Isaiah 53:1-12 MSG Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?
2-6 The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him.
7-9 He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off—and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true.
10 Still, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
11-12 Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—the best of everything, the highest honors—Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
Observation
“Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?…it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed…He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people…Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true. Still, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.”
The popular image of Messiah in Jesus’ time was a warrior king who would set His people free from the oppression of Roman rule. This chapter was obviously ignored and/or misunderstood. How often do we do the same thing? We look for scripture passages that reinforce our fix for the circumstances we deem need to be changed, telling God how we think He should move in a situation, and ignore the ones we don’t understand, don’t fit our plan or might be taxing emotionally or physically. I am sure the followers of Jesus would not have understood or agreed with the Savior-On-A-Cross plan as a way to salvation and deliverance. Because their insight, like ours, is limited (temporal, short-sighted by eternal standards), they (and we) often forget that God has an eternal perspective and a plan that is not shaken or adjusted or challenged by circumstances or what people might think.
Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross was the pivot point of history. How difficult it must have been for His disciples to be faced with the enigma of a crucified Savior, something so incongruous, so mutually exclusive. Yet, this was and continues to be God’s one and only plan carried out to perfection.
Impact on Me
Good Friday, the day we commemorate the sacrifice in this chapter of Isaiah, is such a holy day for me. I am so grateful, forever grateful, that God made a way to restore the relationship He established in the Garden of Eden through paying a price none of us could pay. I am overwhelmed by the love, the undeserved grace and mercy available because of Jesus’ willingness to suffer and die for all those who embrace this sacrifice!
It is so astounding to me that God’s plan made Jesus the sacrifice – the innocent dying for the guilty. My mind cannot fathom the depth of that kind of mercy. Then, to add to the staggering nature of His grace, He adopts me as His child rather than holding me as His servant until I could pay the price of my freedom. All for free because Jesus took the redemption price on Him, on Him. Will I be asked to sacrifice, to change, to leave my sin habits behind, to walk by faith into unknown places with unknown consequences, YES, but I will also know that Jesus goes with me always.
I know that you cannot separate the Crucifixion from the Resurrection, the crucified from the risen Savior, because both are key to God’s plan to redeem, restore and reconcile humankind to Him. However, if you are looking for me, go to the Cross. I want to embrace the Cross in such a way that I become bloody so that when I hug someone else, they become bloody, too. I want them to be changed and redeemed, forever grateful as am I.
Prayer
Father God, You are so merciful, so wise, so loving, so gracious. How many times I have questioned Your ways, Your response in desperate and destructive situations, Your seeming slowness to respond! Forgive me for thinking that I can fix anyone or any situation without getting in sync with Your plan first. Help me to understand and surrender to Your will and Your purpose for me so that You can use me as an instrument of redemption. Thank You for the Cross and the Resurrection. May I always be grateful and respond in kind with Your mercy and love. Make it so, in Jesus’ name.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 