SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 52:13-53:12
OBSERVATION:
Another very clear picture of what kind of messiah God will send: unattractive, plain, poor, humble, meek, innocent, abused, murdered and ultimately restored.
The messiah will suffer by God’s will for the sake of others’ sin.
This seems to be a very obvious prophecy about what the messiah would be like, how could the Jews have missed it?
The resurrection is implied, the messiah will survive and overcome, and will see his children and his children’s children (v.10)!
APPLICATION:
A remarkable prophecy, and a very novel idea, that the messiah would win by losing, suffering, dying.
This shows me again that God’s way is not a way of force, violence, power, but of overcoming evil with good, pride with humility.
This shows the foolishness of God’s method of salvation (“who has believed our message”, v.1); Paul describes the cross as God’s ‘folly’, rejected by Jews and Gentiles, but the only hope of salvation (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
This lesson is hard, but the evidence of life is there; violence generates violence (did the war against terrorism produce less terrorists?).
We are the silly, foolish sheep! I am a silly, foolish sheep, constantly wandering off and getting into trouble – then expecting God to bail me out.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for Your patient, sacrificial love. I am not worthy of Your love, yet You were willing to go through this horrible experience for my sake, for my salvation. Thank You, and help me to honour You with my life, not just with my words! Help me to live a life that was worth saving! Amen.
That is part of loving people, walking through suffering with them. I remember Norm when Cheryl died that you did not have much to say to Trudy but you did sit there and cry..that was a good thing. And the most comforting thing when we “lost” David was when you sat on the couch in the living room that afternoon and cared about us without words…
I always want to say something to fix people too but we cannot. Inviting Jesus into the situation, letting people talk and feel their pain and not running away or pretending that the pain is not here, is important… and it is hard work. Saying nothing and loving is exhausting….
In my own pain the most meaningful things when people show love to me are, by not judging (which you can tell somene is thinking even if they dn’t say it) listening, praying Jesus into the situation, crying with me, not arguing when I question God, not fussing if I cry in church, when they do speak or bring a ‘good’ book they say it is ok if I don’t like their words or their book,writing notes that say they care and are praying… I always want to talk about this topic……
Thanks for your comments Tony and Jill. Reading them is encouraging!
Today what I notice in the reading is that God’s way of dealing with our misery is not first of all to FIX it but to ENDURE it with us. I am a fixer, and I am always trying to find the right words and right actions to make a bad situation better. But reading this passage now impresses on me the fact that God joins us in our struggle, shares the struggle with us, cries with us, despairs with us, feels our anguish, our anger, our hurt, even blames God with us (‘why have You forsaken me’).
In caring for people who hurt, I need to spend less time fixing or advising, and spend more time listening, loving, sharing and caring, and above all just feeling the pain with them. Somehow, myteriously, wonderfully, this IS God’s way of fixing things, but it seems the opposite. It seems weak, yet it is God’s strength. It seems foolish, yet it is God’s wisdom. Helps me to understand why Paul preached Christ crucified!
God, help me to share Your cross with You and with others, to suffer with those who suffer, and stop trying to fix them. This is so hard for me.
This business of being a servant, being humble, laying down your own wants/ needs, not fighting back, letting someone hurt you and still loving them… this is insane! Yet this is what Jesus did! And He was perfect! He loved the people who hammered the nails into His body! He had not done impetuous, foolish, sinful, petty, self serving things. He had every ‘right’ to teach the people, to tell them off, to defend Himself, to have His needs met.
Thank-you Jesus for laying down your Life for me. Thank-you is way too small a word. You are Awesome and Amazing – too marvelous for words….
Please forgive me for wanting to set people straight, for wanting them to apologize before I forgive them, for complaining about having to walk in grace, for not walking with love… Change my heart O God….
Today is Good Friday. Thank-You.
This passage in a nutshell describes the life of Jesus Christ – the person, the sufferings, our transgressions laid on Him, His death and intercession.
Thank You Lord for true life in Jesus Christ. Thank You for the gift of Your Son, and my salvation. Help me to live for Jesus every day.
Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.
Refrain
O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me.
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne.
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.