Suffering Servant

¹³ Look, my servant will succeed.
    He will be exalted and lifted very high.
¹⁴ Just as many were appalled by you,
    he too appeared disfigured, inhuman,
    his appearance unlike that of mortals.
¹⁵ But he will astonish many nations.
    Kings will be silenced because of him,
    because they will see what they haven’t seen before;
    what they haven’t heard before, they will ponder.
53 Who can believe what we have heard,
    and for whose sake has the Lord’s arm been revealed?
² He grew up like a young plant before us,
    like a root from dry ground.
He possessed no splendid form for us to see,
    no desirable appearance.
³ He was despised and avoided by others;
    a man who suffered, who knew sickness well.
Like someone from whom people hid their faces,
    he was despised, and we didn’t think about him.
⁴ It was certainly our sickness that he carried,
    and our sufferings that he bore,
    but we thought him afflicted,
    struck down by God and tormented.
⁵ He was pierced because of our rebellions
    and crushed because of our crimes.
    He bore the punishment that made us whole;
    by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ Like sheep we had all wandered away,
    each going its own way,
    but the Lord let fall on him all our crimes.
⁷ He was oppressed and tormented,
    but didn’t open his mouth.
Like a lamb being brought to slaughter,
    like a ewe silent before her shearers,
    he didn’t open his mouth.
⁸ Due to an unjust ruling he was taken away,
    and his fate—who will think about it?
He was eliminated from the land of the living,
    struck dead because of my people’s rebellion.
⁹ His grave was among the wicked,
    his tomb with evildoers,
    though he had done no violence,
    and had spoken nothing false.
¹⁰ But the Lord wanted to crush him
    and to make him suffer.
If his life is offered as restitution,
    he will see his offspring; he will enjoy long life.
    The Lord’s plans will come to fruition through him.
¹¹ After his deep anguish he will see light, and he will be satisfied.
Through his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant,
    will make many righteous,
    and will bear their guilt.
¹² Therefore, I will give him a share with the great,
    and he will divide the spoil with the strong,
    in return for exposing his life to death
    and being numbered with rebels,
    though he carried the sin of many
    and pleaded on behalf of those who rebelled.
(Isaiah 52:13—53:12, CEB)

The Suffering Servant passage from third Isaiah is a great passage. There is so much here we could talk for days.

I am usually struck by verse 53:5
He was pierced because of our rebellions
and crushed because of our crimes.
He bore the punishment that made us whole;
by his wounds we are healed.

He was pierced for our rebellions and crushed for our crimes. For the things we did that went against God and neighbor he was hurt and crushed for them. He paid for what we should have paid for. He bore what we should have and gave us a new wholeness that we didn’t even have before.

And by his wounds we are healed. The King James Version of this part is By his stripes we are healed. By the stripes of his flogging 39 times with a cat of nine tails, because 40 would kill you. bones and pieces of wood and rock for sharp tearing shrapnel at the ends of the nine leather strands on each whip. His strips were many and I can safely say he bled for our iniquities. His stripes healed you. He suffered for you.

On this day, that we call Good Friday, remember the way of Christ that led him to be tortured and crucified, and how he did that all for you.

Love as you were and are loved.

Love People, Love God.