Day 16: The Suffering Servant

If God becoming a human for us wasn’t amazing enough, He also chose to come as a baby born in a manger that first Christmas morning. He reached adulthood and walked a road of rejection and suffering for us.

Isaiah wrote the prophecy of what the Messiah would look like seven hundred years before Jesus ever stepped foot on this earth. Not only does he prophesy that the Messiah would be a human, he also describes Him as a rejected man who would suffer and be despised by those around Him.

As you read through Isaiah 53, the prophet walks us step by step through the suffering and death of the Messiah for our sins. When compared to what Jesus went through on the road to the cross, it fits exactly:

“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6-8).

I don’t know about you, but every time I read this passage, I cannot help but be moved to tears. While we were yet sinners, Jesus died on the cross for us. He took the weight of the wrath of God on Himself, and His sacrifice brought us peace with God. He was marred beyond human likeness, raised up on a cross, and pierced with a spear after He was dead. By His wounds, we are healed. And then, He rose again from the dead, victorious over sin and the grave. All we must do to be made right with God is to firmly place our trust in Jesus alone.

This is the Good News of the Gospel. This is what brings peace on earth. This is why Jesus was born as a baby in Bethlehem and why we still celebrate that birth two thousand years later. Jesus stepped out of Heaven for you and for me. Let me encourage you today to share this incredible news with another person. God in flesh sacrificed His perfect life for us; and by His stripes, we are healed.

“O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lowly exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.”
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel