The suffering servant

“The (Christian) "doctrines" are translations into our concepts and ideas of that which God has already expressed in language more adequate, namely the actual incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection” ~ C.S. Lewis

One of the most fascinating and thought provoking truths of the Bible is that it is filled with prophecy; some that has already been fulfilled and some that Christians anxiously await for. As we approach Easter it is amazing to ponder the fact that centuries before the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, His birth, work and death were all foretold in the Old Testament.

When the Prophet Isaiah penned the 53rd chapter of the book that bears his name, it was written sometime around 700 B.C. Isaiah 53 outlines the person and work of Jesus Christ and shows us how the suffering servant came from ordinary beginnings, faced derision for those He came to save, how His suffering was substitutionary on our behalf, how He quietly endured His suffering, and how He was the perfect and innocent sacrifice. Yet ultimately Isaiah tells that the suffering servant will triumph and He will justify many through His sacrifice.

In his book; “Beginning at Moses: A Guide to Finding Christ in the Old Testament” Michael Barrett states this about Isaiah 53; “Essentially, the only details the New Testament adds to Isaiah’s account of Christ’s Passion are the names of Judas, Pilate, Herod, and Joseph of Arimathaea.” Barrett also comments that; “Every time we mediate on the cross-work of the Lord Jesus Christ, our hearts ought to warm, overflowing with gratitude and praise for His amazing love to us. To read the Gospel narratives, which describe the indescribable sufferings, tortures, and agonies that our Savior endured for us ought to generate ever-increasing love, devotion, and dedicated service to Him.”

Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
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 crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with 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.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The Final Word:

“You and me we use so very many clumsy words.
The noise of what we often say is not worth being heard.
When the Father’s Wisdom wanted to communicate His love,
He spoke it in one final perfect Word.

He spoke the Incarnation and then so was born the Son.
His final word was Jesus, He needed no other one.
Spoke flesh and blood so He could bleed and make a way Divine.
And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine.” ~ Michael Card