Isaiah 53
is the longest, clearest and most moving of all the prophecies of the Messiah.
Isaiah, writing seven hundred years before the coming of Jesus, described it
beautifully. Let's look at it the way it must have sounded to the people of
Isaiah's day.
“Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
In other
words, Isaiah says “You’re never going to believe what has happened.” No one is ever going to believe how strong
God is!”
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
Isaiah
tells us that there is going to be a man.
He sees it as if it had already happened He’s going to be an ordinary
man. He will be born a baby, a tender
shoot. This man is not going to look like a king. He‘s going to look like anyone else who walks
through the marketplace on a crowded day.
He’ll not attract attention with his good looks.
He may look ordinary, but he will not be
ordinary! He’s going to be God on
earth. He’s going to look like everyone
else, but in reality He’s going to be God Almighty.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Now when
this God-man walks on earth, how do you think people will treat him? Isaiah tells us--they are going to reject
Him. God is going to live among, and we
are going to turn our backs to Him. We
ae going treat Him as if He were nothing.
No "Hallelujah", no "Praise the Lord"--just a
deafening silence as the people turned their back on Him.
Terrible,
you say? It is terrible. But here’s the most amazing part. God planned
it this way. He intended for this man to
be rejected and crushed.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our
sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions ,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
God plan
was to redeem us by this man’s death.
When they beat his back, that whipping really belonged to us. When they pierce his hands, that piercing
should have been ours. We deserved it because of our sins, but God
took it upon Himself. Sinners should be
punished. Punishment cleanses sin. But instead of delivering that rod to our
backs, this God-man will take it for us.
He will allow himself to be wounded and bruised for what we did.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open
his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her sheerer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was
stricken.
He’s going
to be punished for our sins--yet look at how He’s going to take it! He will not cry out. He’s will accept every blow of his own free
will.
And here’s
the even more amazing part--We’re going to kill him. When people look at this man, in the
perfection of His holiness, they’re going to kill Him. He’s going to die for what we did.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death, though he had done no
violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
They’re
going to put this man to death with common criminals. He’s going to suffer for our sins in the
company of thieves and murderers. Not
even in death, will the world give Him the honor he deserves.
Yet it was the
LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify
many, \
and he will bear their iniquities.
Even so,
that’s not the end of the story. God is not going to let him rest in the
grave. God is going to raise this
God-man from the grave, and he is going to prosper. He’s going to bring forth people , just like
him. They won’t see death, either.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
This God
man is going to be great, the greatest who ever lived on the earth. The whole world will know His name.
And what
is that name? Jesus.
Jesus Christ is that God-man. In His name, God is going to give us
everlasting life.
Isaiah saw
you. He saw me. He saw our salvation, and what it would take
to bring it about. He saw all this,
because he saw Jesus. Now, we are free from guilt, from fear, and from that
feeling so many people have that they can never be good enough. We have peace,
not because we deserve it, but because we don’t, and we know it.
We have
peace because of what Christ has done.
And all He
asks is one thing--Believe. Believe in Jesus, and you’ll have everlasting life!
"God
we thank you for your Suffering Servant, who died that we might have eternal
life."
