Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
Arguable one of the more powerful passages of Scripture. A compelling portrait of the messiah, the Chosen One. The very Son of God.
Spoken nearly 700 years before the birth of Christ, this passage detailed just how God's redemption for mankind would be revealed and carried out.
The brutality of the punishment to be inflicted upon this innocent servant goes beyond understanding, beyond comprehension, beyond our ability to imagine. The passage states that “his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness” No longer could he be recognised as human, or as a man with whom they were familiar.
Graphic explanation, most would rather avoid, as it draws out a serious set of consequences. That these inflictions, these punishments. The humiliation, the pain, the shame and the suffering of the servant...
They were all because of you.
They were all because of me.
I caused this, my sins, my failures. This is the reason why he was 'lifted up'. Not only that, but it says that we ourselves carried out the sentence against him. We ourselves condemned him, sentenced him and acted as executioner.
All through this, the wisest man in the world, the one with all power and authority through his relationship to the Father, able to call in legions of divine warriors to deliver him from the injustice. To call down fire from heaven to consume the evil men who were persecuting him. What did he do then against this breach of justice? What would his reaction be to those who would so brutally afflict him.
He said not a word.
“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 shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.”
The one person who had the ability to save himself and deliver justice to all those who would persecute him, did not open his mouth. Did not say a word of judgement or vengeance.
Why?
This is the question that we are all thinking, because if the situation were reversed how many of us could imagine letting the enemy win? Letting our enemy, our oppressor fulfil his cruellest desires and will.
Why wouldn't he defend himself? I'm sure that those disciples who had the strength to be present at the crucifixion were asking that question. After travelling with Jesus for 3 years, living with him eating with him. Seeing him do things that were thought of as impossible. Seeing a man born blind restored to sight, seeing lepers cleansed, seeing dead raise, seeing the possessed set free and restored to their humanity. Seeing a man control the very elements, walking on water, calming a raging storm with a command.
To see him say not a word to save himself.
To see him give up.
Surrender.
I wonder what they were thinking? Did they despise his weakness as others did? Did they get angry at how futile it all seemed, as all their hopes, their desires and their future get nailed to that cross. Did they despair, or was it all numb?
Maybe they believed that it was all a game, and then at the last moment, He would be victorious, destroying that evil instrument of death, and so vindicate himself and his ministry.
But he died.
He breathed his last, and the earth shook. Reality was broken for that moment, when graves were opened and the dead walked, the sun disappeared, and the temple curtain was torn.
Surely something went wrong somewhere in there, surely someone did not listen to God at some point which would have saved the situation. How could the enemy win? How could the light of life be snuffed out?
“Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer”
In this statement we see just how greatly we are loved.
His own son, his dear child, perfect, obedient even to death. Crushed, in pain, suffering. And all for what?
So that you do not have to.
Because He loves you.
Let that sink in a moment... God, the Father, the most powerful being in or out of existence, would allow his son, a part of himself, be destroyed, humiliated and crucified. He did this so that the price could be paid. The debt cancelled.
“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.”
We are all in pain, hurting and hiding in shame from the things that we have done.
We are hurt, sick, lame, and destined for death. Our beings were corrupted by sin, and it was dragging us to our deaths.
BUT.
This is one of the greatest words that I find in the bible, as always after a desperate situation in which all seems lost and broken, we see -but... This three letter word is God saying to us, though all seems lost, I have made a way.
We were headed for death. But God made a way. He desires SO MUCH a relationship with you, what he would plan from the beginning a way for us to be saved. We justly deserved death, and are have signed our own death warrant. Yet God devised a way. A genius way to bail us out. He could not remove the price, as all sin requires a life. Yet there is a way. If there was a perfect life.. it could atone for all sin. However there is only one who is perfect. His son Jesus.
Knowing full well the price that would have to be paid, in pain and blood, he sent him, a lamb for the slaughter. And Jesus in his great love for you, went without a word, knowing the price, but also knowing the reward.
He loves you.
He paid the price.
You are loved.
You have worth.
Never let it come into your mind otherwise, God proved His love for you.
The question is now... Will we accept His love?
I cannot answer that for you, that one is yours alone to answer. The price has been paid, but will you take the gift? Will you accept Him?
I pray that you do.
These are just some of my thoughts after reading the passage of Isaiah 52:13 though Isaiah 53:13. I hope that you can gain something from them. :)
Daniel Twyerould