What Christmas Teaches Us About God: He is Holy (Week 3)

Isaiah 53:1-12 

Even in our earliest years, we feel guilty. Sometimes our consciences won’t leave us alone. We often experience righteous indignation over some injustice. We live with the innate sense that we exist in a moral universe. All of these experiences point to a bedrock biblical truth: God is holy.

In this passage, Isaiah prophesies about the coming messiah. His prophecy is replete with reminders that God is holy. He reminds us that our sin is an affront to God’s holiness.

In v. 3, Jesus is described as a “man of sorrows.” The main reason for this descriptor is revealed in vv. 5-6. Jesus was pierced and crushed for our sins. The punishment that we deserved was laid on Him. Jesus came into the world to die for sinners because God is holy.

Furthermore, only God can satisfy His own holiness. Isaiah tells us that although Jesus did not sin, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. Although we deserved to pay for our sins, we are incapable of it. Only God could do it, and He did it through the death of His Son. We need a mediator for God’s holiness. We cannot face it alone, which is why Jesus bore our sins on the cross (v.12).

Advent is a crucial time to remember this because we cannot forget that Jesus was born to die.