The Bible teaches that Jesus willingly took our place, living the life we should have lived and dying the death we should have died. His death was a sacrifice that absorbed God's wrath for us. Jesus is referred to as our Passover lamb and he bore our sins on the cross. His wounds brought healing and he took on our penalty. Jesus was innocent, yet it was God's will for him to be crushed and become an offering for guilt. Through his sacrifice, we can be counted as righteous. Jesus willingly laid down his life out of love for us.
The Bible teaches that Jesus willingly substituted himself in our place. That's in color, but that he lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died. Romans says that God presented him as an atoning sacrifice in his blood. In other words, Jesus' death was a sponge soaking up God's wrath for us. First Corinthians calls Jesus our Passover lamb, referring to the exodus where the lamb was killed in place of the firstborn son.
First Peter says he bore our sins in his body on the tree. And then it quotes Isaiah 53 and says, by his wounds you have been healed. Isaiah 53 says he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. So there's substitution language here. He was pierced for our transgressions. So it's an exchange. There's also some penalty language there, right? He was crushed for our iniquities. It says, upon him was a chastisement that brought us peace. By his wounds we were healed.
The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. The sin of the wounds are correspondent. The wounds were the penalty for our sin. Jesus was also innocent. It says, although he had done no violence and there was no dispute in his mouth, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. And then it says, his soul makes an offering for guilt. So he's an atoning sacrifice. Then it says, by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous.
Just like 2 Corinthians says, God made the one who did not know sin, that's Jesus, to be a sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God, the righteous one makes many to be accounted righteous. And he became sin. So the next thing it says is he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bore the sin of many. So he bore our sin. Also, keep in mind that this is all the delight of Jesus.
He says in John, no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. And in Psalm 40 he says, I take joy in doing your will, my God. So he was not passive in this. We have to hold these two things together. It was the will of the Father to crush him, and at the same time Jesus laid down his life of his own accord, out of love for us.
