Weekly Devotional 12-13-21 Our Savior and His Sacrifice
By Jack Kelly – Grace Thru Faith
Prophetic Messages from Isaiah to Israel concerning their coming Messiah and Savior (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)
52:13-15 See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness— so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
By the time they finished punishing Him, He would not even look human anymore. The phrase “lifted up” would come to symbolize crucifixion, but that most humiliating form of execution would become the means of His exaltation. While our initial faith comes through hearing about what He has done for us, the abiding faith that sustains us is not the product of words, but of the indwelling Holy Spirit who leads us into all understanding. While it is often true that seeing is believing, it is even more true that believing is seeing.
53:1-3 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Even though He had created the universe, there was nothing about Him that would distinguish Him from us. He would look like the commonest of men. And when He spoke, He would contradict what the religious leaders of the day were teaching, and therefore would be rejected by the establishment. His friends would be mostly common folk, many of them outcasts themselves.
53:4-5 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
The leaders of the day would consider Him to be demon possessed (John 8:48), but by giving His life He would purchase our healing from the devil’s diseases, and our freedom from the devil’s enslavement. The Hebrew word translated infirmities means sickness or disease, and the one translated sorrow also means pain. Transgressions and iniquities refer to sin. Because of His suffering and death we can receive both physical and spiritual healing.
53:6-7 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Though innocent of all the charges brought against Him, He would offer no defense because He would really be standing in our place, to be punished for our crimes. And we have no defense.
53:8-9 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
His death would make vicarious atonement for our crimes against God and though it was common practice to throw a crucified body into the garbage dump, He would actually be buried in a rich man’s tomb.
53:10-11 Yet 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. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
But that would not be the end of Him. After suffering death to bring us life, He Himself would take up life again (John 10:17-18) and witness firsthand the enormous fruits of His labors.
53:12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
In return for His selfless act of sacrifice, God would give Him the nations as His inheritance (Psalm 2:8) and make His name the name above all names (Phil. 2:9-11). In keeping with His generous nature, He would agree to share His inheritance with all who would accept His death as payment in full for their sins. (Galatians 4:4-7)
From 750 years before the fact, the Lord had Isaiah record this series of promises. They were explicitly and conspicuously fulfilled in the Life of Jesus of Nazareth, supposed son of a Jewish carpenter, who has become the (still unaccepted) King of the Jews and will soon be acknowledged as the Lord of the whole Earth (Zechariah 14:9). (End of Transcription).
Have a wonderful celebration of Christmas
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