a. The representation that Christ's death is a sacrifice. Clearly
connecting with whole Mosaic system--and that in the sense of a
trespass offering. Christ seems to quote this verse in John x. 15, when
He speaks of laying down His life, and when He declares that He came to
'give His life a _ransom_ for many.' At any rate here is the great
word, sacrifice, proclaimed for the first time in connection with
Messiah. Here the prophet interprets the meaning of all the types and
shadows of the law.
That sacrificial system bore witness to deep wants of men's souls, and
prophesied of One in whom these were all met and satisfied.
b. His voluntary surrender.
He is sacrifice, but He is Priest also. His soul makes the offering,
and His soul is the offering and offers itself in concurrence with the
Divine Will. It is difficult and necessary to keep that double aspect
in view, and never to think of Jesus as an unwilling Victim, nor of God
as angry and needing to be appeased by blood.
c. The thought that the true meaning of His sufferings is only reached
when we contemplate the effects that have flowed from them. The
pleasure of the Lord in bruising Him is a mystery until we see how
pleasure of the Lord prospers in the hand of the Crucified.