Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 is a passage that most evangelical Bible scholars acknowledge as Messianic. It describes the “Suffering Servant” who is our Lord Jesus Christ – the One who suffered and died on the cross for our sin.
It was my Bible reading this morning – a graphic, prophetic description of what Jesus went through on our behalf, so that we might be forgiven, cleansed, restored and granted eternal life through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension!
As I read it this morning and reflected on what it said, I jotted these words in the margin of my Bible: “This brings me to tears! It was for all my sin!”
Here is a powerful excerpt from the passage…
“Behold, my Servant! … He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. 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. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 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. 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. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet he opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth… He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see his offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the Righteous One, My Servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities… He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”
That’s what Jesus did on my behalf, and yours … for the sin of the whole world! An old gospel song put it this way…
“It was his love for me
That nailed him to the tree
To die in agony for all my sin.
For my own guilt and blame
The great Redeemer came,
Willing to bear the shame
Of all my sin.
Oh, what a Savior is mine,
In him God’s mercies combine;
His love can never decline,
And he loves me!”
- Norman J. Clayton
Coffee With The Lord 