This program of daily devotions is designed to take you through the Bible in three years. It is our desire to help you gain a better general understanding of God's Word.
Please understand that in a study this brief, we will be concerned with only the major emphases and context of the Scriptures.
Each day a devotion for one or two chapters is posted, beginning with chapter one of Genesis and going through chapter twenty-two of Revelation. You are free to print each page as it appears. If you miss a day, you may contact us and request that devotion. Please send your request, along with $.50 (p&handling) for each page to:
Bruce McGee,Pastor
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HERE
Bro. Bruce's commentaries for the books of
Genesis through 2Kings are
now available in hard copy for $7.50. Just
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Isaiah
CHAPTER 53
53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Keep in mind that Isaiah is prophesying to the Hebrew people. They have long anticipated MESSIAH coming to set up a kingdom which will endure forever.
But who will believe what the prophets say about MESSIAH? Whoever would BELIEVE would have the strength of the Lord revealed to him!
The prophesy Isaiah brings is that MESSIAH would not be someone that society ordinarily recognizes. He would not come in regal robes. He would not come leading a large angelic army. He would not come with such beauty, riches and power that people would ordinarily notice.
In fact, MESSIAH would come and be "despised and rejected of men." His love and mercy would be spurned, His Holiness would not be "esteemed." And His heart would carry great "sorrows" and "grief."
People would not be able to PROVE that MESSIAH was not Who He said He was; but they would REJECT Him as God/Savior anyway!
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
The punishment of mankind upon God in the flesh was actually the punishment that God should have imposed upon mankind! Mankind, Hebrews and Gentiles alike, assumed that Jesus received punishment that was DUE Him! They considered that the events of beatings and crucifiction came upon Him because He said He was God in flesh, and was a liar!
But it was not what it seemed! MESSIAH, said Isaiah, "was wounded..." and "..bruised" for OUR sake! God took upon Himself the punishment that He had rightly judged for mankind.
Consider this example. When a person does something wrong to you, then comes and asks forgiveness, that person must accept HUMILITY in order to plead with you. He must pay a price to receive forgiveness -- that price is humility. But YOU are the one who must pay the price of the FORGIVENESS! It is YOU who must agree to set the incident aside and never bring it up again.
Therefore, God Himself came in flesh in order to PAY THAT PRICE for you and me!! What He received at our hands actually should have been received by us at His hands! But He paid the price of forgiveness FOR us! Thus God DEMONSTRATED His love and willingness to forgive.
Therefore, the "peace" that we can receive with God MUST come through Christ's vicarious payment.
The "healing" that mankind needs is the RESTORATION to a NON-sinful state of being. Only GOD can provide that "healing." Therefore, it is only through surrender to Christ as Lord that we can be CHANGED from our sinful selves to His likeness!
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Allow me to "key in" on one particular word here: "All!" Not a single person can claim to have lived without sin!
In this verse we find a deeper meaning of the word "sin." The verse plainly says that we have all "turned every one to his own way." That in itself is the real basis of sin. God created us for Himself. For us to take our lives and use them for self is sin because it is against our Creator's design. All other sins stem from this sin of selfishness.
Christ received the just punishment designed for all who reject God as Creator/Master. Thus, it is only by SURRENDER to Christ that we can be placed back in a right relationship with God.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
For centuries, the Hebrew people brought sacrificial lambs to the temple. They would approach the priest, lay their hands upon the little lamb's head, and confess their sins to God. Then the priest would accept the lamb and slit its throat! The lamb was quiet, passive, never emitting a sound even when being slaughtered.
Jesus never protested by yelling "UNFAIR!" He was carried away at night to an illegal trial by Hebrew law. He was kept up all night with mistreatment, physical and mental abuse. He was beaten in the morning and paraded in shame before a heartless king. Then a cruel crown of thorns was pressed over His head and he was carried away to be killed in the most inhumane death instrument ever invented.
But Jesus NEVER opened His mouth in protest. He willingly did as a genuine shepherd; He "laid down His life for the sheep."
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Jesus was never afforded the privilege of waiting in prison for righteous and fair judgment. He was quite quickly put to death under Roman law for a reason not punishable by death under the same law. he was literally "ripped" from His time.
But the reason for this was not man's reason, but God's reason! It was for "the transgression of my people," Isaiah said.
Jesus Himself, when speaking to Pilate, said, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." (John 19:11)
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Considered to be a blasphemer, He was crucified between two thieves. He was considered "wicked." He was given a grave by a "rich" man. Someone may have asked Joseph of Arimathaea, "Why did you let Jesus be buried in your own personal tomb?" Joseph might have answered, "Well, He only needed it for the WEEKEND!!"
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
It was God's design that brought Jesus the grief and pain and death that we deserved. It was God's pleasure to come in flesh and pay the penalty for our sins. It was His joy to face that cruel death in order to provide us an equitable salvation under a just and holy God.
And Jesus did NOT stay in that grave! Buddha is in the grave, Mohammed is in the grave; but Jesus Christ LIVES FOREVER!
God Almighty has seen the "travail of His soul," and has been SATISFIED from His anger toward repentant sinners. It is through Jesus Christ that "many" are "justified."
Jesus Christ has His eternal "portion" with God (verse 12). The whole of all creation belongs to Him. And He shall allow ANY who come to Him to "divide the spoil" with Him!!
What a GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR WE HAVE!!!
He has suffered the humility for us. He has suffered the pain for us. He has paid the price of our forgiveness. And thus, He has "made intercession for the transgressors!"
Now let me refer you to the first comment made on this chapter.
The STRENGTH of God is to take us from where we are as sinners, and bring us to eternity in perfection!!!
PRAISE GOD!!
PLEASE CONTINUE IN BIBLE STUDY WITH US TOMORROW!
THIS IS FORGIVENESS AT ITS PINNACLE!
"For God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
In order to receive "peace" with God, sinners must pay a PRICE. But we cannot pay a price that God will accept because nothing we can pay is OURS. It all belongs to God!
It was by GOD'S design that Jesus was put to death as a propitiation for our sins.
Jesus had loved, shown mercy, healed and taught with lovingkindness. He had never been treasonous to His own law, or to the law of Caesar.
Jesus has borne the "iniquities" of those who come in humility for sin, pleading forgiveness through His Name.
WHO has BELIEVED this "report?"
He who BELIEVES this "report" shall receive the STRENGTH of the Lord revealed to him!!