Christ in the Old Testament

Isaiah 53:5

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. (NIV)

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 53:4-6

In verse 5 we aren’t told who did the piercing or who did the crushing, but we know from context that it is God. Isaiah 53:10 says, “But the Lord was pleased to crush Him” (NASB). We will look at that interesting statement when we get to verse 10. Today we will focus on Jesus willingly being crushed for our iniquities.

The Hebrew word for “crushed” is dākā’ which describes a force that presses down until the object is broken. It’s used to describe the fine dust created in mortar when something is crushed into pieces. Jesus was crushed by God for our iniquities. The reason Jesus was crushed is the emphasis of this verse – because of our transgressions and iniquities.

The word translated “iniquities” is the Hebrew word ʽāwōn which carries the ideas of moral perversity, the guilt that comes from such wrongdoing, and the resulting obligation for God to punish the sinner. It binds deed, guilt and consequence into a single word. It also conveys the idea of distorting something good so that the result is bad.

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you
    and did not cover up my iniquity (ʽāwōn).
I said, ‘I will confess
    my transgressions to the Lord.’
And you forgave
    the guilt (ʽāwōn) of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

There’s an amazing connection between this verse and Psalm 22:6 which says:

“But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.”

If you recall, the entirety of Psalm 22 describes the feelings and physical pain that Jesus is experiencing on the cross. It’s written in the first-person as if Jesus is narrating from the cross. As he hangs on the cross, he says, “I am a worm and not a man.” The Hebrew word for “worm” in this verse is tôlēʽâ which refers to a particular type of worm – the crimson worm or scientifically named coccus ilicis. This worm is about the size of a pea and it looks more like a grub than a worm.

The connection to our verse in Isaiah is that in biblical times, this worm was crushed for the purpose of making red dye that was used to then make the royal robes such as those worm by the High Priest. When this worm is crushed it excretes a crimson scarlet dye. But only God could create this little worm to point us to Jesus.

This little worm only reproduces once in its lifetime. When it’s time to lay its eggs, it climbs to a branch of a tree and attaches itself so that it cannot be removed without tearing its body apart. A hard crimson shell forms as it is attached to this tree. It then lays its eggs under its body so that it can protect them under its shell.

When the larvae hatch, they remain under the mother’s body and feed on the living body of their mother. The mother worm becomes a living sacrifice. It takes about three days for the mother to die. As she dies, she excretes a crimson dye that stains the baby worms as well as the tree. The baby worms are completely covered in this red dye and remain stained their entire lives. That’s why they are called crimson worms.

When the mother worm dies, it also leaves a crimson stain on that spot of the tree. As it dries out, it turns into a snow-white wax that looks like a patch of wool on the tree. It then falls off and flakes away like snow.

Jesus said he is this worm. He was crushed for our iniquities. He was a living sacrifice for us. His blood spilled out so that we could be covered by it and make our sins as white as snow.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
    they shall be like wool” (Isa 1:18).

Today’s Prayer: Thank you Jesus for pouring out your blood on me so that I could be saved from my sin.