Isaiah 53
I recently listened to Isaiah 53. It’s a moving account of what would happen to Christ recorded at least 4 centuries before he was born. It’s amazing how Isaiah could look into the future and paint a graphic picture of what was to come, yet the people of the day missed it. We easily forget. We all have turned deaf.
Here it is — Isaiah 53 — The Message translation
53 Who believes what we’ve heard and seen?
Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?2–6 The servant grew up before God — a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried —
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him — our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.7–9 He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off —
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn’t true.10 Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it — life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.11–12 Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly —
the best of everything, the highest honors —
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
Scripture like this always makes me feel like there really is something that needs to be explored here. It’s not just ancient wisdom. It points to something bigger — bigger than any of us. This, this is what draws me to believe and to trust. It calls me turn and repent of my selfish, self-absorbed lifestyle. I’m too full of myself and I forget to see the bigger picture.
The bigger picture is in many ways already written out. Already planned out. Some of it revealed. Some of it veiled. We may not understand everything, but at this point, I just hope I can do justice to what I know already. I hope I can be faithful. I hope my heart stays receptive and I’m listening.
The symbol of Christianity is one of deep anguish and pain and shame. But through it, God works out his salvation. It’s crazy. It’s true. It is statistically significant. :-)