Read the Word:
Isaiah 53:1-12
Meditate on the Word:
Over 700 years before the birth of our Lord, Prophet Isaiah was telling people about His suffering for our sin. This can be very hard to read, because it seems rather violent. Being despised (v. 3), afflicted (v. 4), pierced and crushed (v. 5), oppressed, afflicted, led to slaughter (v. 6), and struck (v. 8) very deliberately give a picture of the lengths that the Christ would voluntarily go through in order to redeem us. It can be very tempting to gloss over the violent imagery in order to avoid the discomfort it causes. I caution us against doing so.
The Holy Spirit is the One who gave Isaiah the imagery that we see in this passage. But could it have been worded more gently? Couldn’t we instead picture a nice, clean, angel-faced Jesus on the cross? The problem with that is that we need the violent imagery of the cross. Not simply because it is factually true (which it is), but because it highlights the seriousness of our sin. If we cannot picture the violence of the cross, we cannot accurately picture the violence that our sin has done to our Lord. We must be reminded that our sin is so serious, that it took the violent death of Jesus to atone for it. Let us sit with that thought today.
Pray the Word:
Thank Jesus today for His endurance of such violence for our sin.
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