Isaiah 53:6: “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Remember that word “laid.” Isaiah uses the same Hebrew verb one more time, in the very last line of the song: “he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). In verse 6 our sin falls on him. In verse 12 he steps in for us. And look who he prays for. Not the righteous. Transgressors. Earlier in that same verse he was “numbered with the transgressors,” and Jesus quoted that line about himself the night he was arrested (Luke 22:37). He stood with them in death, and he stands up for them before God. In Acts 7 Stephen looks up and sees Jesus “standing at the right hand of God.” And Paul asks, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died... who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). The one who carried your sin is the one standing up for you.
