The Restitution Offering

Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him, and He made Him sick. When You make Him a restitution offering, He will see His seed, He will prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will succeed by His hand. – Isaiah 53:10 HCSB

When I was young and unsaved, I spent my free time stealing. I looked upon it as a skill and worked at it, much like many kids develop their ability to skate board. I stole small items at first and gradually increased the complexity and risk of my thefts. Unfortunately, I was never caught.

When I became a Christian, I felt the need to go back to the people from whom I had stolen and make restitution for my sin against them. Restitution can take the form of a sum of money that is paid in compensation for loss or injury. But the act of restitution is hinged on the hope of restoring something to its original state. It means to return, to restore, regain.

It’s rather like the “go back” function on your computer. Let’s say you were surfing the net and you saw a really cool little program that interested you. On an impulse, you decided to download it only to discover that it brought with it all kinds of garbage that not only is embarrassing for someone to see on your computer, but actually hinders its function. All you need to do is hit the “go back” button and reset your computer to the way it was the day before. “Voila!” It’s like it never happened.

Normally, the person who committed the sin must make restitution to the injured party. We are so lacking in resources however, that God had to make the restitution for us.

It’s as though we were accused of a terrible crime and, based on overwhelming evidence, were convicted in court. We stood before the Judge and He sentenced us to death. But then, wonder of wonders, He stood, removed His robes, stepped down from the bench and took our place at the gallows!

Jesus is our “go back” button. He is the restitution offering we needed to regain our relationship with God. He is the means by which we can restore our fellowship with Yahweh Shaphat.

That function cost Him. He had to be crushed. He was made sin-sick. He was split from His Father and made to bear the weight of the world’s sins. He was beaten to within an inch of His life and then tortured to death.

So now we owe Him. Our gratitude should compel us to offer some form of restitution to the Master. We must dedicate the rest of our lives as a living and holy sacrifice to Him. We must seek to discern and practice the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.[1] We must, as Yeshua’s disciples, become in our turn restitution offerings.

[1] Romans 12:1-2