Good Friday 2015




Isaiah 52:13-53:12
13Behold, my servant shall act wisely; He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
14As many were astonished at you— His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and His form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15so shall He sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of Him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
53:1Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.
3He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
8By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth.
10Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
 Instead of a Psalm this week, because this is the most extraordinarily special Friday of the year, I want to spend time with Isaiah’s amazing prophecy concerning the Messiah. Imagine you are Isaiah and 700 years before Jesus is born, by the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you pen these words. These words are a game changer. Inside of this Old Testament reading we find the Gospel. Standing on this side of the death and resurrection of Jesus Isaiah’s words are a crystal clear picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Because of my sin, the picture drawn by Isaiah comes to pass in the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ. There really isn’t anything more profound than the words themselves say that I can add. Read them again – slowly – prayerfully. Let the impact of what He has done for you sink deep into your soul. He did it all for you.

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