Isaiah 53
Micah 6:8
This week I was awestruck by humility. I felt ill equipped to write this lesson. However, out of obedience to my commitment to my Father and to you, I needed to pursue what was proving to be an awesome week for me in this study.
I absolutely love how the Apostle Paul constantly points people to Christ. He does offer up how he weathers through trials, but more often than not, he is pointing to the One who suffered and gave up the most for us—and that is what Paul is doing in this week’s passage. I was reading commentaries as usual, and going back and forth between Philippians and Isaiah, when I realized that both were songs of a sort. Isaiah 53 is called the Fourth Servant Song and Philippians 2:5-11 is labeled the “hymn of Christ.” Now Emily will probably teach you how the Jewish people view the Isaiah passage, and I’m all for that, but I felt that I could complete the lesson this week by just giving you the Word of God in the following fashion, although I am taking a little liberty in combining the Old and New Testaments here. The version is the Holman Christian Standard Bible. I leave you this and the video link for your meditation. I hope you will leave me your comments.
Isaiah and Paul
Who has believed what we have heard? And who has the arm of the LORD been revealed to? He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or splendor that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like one people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn't value Him.
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal.
Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.
Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not [only] for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished Him for the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, He did not open His mouth.
He was taken away because of oppression and judgment; and who considered His fate? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was struck because of My people's rebellion.
They made His grave with the wicked, and with a rich man at His death, although He had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.
Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage.
Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man in His external form,
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
Yet the LORD was pleased to crush Him, and He made Him sick. When You make Him a restitution offering He will see [His] seed, He will prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will succeed by His hand. He will see [it] out of His anguish, and He will be satisfied with His knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many, and He will carry their iniquities. Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil, because He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.
For this reason God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth —
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Chris Tomlin Video: Take My Life
Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man in His external form,
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
Yet the LORD was pleased to crush Him, and He made Him sick. When You make Him a restitution offering He will see [His] seed, He will prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will succeed by His hand. He will see [it] out of His anguish, and He will be satisfied with His knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many, and He will carry their iniquities. Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil, because He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.
For this reason God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth —
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Chris Tomlin Video: Take My Life
Welllll... I don't think I'm going to give a great deal of Judaic views of Isaiah 53. It is very difficult for anyone not familiar with Judaism to digest. With that being said, I'd like to add to "the chain" Mary Sue connected. Link #1 - Paul - tells of his own sufferings and how he overcomes by pointing others to Yeshua. Link #2 - Yeshua - who suffered the greatest of all suffering but did not point to himself has a "Sustainer" of Himself. Instead, He grasps onto another Link. Link #3 - Hashem, Abba, Aveinu, our Father. In all of His life Yeshua pointed only to Hashem and the Light of the Torah that He came to fulfill, Himself. This is my challenge to you, not just for this devotional, but whenever you have the time... read the Gospels and read everything Yeshua teaches. Every word in red can be found in the Torah and Tanach (Old Testament) and every deed was done to glorify His Father. And while you are reading, can you find any place where Yeshua says "worship Me"? I don't think so...
ReplyDeleteYes, there are links in the chain of suffering, endurance, and understanding; it is Hashem who is the link of steel that cannot be moved, cannot be changed, never sleeps nor slumbers, and from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, Hashem remains Holy.
Perhaps I will elaborate on Isaiah 53 at a later date if the opportunity arises. In no way do I intend to offend by my comments and I realize most Christians have not been exposed to Judiaic thinking and beliefs. When I teach, I give it slowly, just like weaning and feeding a small child. G-d will open up your understanding and then you can receive more.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you for being interested and wanting to learn from a NT angle along with the OT. This shows you really want to know what G-d has to say about things because many Christians dismiss the OT as "gone with the wind", so to speak. The opportunity to share with you is amazing, so thank you!