Year 3, Day 37: Isaiah 53

The Bringer Of Peace

Isaiah 53 – and the last 3 verses of Isaiah 52 – may well be one of my favorite sets of verses in the Bible. I know I’ve said that before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again.  After all, with so many sides to spirituality, it is certainly possible to have multiple favorites for each dynamic of spirituality.  But when it comes to understanding what length’s God’s Messiah would go to bringing peace between God and His people – these verses are simply a classic.  I do believe that this passage should be read through the double-interpretation lens about which I’ve often spoken in this blog.  But for this passage, I’m going to jump straight to the interpretation that focuses on the work of Jesus Christ.

It really begins with Isaiah 52:13.  “My servant shall act wisely.”  That last word can also be translated as prudently.  Think about this for a second.  We know what Christ did.  We know His act on the cross.  I doubt you will find very many people at all who would consider going to the cross as prudent or wise.  After all, if someone looked at you and said, “God told me to tell you that He wants you to be crucified,” how many of you would be quick to volunteer to die?  No.  From the perspective of the world, what Jesus did was in no way prudent or wise.

But from the divine perspective, it was incredibly prudent!  Jesus was bringing reconciliation between God and His creation!  Jesus was bridging the gap between a righteous God and a people who have no hope of being righteous on their own.  From God’s perspective, there is no more prudent act that God’s Messiah could do!

Let’s now look at what this passage says about the actions of God’s servant.  “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance.”  Jesus would be abused and beaten so much that it would be painful for us to look upon Him.

“He grew up like a root out of dry ground.”  We know how faithless humanity can be.  We know that Jesus Himself accused the world around Him of being utterly incapable when it came to faith in God.  Jesus even praises a Roman Centurion for having faith unlike anything else found among the Hebrew people.  God’s Messiah came among a Hebrew culture that had no reason to expect Him to come among their midst.  Of course, they don’t really have the corner on faithlessness, do they?

“He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, no beauty that we should desire Him.”  When Jesus was on the earth, you wouldn’t have known it by outward appearances.  He didn’t look like a king.  He didn’t act like royalty.  Jesus came as a servant.  He was the son of a carpenter.  People who judge Him based on outward appearances simply miss what He has to offer.

“He has borne our grief.  He has carried our sorrows.”  “He was pierced for our transgressions.  He was crushed for our iniquities.”  “He was oppressed, He was afflicted.”  The death of Christ was not easy.  He endured physical torture.  He endured psychological suffering.  He endured relational rejection.  He endured spiritual abandonment.  In every way possible Jesus experienced the pain of living and dying for a people who did not deserve it.

“Yet he opened not His mouth.  Like a lamb lead to the slaughter … so He opened not His mouth.”  Jesus knew the plans of God.  He knew He was on a higher agenda.  He accepted God’s plan and submitted to it without complaint.

“With His wounds we are healed.”  None of us can save ourselves.  None of us can do what He did for us.  We could never accomplish in a whole lifetime what Jesus accomplished in a single moment of death.  Through Him – and only through Him – are we healed.

“Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush Him.”  All of this happened because it was God’s will.  All of this happened for our sake, by God’s own hand.  He bore our sin because God knew it was the only way.  He died because God knew it was the only option.  God provided a way.  All we need to do is humble ourselves, follow the leading of Christ, and submit.

Are you ready?

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