul who sins
shall die.”3 For Jesus to be able to die, He had to be sinful. And so God the
Father “has laid on Him the [sin and guilt] of us all.”5 God the Father
not only laid our sin and guilt on Jesus. God the Father made Jesus to be sin itself. He took our sin and guilt
from us and from all people and all time and places and put it all on Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross,
God saw Jesus as the only sinful and guilty person in the entire creation and throughout all time.
In return, God the Father has declared every person to be righteous in God’s sight. And please notice
that does mean every person of every place and time, no matter how sinful they have been, no matter how terrible
they seem to be in the eyes of the rest of humanity. Isaiah wrote: “He bore the sin of many” in contrast
to the number “one.” Jesus is the “one” who bore the sin, the guilt, and the punishment
that all people, “the many,” deserved to bear.
It is relatively easy for us to think of Jesus taking on the sin of those who believe in Him. But Scripture does not put
that limitation on Jesus’ redeeming sacrifice. It takes a bit of work, but we can begin to understand that Jesus
took on Himself the sin of most people, even the majority of people. But Scripture does not put that limitation on Jesus’
redeeming sacrifice. It is only by the working of God the Holy Spirit that we believe and confess what Scripture truly teaches,
namely, that Jesus took on Himself the sin, guilt, and punishment of all people, even the worst and most contemptuous
person you can imagine – the serial killer, the child molester, the drug trafficking kingpin, the perpetrators of the
Holocaust, the worst of the terrorists, even Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Yes, Jesus took on Himself even
the full burden of their sin, their guilt, their punishment, so that every one of us live with the absolute certainty that there
is no exception to the Gospel. Of course, those who do not believe in Christ Jesus exclude themselves from the great
benefits of His redeeming work.
God demonstrated the unlimited nature of Jesus’ redeeming work by using Saint Paul as His demonstration
case. Paul wrote: “Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent,”6
the leader of those who were persecuting and executing Christians,7 “Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”8 “I received
mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to
those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.”9 Yes, Christ Jesus has borne the
sin, the guilt, and the punishment of every human being, even the most despicable sinner, and even of you and me.
Because Christ Jesus has borne the sin, the guilt, and the punishment that every human being deserved, God has
declared every human being to be righteous in His sight. How glad we are that God has given us the faith by which
we believe this. How eager we are that those who do not yet believe will receive the gift of saving faith.
Isaiah said even more, a wonderful promise to every person who trusts in Christ Jesus. “He makes intercession
for the transgressors.” Think of it! Jesus speaks to His Father on our behalf. That is the very Gospel which Saint
John wrote: “If anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ,
the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”10
Jesus speaks to His Father on our behalf, declaring that He has died for us, and the Father declares us forgiven, not guilty.
And when we are uncertain how to pray about something, or if we think that our prayers just aren’t good enough
to be heard, we have this great promise in Holy Scripture: “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings
too deep for words.”11 God the Father always hears our prayers because of all that
Jesus has done for us. God the Father always answers our prayers because of all that Jesus has done for us. And
always God the Holy Spirit is speaking to our heavenly Father in our behalf, and so is Jesus, the Son of God. And this
means that we can live in true, Christ-centered confidence and peace.
So, yes, today we gather in somber celebration. We do remember that it was our sins that Jesus took to the cross.
It was our guilt that Jesus took to the cross. It was the punishment we deserved that Jesus endured on the cross.
It was the death we should have died that Jesus died in our place. He did it all for us. And in return, God the Father
has declared us to be righteous in His sight, sinless, holy children of God, with no punishment left for us, but only
the joy of life eternal with our God and Savior. We bow before Jesus’ cross in humble thanks and praise
for all that He has done for us. And we go on to live this Good Friday and every day in the joy and peace that are
ours only in Christ Jesus. Amen.
1. Luke 23:44–45
2. John 1:3
3. Ezekiel 18:20
4. Romans 6:23
5. Isaiah 53:6
6. 1 Timothy 1:13
7. Acts 7:58; 8:1; 9:1–2, 13–14
8. 1 Timothy 1:15
9. 1 Timothy 1:16
10. 1 John 2:1–2
11. Romans 8:26
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