After laying out many of the divine and wonderful qualities and attributes of the coming Messiah, or Christ in Greek, the prophet Isaiah now begins to tell us that this Servant King must also experience extreme suffering, which will be done on our behalf, to atone for our transgressions. Isaiah wrote these prophecies down many centuries before the birth of Jesus.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:4-6 (NKJV)
Here is a Person who will carry all the sin, faithlessness, brokenness, and moral failures of the world upon His shoulders, placed upon Him as a sin offering before God the Father, so that the unholy may be made holy. He will experience the painful punishment that we all deserve for our shortcomings and selfish acts, taking it all upon Himself, in our place.
These prophetic words of Isaiah were completely fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
When we see Jesus before the religious leaders and Roman authorities, battered beyond recognition, carrying a wooden cross up to the hill of Calvary, we might assume it was because of something seriously wrong that He did. But He is an innocent Lamb, a volunteer hero, who carried OUR griefs and sorrows in order to remove them from us. Our eternal judgment after a life filled with selfish, hurtful words and faithless acts was then able to be declared, “Not Guilty”, passed over and be taken away forever through our faith in Him. We are able to experience peace and healing in our lives because he took the lash meant for us upon His own back, leaving painful stripes plainly visible for all to see, even by Isaiah.
One time, prior to His crucifixion, after Jesus’ disciples had seen Him perform countless miracles, day after day, He asked them, “Who do people say that I am?”
The popular opinion among the crowd was that Jesus was some kind of prophet, possibly a returning of Elijah, or perhaps Jeremiah, another prophet we will look at soon. But Jesus wanted to hear where His disciples stood on the question.
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:15-17 (NKJV)
Jesus then began to explain to them that, after traveling through Israel, spreading the good news of the kingdom and healing the sick, He was now on the road to the cross. He would carry out the divine mission of saving the world through His own suffering, be brutally wounded, die, be buried, then raised from death to life on the third day.
Simon Peter was appalled at this difficult message, and tried to stop Jesus from going forward with God’s plan. Satan himself had previously tried to stop Him in the desert, offering an easier, softer way to kingship through Satan’s plan rather than through the Father’s. But Jesus rebuked them both, turning aside any temptation to bypass the cross, because that was the only way that you and I would be able to be made holy and to spend eternity with Him. Without the shedding of His innocent blood, there was no remission for our sin. Sinful humans simply cannot dwell in the presence of a Holy God – the sin must be removed first, no matter the cost. For both Jesus and the Father, the cost was unthinkably high, but worth it, because of God’s great love for us.
How God does love us! People often feel rejected and forgotten by God, but that is false – in fact, it can be quite the other way around. The Servant King came to suffer for us and even knows the very number of hairs that are (or were) on our heads. He loves you, and longs for you to turn to Him to receive His generous offer of eternal joy and freedom in His presence, God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense (G.R.A.C.E.).
Reflection
Have you experienced the riches of God?
As long as we are breathing, it is never too late to turn to Him in faith to receive a complete cleansing, not matter where we have been or what we have done. His sacrifice is more than sufficient to amply cover our sins and shortcomings, be we in a convent or seminary, or on death row in a prison. He is ready and willing to wipe the slate clean and remember our sins no more.
Lord Jesus, thank You for suffering and dying for me. I will never be able to fully appreciate just how much You and the Father both went through for me and how much You really do love me. Help me to return Your love to You and to follow You. Change my heart through the presence of Your Holy Spirit and grant me peace and love to share with others. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Have a blessed and beautiful day in the Lord today.
Daily Meditations from the Genealogy of Jesus 