Today’s readings: Isaiah 51-53, Psalm 47.
Isaiah 53:5-7
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
When we use the term Gospel, it most properly refers to the Good News of Jesus Christ: his life, ministry, teaching, healing, preaching, suffering, death, and resurrection. It is the Good News that, for Jesus’ sake, our sins are forgiven, we have been redeemed and saved, and we have been brought into fellowship with God. Gospel is also used to refer to the first four books of the New Testament, each of which tells the story of Jesus. Some people even use it as an adjective: “gospel truth”—a truth they consider absolutely certain. But we seldom use the word to describe an Old Testament book.
Yet a reading of Isaiah 53, with even the slightest familiarity with the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, convinces us that the term certainly applies here. Isaiah’s description of the Suffering Servant is filled with references that point unmistakably to Christ—even though these words were written some 750 years before his birth.
Isaiah describes the Suffering Servant as one whom no one would consider attractive. He wasn’t a handsome hero. His life was not one people would envy. Humanly speaking, it ended in tragedy and humiliating defeat.
Consider the scene at Jesus’ crucifixion. Many concluded that he was a terrible sinner. Surely God had singled him out for judgment. He was crucified between two criminals. As people passed by his cross, they either turned away in grief, unable to look any longer, or they mocked him as one stricken by God.
We who confess Jesus as Lord, however, know another truth. He was not suffering for his own sin. He bore our sins on the cross. He carried our griefs. We were the ones who had gone astray. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21). And all this was for our forgiveness, life, and salvation.
I have reflected many times on Jesus’ suffering. There is a limit to the pain of others that I can carry in my own heart. I can only bear so much before I become overwhelmed. But Jesus had no such limit. He took upon himself the sin, grief, and sorrow of the whole world. And it killed him.
But that is not the end of the story.
Isaiah goes on to proclaim that, though the Suffering Servant died with the wicked and was buried with the rich, “he shall see his offspring” and “divide the spoil with the strong.” The Servant who suffered and died would also live again. Isaiah is pointing not only to the cross but also to the empty tomb and Jesus’ resurrection.
Jesus fulfills every part of that prophecy. He prayed for those who put him to death. He intercedes for us even now, and God has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He is the living Savior—the Suffering Servant who laid down his life for us, took it up again, and has redeemed so that we may be his own and live under him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.
Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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