As you contemplate God's Word you have to stand in awe, you cannot help be filled with wonder and amazement unless you are blind...spiritually blind...this book is breath taking, it is living and active, it is sharper than any two edged sword! I know that we are in Isaiah, but I want to point out some of the places that Isaiah was quoted in the gospels. Remember Isaiah was written around 600 BC.
John 12:35-43 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. 42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
Some 700 years before Jesus birth, some 700 years before God incarnate dwells with us, some 700 years prior to Emmanuel taking on human flesh Isaiah 53 is penned under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and we are given in incredible detail a portrait of the the Suffering Servant, we are given a portrait of the Cross.
What do you do with this? What do you do with the knowledge that "it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand (Isa 53:10)." You will remember the testimony of John the Baptist in John 1:29, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
It is the gospel of Mark that paints the portrait of Jesus as the suffering servant, the focal point of Mark's gospel is Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
How is it possible that God chose us in HIM before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in HIS sight? How is it that HE predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for HIMSELF according to HIS favor and will (Eph 1:4-5)? I don't know how! But we must receive it by faith and trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...Eph 2ff. —it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
In Isaiah 53 we learn that it pleased God the Father to crush HIS only Son, in Jesus own words, HE testifies that HE came to serve and to give HIS live a ransom for many...it was all part of the plan set in the counsel of the Trinity before the foundation of the Word.
What do you do with this? YOU WORSHIP, YOU WORSHIP, YOU WORSHIP...HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the Lord God almighty!
You respond like Isaiah did in chapter 6...“Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Let's Worship Jesus, the Suffering Servant who willingly gave HIMSELF as a ransom for many!
love,
m