Scripture: Isaiah 53:1-6
1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he
carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
Observation: It
is hard to read this chapter of Isaiah without being filled with wonder and
amazement. This prophecy was spoken nearly 700 years before it was fulfilled by
Jesus. This chapter talks about how we (when I say we, I mean the human race
from Adam and Eve to the present and into the future) have either chosen to
believe God’s message or not to believe it. It talks of a humble man that God
sent to us. A man that by all appearances was no different than anyone else.
Yet He was very different from everyone else.
Much like the Old Testament prophets He and His message were
rejected. The message that Jesus was teaching and preaching went against the
grain and was tested time and again by the Jewish leaders. In today’s terms we
could really say that He was bullied. Those of us who have been bullied can
attest that you feel alone. Sure there are those around you like friends and
family, but it is an internal loneliness. Unlike us I would think that this
cause Jesus great pain as He listened to and watched what the people were
saying and doing.
We turned our backs on Him. Most of us know what that feels
like. A feeling like nobody cares about us or what happens to us. Jesus would
have felt the full effect of this. Even His disciples would abandon and deny
Him. That is a weight that is impossible for us to bare. He could and did bare
that weight and did so willingly. Not something anyone I know could do.
How frustrating this must have been, especially knowing that
He would carry this along with our sins to the cross. When He was whipped with
a whip that was designed to break and rip skin and then crucified it was
believed that He was being punished by God for His sins. And for the treatment
that He received they had to think that Jesus’ sins were really bad. Jesus’
punishment was extremely severe and undeserved.
Unlike us, Jesus had no sin. He lived the way that God wants
us to live. Jesus took a punishment that we should get for our sins. A
punishment that if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we do not have
to endure. He took it all. Even to the point that God left Him on the cross.
Application: The
question now is, would I take the punishment for someone else. Would I die for
someone I didn’t know? I can tell you that for a time when my brother was little
I did take the punishment for him. That is until he took advantage of it. But
seriously, how far are we willing to go for each other?
Am I living a life worthy of the punishment that Jesus took
for me on the cross? Am I striving every day to be more like Jesus?
Just because He took the punishment for me does not mean
that I have a blank check to do whatever I want to. It does not give us a
license to keep sinning. If we do, we are turning our backs on Him. We are
doing exactly what is described in verse 3, “3 He was
despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We
turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did
not care.”
Prayer: Father, I
don’t want to live life constantly turning my back on you and Jesus. I don’t want
to look away from you. What Jesus did for me and everyone else should not be in
vain. Help me to live a life worthy of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. I pray
that my example would let others see You in me. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment