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The Suffering Servant
13The Lord says:
My servant will succeed!
He will be given great praise
and the highest honors.
14Many were horrified
at what happened to him.
But everyone who saw him
was even more horrified
because he suffered until
he no longer looked human.
15 My servant will make
nations worthy to worship me;
kings will be silent
as they bow in wonder.
They will see and think about
things they have never seen
or thought about before.
What God's Servant Did
1 Has anyone believed us
or seen the mighty power
of the Lord in action?
2Like a young plant or a root
that sprouts in dry ground,
the servant grew up
obeying the Lord.
He wasn't some handsome king.
Nothing about the way he looked
made him attractive to us.
3He was hated and rejected;
his life was filled with sorrow
and terrible suffering.
No one wanted to look at him.
We despised him and said,
“He is a nobody!”
4He suffered and endured
great pain for us,
but we thought his suffering
was punishment from God.
5 He was wounded and crushed
because of our sins;
by taking our punishment,
he made us completely well.
6 All of us were like sheep
that had wandered off.
We had each gone our own way,
but the Lord gave him
the punishment we deserved.
7 He was painfully abused,
but he did not complain.
He was silent like a lamb
being led to the butcher,
as quiet as a sheep
having its wool cut off.
8He was condemned to death
without a fair trial.
Who could have imagined
what would happen to him?
His life was taken away
because of the sinful things
my people had done.
9 He wasn't dishonest or violent,
but he was buried in a tomb
among cruel, rich people.
10The Lord decided his servant
would suffer as a sacrifice
to take away the sin
and guilt of others.
Now the servant will live
to see his own descendants.
He did everything
the Lord had planned.
11By suffering, the servant
will learn the true meaning
of obeying the Lord.
Although he is innocent,
he will take the punishment
for the sins of others,
so that many of them
will no longer be guilty.
12 The Lord will reward him
with honor and power
for sacrificing his life.
Others thought he was a sinner,
but he suffered for our sins
and asked God to forgive us.
Reflect
Writing several hundred years before Jesus was born, Isaiah paints for us a picture of Christ’s suffering. He tells us that the suffering will be so extreme the Servant will no longer look human. He will be painfully abused, wounded and crushed.
Many of these words have become so common to us, as we hear them repeated especially at Easter. We hear of Christ’s suffering and picture the cross and maybe the crown of thorns.
Yet, his crucifixion and death wasn’t the only way Jesus suffered. He experienced hate and rejection well before his arrest. In fact, in Isaiah 53:3 we read that “his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering.” His prayers in the garden of Gethsemane show us his anguish at knowing what suffering was ahead.
It’s sobering and painful to even think about what Jesus endured. At times it’s even incomprehensible.
Thankfully God helps us make sense of all this suffering by inspiring Isaiah to include the “why”. Isaiah tells us that through Jesus, we are able to…
- Worship without fear
- See and think about things we’ve never seen or imagined before
- Receive forgiveness for our sins
- Live in the freedom of God’s grace
May we all appreciate today what God’s Servant did for us all.
Respond
Gracious Lord, your love for us is greater than we can sometimes comprehend. Help me to understand on a very deep level today how and why Jesus suffered. Please help me also to live as one forgiven and transformed by Christ. Amen.
Arnie Cole
DR. ARNIE COLE (Pepperdine) is the CEO of Back to the Bible—an international radio and internet ministry—and Director of Research and Development for the Center for Bible Engagement. He has spent much of his professional life tracking trends of human behavior. Dr. Cole is the co-author of seven books, including Seven Secrets of Worry-Free Living (BroadStreet Publishing). He and his wife, Char, are parents of adult children and operate an equestrian center in Nebraska.