Isaiah 53:4-5 -
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But 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.
The prophet Isaiah’s work spans multiple decades, but doesn’t lose focus on the eternal hope of Israel. That baby who would be born, the one born in the line of David, would be this same suffering servant that we meet near the end of Isaiah’s book. He came with the purpose of carrying our sorrows, he came to take our sin and nail it to the cross. By his wounds, we are told, we are healed.
But go with me down just a few lines in Isaiah 53, to verse 10. It says “It was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief.” What does this mean? God the Father planned for Jesus, the incarnate one, to be killed as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). This is further elaboration of v. 4, he was “smitten by God, and afflicted.” There is a punishment for sin, it was declared all the way back in the Garden of Eden - because of sin, people die. There’s no escaping it - everyone sins, everyone dies. But the one man who came into the world as the perfectly righteous one, through him, this one man, new life would come to many (Rom. 5). Instead of death being the inevitable end of a life of sin, it instead becomes the pathway to eternity with God. He took the death that you deserved and lived the life you should have lived, and he did that in your place. His record is now your record, his righteousness now your righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). This Christmas, don’t lose sight of the holiday’s connection to Easter. Jesus was born so that he could die. And that is worth rejoicing over. He’s not the king who was just some cool example of how to live - he came as the Savior. And that for sure is good tidings of great joy!
Hymn for Reflection: O Come All Ye Faithful. Here’s a Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0YgwO_HMn4