Isaiah 53:1-12
Our Suffering Servant
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 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.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 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 its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 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.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
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.
12 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.
Jesus is our Suffering Servant that Isaiah wrote about hundred of years before His birth...
Who has believed Jesus' message?...To whom has the LORD revealed His powerful arm?...Jesus 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...He was despised and rejected—a Man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief...After helping so many, we turned our backs on Him and looked the other way in His time of need...He was despised, and we did not care...Yet it was our weaknesses and sins 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!...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...All of us, like sheep, have strayed away...Our minds are often on this world and we wander away...We leave God’s paths to follow our own...Yet the LORD laid on Him the sins of us all...He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet He never said a word, except forgiving us for what we would do...He was led like a lamb to the slaughter...And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, He did not open his mouth...Unjustly condemned, He was led away...No one cared that He died without descendants, that His life would be cut short in years...But He was struck down for the rebellion of us, for our sins, not His...He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone...But He was crucified and buried like a criminal; He was put in a rich man’s grave...But it was the LORD’s good plan to crucify Him and cause Him grief...Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have many descendants...He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD's good plan will prosper in His hands...When He sees all that is accomplished by His anguish, He will be satisfied...And because of His experience on earth, our Righteous Servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins...God gave Him the honors of a victorious soldier, because He exposed Himself to death...He was counted among the rebels and criminals...And He bore the sins of many and interceded for mankind...
Jesus would lay down His life for us on the cross...He bore our sins...And though as one reads the Suffering Servant, one might think Jesus was somewhat weak...But it is just the opposite...He is the Most Powerful Man to ever walk the earth...