Prophecy

The Messiah’s Suffering was for Our Sins

Prophecy: The Messiah’s Suffering was for Our Sins

As it was written in the Tanakh (NIV & TLV),

Isaiah 53:4-6, 12 “⁴ Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken 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 on him, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” “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.”

Suffering for Our Sin

The Messiah bears our sins and the punishments that we are supposed to bear ourselves.

In the Torah, only spotless and perfect animals could be used to serve as sacrifices for sin atonement and offerings. Likewise, the Messiah must be sinless Himself in order to be the atonement for our sin.

How did Messiah Jesus Fulfill this Prophecy?

Jesus Died for Us as Our Once-for-All Sacrifice

In Leviticus 16:29-34, the annual Atonement indicates nothing about prayer, repentance, good deeds, and fasting which are the elements of Yom Kippur nowadays. Instead, the Tanakh mentions only blood atonement. As our respected rabbi Rashi in his commentary said: “כי נפש הבשר FOR THE LIFE OF THE FLESH of every creature, not only of animals brought as sacrifices, is dependent on its blood (בדם היא), and it is for this reason that I have placed it [on the altar] to make expiation for the life of man: let life come and expiate for life!”

In other words, in the blood sacrifices is the principle of substitution – life for life. And our Jewish Messiah Jesus takes away our sins by shedding His blood to be once-for-all sacrifice. We do not need to do the sacrifice on Yom Kippur every year. Jesus died for us as our once-for-all sacrifice!

As it was written in the New Covenant (NIV & TLV),

Matt 8:17 “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

Luke 22:37 “It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

Hebrews 7:27 “Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.”