In the Old Testament, the book of the prophet Isaiah shows much detail, of the forthcoming Saviour to the people Israel and the world! Of course we are talking about Jesus!
We read of exact details of how Jesus arrives, as an unassuming individual, how he is rejected and then led to a death as a silent lamb to the slaughter. But, drawing our attention to a couple of verses, we see a particular word used. In verses 5 and 10 in Isaiah 53, we see the following: – “It was the will of the Lord to ‘crush’ him.” It was God’s will to ‘crush’ His son! No wonder Simon Peter was trying to prevent Jesus from going to the cross – he had no understanding at that time, that it was God’s will for Jesus to go and die on the cross!
When we look at the word ‘crush’ we see it means to “press something very hard so that it is broken or it’s shape is destroyed.” Jesus certainly suffered with many wounds, back opened up and unbearable pain! But he suffered no broken bones! It was to fulfill the Word of God! That the Passover lamb would not have any broken bones! We read this in Exodus 12 verse 46 and psalm 34 verse 20.
So, what was the ‘crushing’ that Jesus endured? It was His soul. The reality of the weight that was ahead for Him, the burden of ALL the sin of the world, the ‘crushing’ He felt internally was too much! We see Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane praying in anguish, sweating so much it was akin to drops of blood. He was suffering with anguish so much, that an Angel was dispatched from heaven to strengthen Him! Oh, what anguish our Saviour endured internally for us, as well as the excruciating torture ahead.
He did it for you. He did it for me. In Isaiah 53, verse 11 we read –“Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.“
Thank you, Jesus! That out of this ‘anguish’, He bore our iniquities and made us righteous! He was ‘crushed’ – for you.
