Monday, March 27, 2006
Isaiah 53
“And when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him,” Isaiah writes without a hint of evidence that this man of whom he speaks will walk this earth hundreds of years hence. Jesus was not going to be star quality by human standards. “He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Hah, that could be anybody! Who isn’t acquainted with grief! Well, true, we have tasted of His cup. But show me the person who fits the description, the Incarnation of Love who drank the entire bitter rejection of men, so alone and betrayed, for Isaiah continues, “We hid as it were our faces from Him’ He was despised and we esteemed Him not.”
“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him (the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, NIV); and with His stripes we are healed.” To whom are these words most clear? Is it not the “we” Isaiah is writing to?” You and me, oh Israel, are going to hide our faced from Him our dear Savior, Messiah!”
As Mrs. Schaeffer explains, these words are timeless and vivid for a people who understood sacrifice for the atonement of their sins. Whether living contemporaries of Isaiah who knew the Promise of a coming Messiah, or those who looked upon His “stripes” and were struck with remembrance of Isaiah 53, or whether you are of Jewish tradition and have read for the first time of how Jesus Christ died on a cross in flawless portrayal of Isaiah’s prophecy, the message is miraculously poignant. Messiah loves us this much and wants me, and wants you to be healed.
But go on, Mrs. Schaeffer implores: “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way;" (Who can deny it? So many have wandered to precarious places, unawares.) "...and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Jew and Gentile) John, on whom Jesus showed favor, wrote, “I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” ~Jesus, quoted in John 10
“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him (the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, NIV); and with His stripes we are healed.” To whom are these words most clear? Is it not the “we” Isaiah is writing to?” You and me, oh Israel, are going to hide our faced from Him our dear Savior, Messiah!”
As Mrs. Schaeffer explains, these words are timeless and vivid for a people who understood sacrifice for the atonement of their sins. Whether living contemporaries of Isaiah who knew the Promise of a coming Messiah, or those who looked upon His “stripes” and were struck with remembrance of Isaiah 53, or whether you are of Jewish tradition and have read for the first time of how Jesus Christ died on a cross in flawless portrayal of Isaiah’s prophecy, the message is miraculously poignant. Messiah loves us this much and wants me, and wants you to be healed.
But go on, Mrs. Schaeffer implores: “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way;" (Who can deny it? So many have wandered to precarious places, unawares.) "...and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Jew and Gentile) John, on whom Jesus showed favor, wrote, “I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” ~Jesus, quoted in John 10
