Crushed for Our Iniquities - by Kevin DeYoung

Found here. Our comments in bold.

-----------------

We have had opportunity to examine several of Mr. DeYoung's teachings, and we have been disappointed every time. True to his Calvinist/reformist roots, Mr. DeYoung relishes in the supposed punishment of Jesus at the hands of the Father.

This did not happen. There is no verse that even hints that the Father punished Jesus. This is important. We repeat. The Bible does not teach this.

However, there is one passage that has been used to suggest that Jesus was punished by the Father, Isaiah 53. That is the subject of Mr. DeYoung's article.

First, here's the whole passage:

1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; He will see the result of the suffering of his soul and be satisfied] by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53 is a stark and profound messianic prophecy, describing in detail the suffering Lamb of God. But because of misunderstanding, bad doctrine, or bad teaching, we believe this passage has been misinterpreted. We humbly undertake to correct this mistake. 

Mr. DeYoung focuses on verse 10, but we want to look at the context to see how Isaiah sets up his presentation. 

Importantly, early on, Isaiah corrects any misunderstanding in verse 4:

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

Isaiah states a truth, that surely He "took up" (nasa or nasah, to lift, carry, take) and "carried" (sabal, to bear [a heavy load]) our infirmities and sorrows.

Take careful note at this point. Isaiah then uses the word "yet." He notes a contrast: Yet we considered him stricken by God... We have a mistaken perception, and Isaiah corrects us. We thought He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God. But he wasn't. That's what Isaiah is telling us here.

The Father did not strike, smite, or afflict Jesus.

Isaiah immediately reiterates the truth in next verse, verse 5. He begins with the word "but:"

Is. 53:5: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

The features of the crucifixion are being detailed for us, hundreds of years before the actual event. Here’s Isaiah's train of thought:

Truth Statement: He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows (vs. 4a)

False Perception: we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted (vs. 4b)

False Perception Corrected: But... (vs. 5)

Truth Statement: He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities (Vs. 5)

Isaiah bookends the false impression with truth statements.  He then proceeds to fill in details: Jesus was pierced, crushed, and punished. We should note that Isaiah does not say God inflicted the punishment that brought us peace. The reader will recall that it was the Jews and also the Roman soldiers who abused Him.

Also notice that this punishment was "upon" him. The word translated “upon” is al, which means upon, above, over. The punishment was upon, above, over Jesus.  This concept of something being carried is a repeated theme. It will be expressly stated later in the chapter. 

Jesus carried a burden. Let’s paraphrase verses 4-5: "He carried our problems. Yet for some reason we thought He was punished by God. But He wasn't. The horrible things He suffered were for our benefit."

Now for Is. 53:6: 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

"Has laid" is paga, to meet, encounter, reach. Our iniquity has reached him. Isaiah is amplifying his point. This Man bore a heavy burden, laid upon him for our benefit.

Finally we come to the verse in question, Is. 53:10:

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

The literal translation is

His soul an offering for sin, you make, when he has put [him] to grief to bruise him, it pleased… 

Interestingly, the literal translation adds words, which we think colors the translation. Without the added words it would read:

The man (nephesh), a guilt offering (asham) appointed (sum or sim), when (im) he is made weak (chalah) and broken in pieces or crushed (daka), it pleased him (chaphets).

Unfortunately we are not Hebrew scholars. Yet we wonder if sometimes our Bible translations contain added elements derived from the already-existent doctrinal preconceptions. We say this because a word-for-word rendering without inserted "clarifying" language seems to yield a different result. Here’s our attempt at a smoother rendering:

He was appointed to be a guilt offering, and was made weak, broken and crushed, and it pleased God.

Given the context of what Isaiah has told us up to this point, we cannot justify the idea that this verse is telling us the Father punished Jesus.

Let's look at a couple more verses. 

Is. 53:11:

After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

"Bear" is sabal, to bear (a heavy load). We are seeing again and again this concept of Jesus as the burden-bearer, He was not punished by the Father. 

Is. 53:12

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

"Bore" once again is nasa or nasah, to lift, carry, take. Jesus carried our sin as a burden, the Father did not punish him.

We must affirm that Jesus' ministry was to bear the weight of sin, carrying it outside the camp to be fixed to the cross. He never had a part in sin, so God never punished him or poured out His wrath on Him. He did exactly what the Father wanted, be the burden-bearer for our sin.

The Father knew that men would torture the Messiah, He knew they would crush Him and beat Him. It pleased the Father that Jesus was completely obedient through this torture, and approved of Him.

Jn. 8:29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.

When we divorce ourselves of preconceptions, another story emerges. It's not a story of substitutionary punishment, it's a story of sacrifice and perfect obedience.

Jn. 3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

Lk. 3:22 You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.

The Father did not punish Jesus,  and Jesus did not substitute Himself.

--------------------

Isaiah 53

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Is. 53:10)

Isaiah 53 begins with a question: “Who has believed what he has heard from us?” (v. 1). Considering all that happens to the suffering servant, it’s a fair question. How can such violence, such tragedy, such injustice be tolerated? How can the righteous suffer and the guilty go free? Why was the promised deliverer crushed for our iniquities? Verse 10 gives the answer to these mounting questions: “It was the will of the Lord to crush him.”

This may seem like an unsatisfying answer. “This only makes it worse,” we may think. “I could scarcely accept such punishment befalling an innocent man. I could barely embrace the idea that the righteous would suffer in the place of the guilty. But this is altogether too much. How does it help to know that it was the Lord’s will to crush him?”

But this is good news, and worth reflecting upon as a fitting summary to this entire section on the work of Christ.

Because it was the Lord’s will to crush him, we can behold the glory of our triune God in planning and procuring our redemption. The Father did not punish the Son as a helpless victim of cosmic child abuse. (The Father did not punish Jesus at all.)

The Son went to the cross freely and willingly. Likewise, the Son did not appease an angry God as some sort of divine good cop to the Father’s divine bad cop. The Father sent his Son to the cross freely and willingly. The good news of Good Friday is that the Father did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all (Rom. 8:32) and that the Son drank the bitter cup of God’s wrath for our sakes (Mark 14:36). (Jesus did not drink the cup of God's wrath. Let's quote:

Mk. 14:36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

It seems pretty obvious that the verse does not mention wrath, so it is assumed. In fact, Jesus was referring to the impending pain and torture of the cross, not the Father's wrath upon Him. How do we know?

Mt. 20:22-23 Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. 23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

If the cup in Mark 14:36 is God's wrath, then these two disciples [James and John] also drank from it. This of course is false.)

Because it was the Lord’s will to crush him, we can rest secure in the love of God. The cross did not change the mind of God. Good Friday did not happen so that God could love us, but because he already loved those whom he had chosen in Christ. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). (??? For God so loved the world, not just those He has chosen.)

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).

And finally, because it was the Lord’s will to crush him, we can be sure that full satisfaction has been made for our sins. ("Satisfaction?" Who was satisfied by Jesus' death? There was no payment made. There was no debt owed. Jesus was a sacrifice, not a transaction. His blood washed away our sins. The blood alone is enough.)

If the cross is something other than divine judgment upon the divine Son of God, (It is not.)

if Good Friday is not the eternal, redemptive plan of God executed fully and finally on a hill outside Jerusalem, (It is.)

then we cannot know if our sins have truly been forgiven. (Why not?)

We cannot be sure that Christ’s death was enough. (Why not?)

We cannot be certain that it is finished. (Why not?)

But if Isaiah 53:10 is the answer to all the problems mounting in verses 1–9, then we can say with the psalmist the words that Jesus himself quoted: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps. 118:22–23; Mark 12:10–11). And then we can say with all our might and savor with all our hearts the very next verse in that psalm: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24).

This article is adapted from Daily Doctrine: A One-Year Guide to Systematic Theology by Kevin DeYoung.