Isaiah 53:4
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 53:4-6
Continuing from yesterday, the last word for us to study in the opening sentence of verse 4 is the Hebrew word nāśā which is translated as “took up” or “borne” in the KJV. It speaks to the active removal of sins by the actions of one person carrying them for another. It says that Jesus literally carried our sins for us as if we handed them to him.
Recall that we studies the role of the scapegoat way back on January 13. God gave Moses the instructions for the scapegoat in Leviticus:
“When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry (nāśā) on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness… Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. ” (Lev 16:20-22, 30).
Just as the scapegoat would carry the sins of the nation of Israel to a remote place so that they will never be found again, Jesus would carry the sins of the entire world to a remote place never to be found again. From the beginning of time to the end of time, all who believe in the name of Jesus would have their sins forgiven because they would be handed to him and he would take them. Jesus is the final scapegoat. John the Baptist would exclaim:
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
Jesus was the
Paul explains that Jesus take our sin:
“God made him who had no sin to be sin (or a sin offering) for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).
Jesus was the final sin offering:
“But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many” (Heb 9:26-28).
Peter quotes Isaiah 53:4 in explaining how Jesus took our sins:
“‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed’” (1 Peter 2:24).
The word translated “bore” or “carried” in Isaiah 53:4 is the Hebrew word sābal conveys the act of carrying a heavy weight. This is not a casual act. Sābal always conveys strenuous effort because the load is burdensome. Jesus carried the full weight of our sorrows and our suffering with him to the cross.
“Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain (sābal) you.
I have made you and I will carry (nāśā) you;
I will sustain (sābal) you and I will rescue you” (Isa 46:4).
Jesus is he who sustains us. Jesus is he who carries us. Jesus is he who made us. Jesus is he who rescued us. He says, “I am he.”
Christ in the Old Testament 
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