BIBLE BULLETS – 24

Isaiah 53:6

Words written seven centuries before His Advent clearly point to Christ Jesus. The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah contains this remarkable Messianic prophecy, often referred to as the “Suffering Servant” passage.

Jesus “didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire”(Isaiah 53:2). He was just a simple Jewish carpenter.

“He was despised and rejected by men” (Isaiah 53:3), indeed, vehemently hated by the ruling religionists.

The Suffering Servant “carried our pains … was struck down by God … afflicted … pierced because of our rebellion … crushed because of our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:4-5). Jesus wasn’t a meaningless martyr… His vicarious death paid the ransom for “our pain” … “our rebellion” … “our iniquities.” He was “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)

He was “tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), or in Isaiah’s words, He was innocent, “like a sheep silent before her shearers” (Isaiah 53:7).

If there is a single phrase in the fifty-third chapter worthy of our memory and meditation, it’s this: “We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

We are like sheep… dumb, dirty, and defenseless. And still, Jesus carried our faults and failings to the cross.

Thank you, Jesus!

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).