He Took Up Our Pain
Who has believed our
message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and
like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to
him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and
rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from
whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
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.
He was oppressed and
afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is
silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken
away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of
the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned
a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his
death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and
though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring
and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After
he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his
knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their
iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will
divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and
was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of
many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:1-12
Before
Jesus was born, people hoped for the Messiah – the One who would shoulder their
sin and intercede with God on their behalf. He came, and He will come back.
Although
we are not waiting for Jesus to come in the form of an infant, He is still the
source of our hope. We watch for His second coming. We anticipate the heavenly
home He is preparing for us. We dream of living with Him in His celestial city.
As Christians, we can look forward to the future because the baby in the manger
was, and still is our hope.
The key word of Christmas is “Immanuel” – God with us!
Our Daily Bread –