It's easy to get excited about a Savior/Messiah who will be a mighty warrior and powerful King who brings peace to all nations. It's also easy to get excited about this Savior/Messiah helping the helpless and oppressed. It's not so exciting when we read prophecies about this Savior/Messiah hardly seeming human in appearance because he is disfigured.
Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD revealed His powerful arm? My Servant grew up in the LORD's presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him. He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! 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 53:1-5 NLT)
It becomes a bitter-sweet sorrow when we see why He is disfigured. He was a normal person until he was despised and rejected. This man of sorrows would be disfigured, pierced, and crushed. On the surface, it would look like God is punishing him for something he did wrong. His beatings, however, were not for his own rebellion. They were for ours.
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. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet He never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, He did not open His mouth. Unjustly condemned, He was led away. No one cared that He died without descendants, that His life was cut short in midstream. But He was struck down for the rebellion of My people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But He was buried like a criminal; He was put in a rich man's grave. But it was the LORD's good plan to crush Him and cause Him grief. Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD's good plan will prosper in His hands. (Isaiah 53:6-10 NLT)
The hope we have, however, is that this Savior/Messiah does not stay dead. He dies without descendants with a life cut short. He was struck down for our rebellion even though he never sinned. He was buried like a criminal in a rich man's grave. Yet he will "enjoy a long life" fulfilling God's plan. When He dies for us, He does not stay dead. He will live and complete the rest of God's plan.
When He sees all that is accomplished by His anguish, He will be satisfied. And because of His experience, My righteous Servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins. I will give Him the honors of a victorious soldier, because He exposed Himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels. (Isaiah 53:11-12 NLT)
His death was a part of God's plan - the part that paid the price for our rebellion. It is by His death that we are forgiven of our sins. It is by His life (and Spirit) that we are set free from captivity. Jesus is the only one who fulfilled all the prophecies of the Savior/Messiah. This is why we turn to Him to be forgive and set free.
What about you? Have you turned to Him to be forgiven through His death? Have you turned to Him to be set free from the captivity of temptation and sin? Do you trust Jesus?
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