Lenten Devotions from Isaiah 53
“Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 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. 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.” Isaiah 53:1-3
Who believes what the Scriptures say of Jesus? Who believes that He is the long promised Messiah and the Savior of sinful mankind? Writing some 700 years before the birth of Messiah Jesus, Isaiah the prophet spoke of His coming, His sufferings, death, and resurrection, and of His rejection by the people. And these words still hold true today!
Jesus, the arm of the LORD, the promised Messiah and Savior of the
world, grew up before the LORD God humbly, “as
a tender plant,” and in an unexpected time and place, being born of a
virgin named Mary and growing up in Nazareth of Galilee “as a root out of a dry ground.”
His form and appearance was nothing unusual so as to draw people to Him
or permit them to recognize Him as the Messiah.
And, as Jesus carried out His ministry, calling upon all to repent and
believe the good news of forgiveness and life in Him, He was despised and
rejected. The religious leaders of
And what is different today? Who believes and recognizes that this Jesus is the LORD God Himself in human flesh? Who comes to Him in repentance and trusts that in Him there is forgiveness and life everlasting? The Jesus of the Bible is a threat to many of the religious leaders of our day; for He does not teach that we can get to heaven by our good deeds, our religious works and services, by church membership, or by charitable contributions to worthy causes. He still calls upon all to repent of their sinful ways and turn to Him for forgiveness and life! The Jesus of the Bible is too merciful for many of the religiously conservative, for He associates with the worst of sinners and offers them forgiveness and life through faith in Him. On the other hand, He is too zealous for the truth for the religious liberals of our day; for He taught the absolute truth of Scripture and yielded not a jot or tittle of God’s Word to popular opinion, holding to the Genesis creation, a bodily resurrection, a final judgment, and a literal heaven and hell.
Though Jesus came into this world to take our place under God’s law, to bear our griefs and sorrows, and to suffer and die in our stead, He is still “despised and rejected of men.” We hide our faces from Him and neglect the great salvation He has won for us by His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross. Instead of taking the time to consider Jesus, who He is, and what He has done for us, we value Him lightly and neglect the gracious gift of forgiveness and life which God desires to give us. Instead of considering the pain and anguish He suffered for us when He bore the guilt and punishment for our sins, we turn our heads and walk away in apathy and unbelief.
Yes, the inspired words of Isaiah the prophet still hold true today; but, more importantly, they reveal to us the truth of who Jesus was and is. They point us to Jesus, the Messiah and Savior rejected by men. They tell us what He suffered for us to save us from the punishment we so deserve. They offer to us forgiveness and life in Jesus’ name!
O dear Jesus, forgive me for not recognizing You for who You are and for all that You suffered for me that I might have forgiveness for all my sins and life everlasting with You in heaven. Amen.
“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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.”
Isaiah 53:4-5
As Isaiah prophesied, some 700 years before the birth of Messiah Jesus, He bore and carried in His sinless body the curse of our sin against the LORD God. He bore our griefs and sicknesses. He carried our pains and sorrows.
Yet the people of His day, and
especially the religious leaders of
But the real reason for His wounding (literally, his piercing) was our transgression of God’s holy commandments. We have not kept God’s holy and perfect will. We have transgressed in our thoughts, desires, words, and deeds. He was bruised and crushed—even forsaken by God the Father—upon the cross because He was bearing in His sinless body the just punishment for your sins, my sins, and the sins of the whole world (cf. Matthew 27:46).
It is as the old hymn states: “The sinless Son of God must die in sadness; the sinful child of man may live in gladness; man forfeited his life and is acquitted—God is committed” (Herzliebster Jesu, Johann Heermann, Tr. Catherine Winkworth).
The chastisement—the punishment—that we deserved on account of our sins was laid upon Him that we might be pardoned of God and forgiven. In Jesus and through His innocent sufferings and death in our stead we have forgiveness for all our sins and peace with God our Father. The stripes we deserved were laid upon His back; and because He suffered the punishment we deserved on account of our sins, we are healed and made whole, forgiven and cleansed!
As the Apostle John writes: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin…Jesus Christ the righteous…is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1:7; 2:1, 2).
While the world passed by the cross of Jesus, seeing only the judgment of God or that of a cruel Roman empire upon a Jewish Rabbi who dared to challenge the existing religious system of the day, Jesus, the very Son of God and promised Messiah and Savior, was suffering and dying to make atonement for the sins of the world. He was paying the price for your sins and mine that we might have pardon and peace and live forever with God our Maker!
Jesus, Son of God and Savior of the world, thank You for bearing in Your sinless body the sufferings and death that I truly deserve on account of my sins and transgressions. Grant to me pardon and forgiveness and a place in Your everlasting kingdom. Amen.
“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.” Isaiah 53:6
This verse sums it all up so well! All of us are like lost and wandering sheep who have turned away from our true Shepherd and Maker. We have each turned aside to go our own way.
What an accurate description! Instead of following the LORD God and living in accord with His perfect will and design for us, we follow our own will and desires, go our own way and direction, and rebel against God and His Word. Instead of loving God and living for Him, we love ourselves and do as we please. Instead of listening to God’s commandments and obeying them, we shut our ears, justify our sins, and seek to establish our own compromising values in the place of His absolute truth.
Lost, wandering, and scattered
sheep, each one going in a different direction, is a picture of our world, with
people wandering here and there and looking for life, happiness, and
fulfillment in everything but the LORD God who created them. “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.” God took all our sin and all our guilt and punished it in the innocent sufferings and death of His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ! Our sins and iniquities were placed upon Jesus, and He was punished in our stead. That is why darkness covered the earth as Jesus hung there upon the cross; and that is why Jesus cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which is to say, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
Though Jesus died an agonizing
and horrible death upon the cross because of our turning away from God and
sinning against Him, the beauty in this is that all of our sins and all of our
guilt have been punished in Christ Jesus.
“It is finished”—the debt of
our sins has been paid in full (cf. John
O dearest Jesus, we have, like lost sheep, turned and gone our own way. We have sinned against You. Thank You for bearing upon the cross the just punishment for our sins and iniquities. Grant us forgiveness and life with You in Your eternal kingdom. Amen.
“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.” Isaiah 53:7
Why is it that Jesus permitted the Jewish
soldiers to take Him? Why did he permit
them to hit Him and make fun of Him? Why
did He permit Pontius Pilate to judge and condemn Him? Why did He permit the Roman soldiers to beat
and scourge Him and finally nail Him to the cross and crucify Him? Could He not have walked away through the
middle of them all as He had earlier done at
Why did Jesus willingly suffer and give up His life upon the cross? Why did He go silently, without ever opening His mouth in protest? He did it that He might redeem us from sin and the eternal punishment we deserve. This is why Jesus Christ, God’s own dear Son, came into this world: that He might suffer and die for our sins and rise again in the third day! He came to give His life a ransom for many—to make atonement for the sins of all people. Jesus willingly and quietly went to the cross for you and for me that He might pay the just penalty for our sins and win for us God’s pardon and forgiveness!
Considering what He has done, it is also time for us to turn to Him in silence—not proclaiming our own goodness or speaking of all that we have done for Him or our fellowman—but rather to silently lament o’er all our sins and failures to keep God’s law, for which He willingly suffered and died. It’s time to turn to Him in silence and trust not in ourselves, but in Him alone. He has done it all! He has paid in full! Let us come to Him in silent awe of His love and mercy toward us and boast of nothing but His blood and righteousness!
Dear Lord Jesus, I have sinned and done amiss. You are all my righteousness. I deserved God’s wrath and woe. You took my place, You loved me so. I stand in awe below Your cross, silently, for words at loss. Amen.
“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. 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.” Isaiah 53:8-9
By force and tyrannical injustice Jesus was arrested, beaten, and sentenced to death on a Roman cross; and no one spoke up in His defense. No one considered His potential life which they were cutting short through their illegitimate trials and accusations against Him. Why? Why was Jesus crucified and “cut off out of the land of the living”? “For the transgression of My people was He stricken.” It was not for anything He had done amiss. “He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.” But it was for our sins, yours and mine, that Jesus Suffered such agony and died upon the cross.
Indeed, “He made His grave with the wicked.” He was hung upon a cross between two thieves and thus died with the wicked, although one of the malefactors repented of his sins as he hung there upon the cross, and he received mercy and forgiveness from the Lord Jesus (cf. Luke 23:39-43). But, in His death, Jesus was buried in the new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a council member of the Jews who had not consented to Jesus’ condemnation by the Sanhedrin. Thus the ancient prophecy was fulfilled: “and with the rich in His death.”
What is the significance of all this for you and for me? Jesus’ death was not for any fault of His own, for He was without sin and holy. His sufferings and death was for your sins and mine! It was all a part of God’s plan to redeem us and make us His own! Like the dying thief on the cross, we ought also turn to Jesus and acknowledge that He is the sinless Son of God who came into this world to die in our stead and for our sins. We ought turn to Him in repentance and ask Him to mercifully remember us and receive us into His everlasting kingdom.
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, graciously remember us and receive us into Your eternal kingdom for the sake of Your holy and precious blood shed for us upon the cross. Amen.
“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. 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.”
Isaiah 53:10-11
Have you considered that it was the will of God the Father to bruise His own Son—to have Christ Jesus take our place upon the cross and suffer and die for our sins? Jesus was offered up a perfect sacrifice to make full atonement for our sins and for the sins of the whole world.
And, yes, Isaiah the prophet also foretold the resurrection of Jesus some seven hundred years before Jesus’ death and resurrection: “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. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” Jesus not only died for our sins according to the Scriptures; He also rose again on the third day. Jesus saw the results of His atoning sacrifice. He saw His seed—those who would obtain the right and privilege to be called children of God through faith in Him and His atoning sacrifice. His days are indeed prolonged—He is risen and lives forever! And the will and pleasure of the LORD is prospering in His hand as He brings sinners to repent and trust in Him for full pardon and life everlasting. Jesus sees the labor of His soul and is satisfied. He has joy over every sinner who repents of His sinful ways and trusts in Him for forgiveness and a place with Him in paradise.
“By His knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.” Having taken our sins and iniquities upon Himself and having paid in full by His innocent sufferings and death, the risen Christ justifies many. Christ Jesus makes us sinners acceptable in God’s eyes through His shed blood so that God reaches out to us in mercy, offering us forgiveness and life through faith in Jesus’ name. And, even yet today, the Gospel message calls sinners to repentance, proclaiming forgiveness of sins and life everlasting through faith in the crucified and risen Savior (cf. Luke 24:46-47).
O dearest Jesus, thank you for bearing the guilt and punishment of my sins upon the cross. As You have risen from the dead, so raise me up to faith in You and life everlasting. Amen.
“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.”
Isaiah 53:12
Because Jesus Christ suffered and died upon the cross, shedding His holy and precious blood for our sins and rising again in victory, He spoils the dominion of darkness and executes judgment upon this earth. The Apostle Paul writes of Jesus’ victory in this way: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:14-15). Jesus paid in full the just punishment for our sins and the sins of the whole world when He was numbered with the transgressors and nailed to the cross to suffer and die in our stead. He there poured out His soul unto death that He might redeem us and bring us back to God.
In the Garden of Eden, Satan used the
commandment of God to bring sin and eternal damnation upon all mankind (Genesis
3). “The
handwriting of ordinances…was against
us,” for mankind through Adam broke God’s holy commandment. On the cross, Jesus Christ the righteous made
atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world and satisfied God’s just
wrath against us (1 John 2:1, 2). Thus
Satan’s work and power over us was defeated and cast off, and a door was opened
unto us to receive pardon, forgiveness, and everlasting life (cf. Hebrews
As a result of Jesus’ work when He
suffered and died upon the cross and then rose again from the dead to intercede
for us before the Father with His shed blood, those who by God’s grace and
mercy are brought to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus are delivered from
the power of darkness and conveyed into the eternal kingdom of Jesus, the Son
of His love (cf. Colossians 1:12-14).
Thus, Christ Jesus spoils Satan’s kingdom and delivers those who place
their trust in Him and His shed blood.
But those who spurn God’s gift of salvation and continue on in
disobedience and rebellion shall be judged and condemned on the Last Day when
the crucified and risen Christ returns to judge this world in righteousness and
equity (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:7ff.; Hebrews 2:3). Why? Because they have not believed on the
name of Christ Jesus, God’s only begotten Son and their Savior (cf. John
O crucified and risen Savior, grant that I not continue on in my disobedience and rebellion but truly true repent of my evil ways and trust in You and Your redeeming work for my salvation. Amen.