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The prophet gives 2 comparisons to the Savior as he speaks about his sacrifice for us in Isaiah 53:7. The verse reads: "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."

The former comparison is "as a lamb to the slaughter", and the latter "a sheep before its shearers." They both serve as powerful similes that help us to understand the nature of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

As a lamb to the slaughter reiterates the importance of the cross in the atonement. Jesus couldn't suffer for all of our pains, sins, and weaknesses, and live. He, as the Great and Last Sacrifice, had to die in order to fulfill the demands of justice. Our salvation is bought with a price, and that price is paid for by the blood of the perfect, half immortal blood of Jesus Christ. He indeed was, as a lamb to the slaughter, put to death for sins he did not commit.

A sheep before its shearers shares the more important of the two comparisons. It was just as requisite for Jesus Christ to die on the cross, as it was for him to rise again. A lamb brought to the slaughter will not come back, but a sheep before its shearers will. The same came to pass with Jesus. He, being the only man with the power to lay down his life and take it up again, stayed upon the cross. The nails didn't keep him hanging there in agony, but his love for us did. He, being the only man with the power to lay down his life and take it up again, rose from the grave. Because of this marvelous and miraculous feature of the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be reminded: pain has no lasting effect, our weaknesses can be made strong, our sorrows are but for a short moment, and that death has no sting.

We must never forget all the Lord has done for us. We must always retain in remembrance the miracle of forgiveness, which is ours through the blood of the Lamb. I know that He, like the sheep before its shearers, returned from His death on Calvary. I know that you can feel the joy of the most important event the world has ever seen, an empty sepulchre.