重要的福音信息：一个不曾在圣经出现的字词
以赛亚书五十三章3至10节
3他被藐视，被人厌弃；多受痛苦，常经忧患。他被藐视，好像被人掩面不看的一样；我们也不尊重他。
4他诚然担当我们的忧患，背负我们的痛苦；我们却以为他受责罚，被神击打苦待了。
5哪知他为我们的过犯受害，为我们的罪孽压伤。因他受的刑罚，我们得平安；因他受的鞭伤，我们得医治。
6我们都如羊走迷；各人偏行己路；耶和华使我们众人的罪孽都归在他身上。
7他被欺压，在受苦的时候却不开口（或译：他受欺压，却自卑不开口）；他像羊羔被牵到宰杀之地，又像羊在剪毛的人手下无声，他也是这样不开口。
8因受欺压和审判，他被夺去，至于他同世的人，谁想他受鞭打、从活人之地被剪除，是因我百姓的罪过呢？
9他虽然未行强暴，口中也没有诡诈，人还使他与恶人同埋；谁知死的时候与财主同葬。
10耶和华却定意（或译：喜悦）将他压伤，使他受痛苦。耶和华以他为赎罪祭（或译：他献本身为赎罪祭）。他必看见后裔，并且延长年日。耶和华所喜悦的事必在他手中亨通。
信息分享
「代替」的意思，就是由某个人或某件物品，去取代另一个人或另一物件。我们从圣经中得知，无罪的救主代替了全部罪人，去承受罪的刑罚。圣洁的神便借着耶稣基督，向罪人施怜悯，并拯救所有凭着信心来到祂面前，接受耶稣代赎的罪人。
由伊甸园至各各他山上，都贯串了这个「代替」的宝贵真理。当我们读旧约的时候，往往发觉它的信息预示了将来会发生的某件事，那就是十字架的救赎。十字架的影像，就像一个在我们头上飞行的轻型飞机，一直引带我们往前方。
我们在创世记看到，人类的始祖亚当和夏娃，他们在犯罪之后，神便给他们披上无辜被杀的野兽身上的皮毛。那是甚么意思？当无辜的野兽为着人类的罪而被杀，牠们的皮毛给人披上之后，人的罪便得以被遮盖，于是神才能与罪人保持相交。
当圣经记载亚伯建造一座坛，献上蒙神悦纳的祭，祂实际上是在预表将来会在另一座祭坛上为我们献祭──那就是神的羔羊在各各他山上献上自己。如此，所有罪人都可以得蒙神的接纳。
旧约出现许多类似的预表，包括神为亚伯拉罕预备了一只羊羔，让牠代替以撒作为祭牲献上；以色列民在逾越节的晚上，宰杀羔羊来代替长子被杀；以及神为以色列人设立的献祭制度，用无瑕疵的祭牲来代替人赎罪。它们全都是指向后来在各各他山上，基督为全人类流血牺牲，代替我们赎罪。
反思的经文：
「祂是爱我，为我舍己。」（加二20）
GREAT WORDS OF THE GOSPEL A WORD THAT'S NOT IN THE BIBLE
Isaiah 53:3-10
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
Message
Here is a word not found in our Bibles, but it stands for a great truth running from Genesis to Revelation. The word is 'substitution'.
To substitute is to put a person or object in place of another person or object. In the Bible, we have the story of a sinless Saviour taking the place of a whole race of sinners. He paid the penalty which was really ours. This made it possible for a Holy God to reach out in mercy and save all who would come to Him in faith in the substitute.
This precious truth of substitution is found in the Bible right from Eden to Calvary. As we read through the Old Testament we are constantly conscious of a shadow falling across its pages. It is the long shadow of the Cross. It is like the shadow of a light plane keeping up with us as we move along.
In the book of Genesis we read about the sinning pair, Adam and Eve. We find they were covered with the skins of innocent animals. What is it telling us? There is a covering for sin when the innocent dies for the guilty. God can then maintain fellowship with the guilty one.
When the Holy Spirit records how Abel built an altar and offered an acceptable sacrifice, He is really telling us about the other altar, Calvary. There the Lamb of God died so that even Abel himself might be accepted before God.
The same truth is foreshadowed in so many ways in the Old Testament - Abraham's lamb which replaced Isaac on Mt. Moriah, the Passover lamb in Egypt, the endless procession of innocent animals on the altar. They all pointed forward to Calvary, where Christ died in our place. That is substitution.
OUR VERSE FOR TODAY: 'The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. '(Galatians 2:20)