Scripture Passage
Scripture Focus
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
(Isaiah 52:5 NLT)
Observation
We're getting down to business now. It all rides on the back of one man.
As I've read through Isaiah to this point, I've been astounded time and time again at God's patient appeals to a rebellious people and His constant readiness to be reconciled to them. It's as if however determined Israel is to resist and rebel, God is even more determined to forgive and restore!
And today's readings echo other passages that promise remarkable things--the restoration of Jerusalem as a glorious city, the return of God's people from exile back to the Holy City, and the expansion of God's welcome to include the whole world! It's here, for example, that God promises "my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations." (Isaiah 56:7 NLT).
And though there have been hints of it before, today Isaiah's prophecies are more explicit than ever about how, exactly, all of this will be accomplished:
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
(Isaiah 53:5-6 NLT)
One man would make the whole thing possible. One man--the "servant of the Lord"--would carry the sins...the brokenness...the rebellion of all humanity on his back. All of this, of course, points prophetically to Jesus, and finds its fulfillment in what He did for each of us at Calvary.
Theologians use terms like "substitutionary atonement" to explain it. They speak of this Suffering Servant as the "propitiation" for our sin. Today, I call it remarkable, and I marvel at the abundant grace of a God so loving!
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