He is Brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter, Yet He Opened Not His Mouth

• He was Oppressed and He was Afflicted - The Bible is full of references to God’s anger or judgment as Nah 1:6 depict: “Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him”. The greatest illustration of the damnation of Hell is found in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Hebrew words for “oppressed”(nagas 5065) and “afflicted” (anah 6031) signifies intense suffering. It is very important to keep in mind that what the Lord Jesus experienced, as Isaiah 53 outlines, is the greatest spiritual adversity any human has ever suffered – eternal damnation. “Heart of the earth” in Matt 12:40 or the “the belly of hell” in Jon 2:2 typifies “the wrath of God”. He is the only human being who has experienced first hand the punishment of Hell, as we discover in a passage such as Psa 88:7: “Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah”. Indeed, no one else has actually experienced eternal Hell because they must first be tried in God’s court of divine justice, be found eternally guilty, and then be sentenced to Hell forevermore. Thus Hell is presently a condition and not a place. It will be a place, however, on the Last Day – Judgment Day. The Bible has much to say about the damnation of Hell. First and foremost, it is being under God’s eternal anger for our sin, and it will be more horrible than anyone can possibly imagine. Mat 10:28 adds this fearful warning that God’s judgement is not to be trifled with or lightly esteemed “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him [God] which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. We read of Jesus’ greatest prayer to the Father, “not my will but thine be done” as expressed by His agony three times in the Garden of Gethsemane (which means the “winepress of God”) where He started to endure the wrath of God and had to suffer the equivalent of eternal damnation on our behalf. Heb 5:7 comments on that prayer: “Who [Christ] in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared”. We find in Rev 20:15 this warning: “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”. Because the Lord Jesus was oppressed by His Father and suffered His wrath for us, He was able to set us free from the oppression of Sin, Satan and God’s Wrath.

Isa 53:7 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

Jon 2:2-3 “And said, I [Jonah typifying Christ] cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.”

Matt 12:40 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

• He is Brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter - Concerning the Lord Jesus, we read in Acts 10:43, “... through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission [forgiveness] of sins”. The Bible teaches much about forgiveness and how it is intimately associated with blood atonement. But why blood atonement? In Lev 17:11 we find this principle, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul”. This explains why the Old Testament is replete with account of lambs, oxen, and turtledoves which were sacrificed on the altar in the temple – like in an animal “slaughter house” – on a daily basis. We also read in the New Testament, in Heb 9:22, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission [forgiveness]”. But what kind of sacrifice is God looking for – an animal sacrifice of some kind? Not at all. We find the answer to this question in Mic 6:7, “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? ...”. We also read in Heb 9:4, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins”. So, if God is not concerned with the shedding of an animal’s blood, then what kind of blood is He looking for? The Lord Jesus was typified by all of the mandatory animal sacrifices throughout the Old Testament, but none is more closely associated with the Savior than the Passover Lamb, to which John alludes under Divine Inspiration in John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”. On Mount Moriah, Gen 22:8 says, “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering ...”. Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ was the spiritual fulfillment of Gen 22:13 “… the ram caught in a thicket by his horns ...” as He hung on the Cross, as the Lamb of God, “... slain before the foundation of the world”. We know from Heb 10:12, “But this man [Christ], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God”. For this reason, we understand why the Lord Jesus Christ is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8). Christ is indeed “the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel”, as Heb 12:24 tells us. God did not require Abraham to actually sacrifice his “only son... whom thou lovest”, yet God willingly offered up His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to pay the equivalent of eternal Hell for each child of God.

Isa 53:7 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

Exo 12:5, 11-13 “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: ...11... it is the LORD’s passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”

1 Cor 5:7-8 “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Heb 10:8-10 “Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he [Christ], Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

1 Pet 1:18-20 “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world: but was manifest in these last times for you.”

• He Opened Not His Mouth - The expression, “he opened not his mouth”, in this verse Isa 53:7; and the phrase, “... as a sheep before her shearers is dumb ...” depicts Christ’s willingness to fulfill the purpose of God’s plan. John 10:18 further illustrates the fact that Christ laid down His life voluntarily: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father”. Eph 5:2 affirms: “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given [delivered] himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour”. Jesus stood before Pilate for judgment at a place called “Gabbatha” in John 19:13, “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha”. Pilate, the Roman governor (who typified God the Father) was authorized to pass judgment on God the Son, Who stood apparently innocent before him, as Jesus declares in John 19:11: “Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he [God the Father] that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin”. Though Jesus had no sin of His Own, He had become sin for all the elect. Thus, He was found guilty by His beloved Father, and was required to suffer the penalty of everlasting Hell. Here, specifically we see the apex of God’s plan which finds fulfillment in God the Son, Who came, according to Mat 1:21, to “save his people from their sins”, by becoming sin for them and suffering Hell as their Substitute. Turning to the New Testament, we see how this same verse puzzled the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:30-35 prompting him to ask Philip to explain it. Because the Lord Jesus silently endured the full extent of His Father’s eternal wrath, you and I, as Philip did, can open our mouths to proclaim the marvelous wonders of His grace.

Isa 53:7 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

Psa 39:9-10 [Messianic] “I  [Christ] was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou [God the Father] didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.”

John 19:9 “And [Pilate] went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he [God the Father] that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.”

Acts 8:30-35 “And Philip ran thither to him [Ethiopian eunuch], and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.”