relationships (Isaiah 53:1-12) Required Sacrifice

(Isaiah 53:1-12) 

1   Who has believed our report?
     And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2   For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
     And like a root out of dry ground;
     He has no stately form or majesty 
     That we would look at Him,
     Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
3   He was despised and abandoned by men,
     A man of great pain and familiar with sickness;
     And like one from whom people hide their faces,
     He was despised, and we had no regard for Him.

4   However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,
     And our pains that He carried;
     Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
     Struck down by God, and humiliated.
5   But He was pierced for our offenses,
     He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
     The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
     And by His wounds we are healed.
6   All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
     Each of us has turned to his own way;
     But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all 
     To fall on Him.

7   He was oppressed and afflicted,
     Yet He did not open His mouth;
     Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
     And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
     So He did not open His mouth.
8   By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
     And as for His generation, who considered 
     That He was cut off from the land of the living 
     For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
9   And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
     Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
     Because He had done no violence,
     Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

10 But the Lord desired 
     To crush Him, causing Him grief;
     If He renders Himself as a guilt offering,
     He will see His offspring,
     He will prolong His days,
     And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
     He will see it and be satisfied;
     By His knowledge the Righteous One,
     My Servant, will justify the many,
     For He will bear their wrongdoings.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
     And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
     Because He poured out His life unto death,
     And was counted with wrongdoers;
     Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
     And interceded for the wrongdoers.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

God created mankind with the purpose to have a close, loving relationship with us.  But because sin entered the world, there is a separation between mankind and God, because God is holy and cannot have a relationship with sin.  While the Lord is life and His way leads to eternal life, sin leads to both physical and spiritual death.  This is a debt that mankind is unable to pay or earn their way out of.  But yet, because God desires to have a relationship with us, He came in flesh to provide the way!

The Lord Jesus, who was and is the spotless Lamb of God, paid the price for all sin through His death, whether we accept Him or reject Him.  Even though we fully deserve eternal death, the Lord was still willing to go through all of this, because of His agape, sacrificial and unconditional love!  Note, this love does not include unconditional approval!  And once a believer, even though we have eternal security because of God's grace, He gives us instructions in order to lead us into a much better way, because He loves and cares about us!  He never forces us to obey, but, it is to our benefit that we listen and strive to live in His will, through His strength.

Since God and everything He directs us to do is opposite of what the world desires, mankind is naturally going to hate Him and everything He stands for.  Like collateral damage, the world will also hate Christians, just because of this.  Meanwhile, for the unbeliever, since there is still this empty soul meant to be filled only by the Lord, those who reject Him will feel the emptiness and will unsuccessfully try to fill that void, whether it be with empty religions, education, work, sex, drugs, alcohol, sports, leisure activities... all the while mocking God.  It is as if we ourselves drove the nails into Jesus' hands and feet.  

It is easy to assume that whenever someone else suffers, they deserve it somehow and they should be ashamed!  Although this is not always the case.  Regarding the suffering and death of Jesus, He was purely innocent, having never sinned.  God did not do this, "we" did!  Therefore, as unbelievers, "WE" should be ashamed and feel guilty!  This should cause people to humbly see their need to be saved.  This should cause people to want to repent of their sins and accept the Lord's free gift of salvation and forgiveness, which leads to healing and reconciliation.  

Jesus' sacrifice was necessary to provide the way.  The sacrifice that is expected of unbelievers, is one's pride!  The good news - the most excellent news - is that in Jesus' salvation, healing and reconciliation, one's guilt, shame and anguish will turn to thankfulness, peace and joy!  And with this reconciliation, we are able to embrace a close, loving relationship with God!  And with God's agape sacrificial and unconditional love within us, because of His indwelling Holy Spirit, we will love others as the Lord does, whether others accept or reject us, respect us or mock us.