Wounded for Me - March 4 Readings: Isaiah 52:7-53:12 The Suffering Servant

The Story of the Bible from Creation to the Cross to Eternal Glory

In 72 daily readings, we will examine the overall story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, seeking to get the big picture of God's work through Jesus Christ in this sinful world.

Today's Reading:  Isaiah 52:7-53:12

I have moved away from pasting the text here, for two reasons. First, a lot of our readings became so long it was impractical, but my primary reason is that I didn't want to do anything to keep anyone from actually using their Bible! I am making an exception today, because this is such a fantastic passage.

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the herald,
who proclaims peace,
who brings news of good things,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
8 The voices of your watchmen—
they lift up their voices,
shouting for joy together;
for every eye will see
when the Lord returns to Zion.
9 Be joyful, rejoice together,
you ruins of Jerusalem!
For the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has displayed his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations;
all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
 11 Leave, leave, go out from there!
Do not touch anything unclean;
go out from her, purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you will not leave in a hurry,
and you will not have to take flight;
because the Lord is going before you,
and the God of Israel is your rear guard.
 
13 See, my servant will be successful;
he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.
14 Just as many were appalled at you—
his appearance was so disfigured
that he did not look like a man,
and his form did not resemble a human being—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations.
Kings will shut their mouths because of him,
for they will see what had not been told them,
and they will understand what they had not heard.
 53 Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a young plant
and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form
or majesty that we should look at him,
no appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
He was like someone people turned away from;
he was despised, and we didn’t value him.
 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses,
and he carried our pains;
but we in turn regarded him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.
6 We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished him
for the iniquity of us all.
 7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
and like a sheep silent before her shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment;
and who considered his fate?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
he was struck because of my people’s rebellion.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
but he was with a rich man at his death,
because he had done no violence
and had not spoken deceitfully.
 10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely.
When you make him a guilt offering,
he will see his seed, he will prolong his days,
and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.
11 After his anguish,
he will see light and be satisfied.
By his knowledge,
my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will carry their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion,
and he will receive the mighty as spoil,
because he willingly submitted to death,
and was counted among the rebels;
yet he bore the sin of many
and interceded for the rebels.

Through the Bible Readings: Numbers 19-20, Mark 8:1–21, Psalm 31:19–24, Proverbs 8:1-2

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Context 

It's always amazed me that an orthodox Jew who believes the Old Testament could read Isaiah 52 and 53 and still not end up believing in Jesus as their Messiah. It is an amazing description of Jesus' death for the sins of the world. The Jews interpret the Suffering Servant here as Israel herself and view the vivid descriptions not as a prophetic vision of Jesus' suffering but as a more figurative portrayal of the hardships of Israel in the world.

But there are few passages, even in the New Testament, that as clearly describe the intense and awful sufferings of Christ for the sins of the world.

Devotional: Wounded for Me 

There is much about the gospel we believe that is not revealed in the Old Testament. Many of our doctrines are only seen in seed form and are not fully developed until the New Testament era. The Trinity is a doctrine that is only hinted at in the OT until its full revelation in the New. The concept of salvation by grace through faith alone apart from the law was always key to God's ways, but the OT only gives us the hints of the doctrine.

But the Old Testament builds a strong foundation of the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. Of course, it was bulls and goats that were the substitutes but Hebrews makes it plain that these all served as foreshadowings of Christ's great work on the Cross.

In Isaiah 52-53 we have one of the great passages of the Old Testament, a prophetic tour of the Cross of Christ. It is hard to imagine that a passage written hundreds of years before Christ was born could so accurately describe the sufferings of Jesus as he bore our sins so that by his stripes our sins could be healed.

Read 53:4-6 again, carefully. 

I was weighed down by the griefs of sin, but Jesus bore my sorrow.

I was in line to be smitten for my sins, but Jesus took the blow.
He was wounded and crushed because of the sins I committed.
And because of all of that, the effects of sin in my life can be healed. What sin breaks, Jesus fixes. 

I went astray, he brought me to the Father in peace. 

It is the most amazing story of grace, love, mercy, and restoration ever, and it was promised to Israel and to us hundreds of years before the events took place, the clearest prophecy of the climactic moment in human history.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Thank you, Lord for bearing the weight of my sin, for being my substitute to atone for my sins. 

Think and Pray:

Read through this passage with pen and paper, and divide it into two columns.
In one column, mark down every single thing Christ suffered, according to this passage.
In the other column, mark down the blessings we receive as a result of the suffering.
When you are done - Praise God!
.