2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Isaiah 53 is one of the most important chapters of the OT to me, although traditional Jews don’t spend much time on it. Along with IS 52: 13-15, IS 53: 1-12 is the section that the version of the Bible that I use the most often calls “The Suffering Servant.” I like to call it “Our Savior to Come.” Either title is an apt description of the precious words this section contains. When we attend our congregations at this time of the year, we are asked to dwell upon the suffering and injustice that Jesus Christ had to face and on His crucifixion which followed it. The idea here is not to make us mope around feeling miserable and hopeless, but instead to help us to appreciate the nature and extent of the sacrifice that Christ made for us. If we understand His suffering, we can appreciate just how much our loving Abba was willing to go to demonstrate His love for us. Until we actually experience the tremendous contrasts between the Lenten season and the joyous celebrations of Passover and Easter, we can’t really relate to these events. It is for this reason that I really feel that this season is even more important to me than Christmas. It is because of the huge spiritual significance to me of what Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection that I want to reject the pagan influences that have crept into the commemoration of these events. I hope to have more to say about that in a later message. Now, let’s look at the portion of IS 53 that Handel selected as the basis for the next section of his great work, “Messiah.”
IS 53: 1-3, “The people reply, ‘Who would have believed what we now report? Who could have seen the Lord’s hand in this? It was the will of the Lord that His Servant grow like a plant taking root in dry ground. He had no dignity or beauty to make us take notice of Him. There was nothing attractive about Him, nothing that would draw us to Him. We despised Him and rejected Him; He endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at Him-we ignored Him as if He were nothing.” Both the apostle, John, and Paul recognized the importance of this passage and referred to it in JN 12: 38 and RO 10: 16. John was writing about the unbelief of the people. Look at JN 12: 37-38, “Even though He had performed all these miracles in their presence, they did not believe in Him, so that what the prophet Isaiah said might come true: ‘Lord, who believed the message we told? To whom did the Lord reveal His power? ‘ “ Now, see what Paul says in RO 10: 16, “But not all have accepted the Gospel. Isaiah himself said, ‘ Lord who believed our message?’ “ Isaiah, John, and Paul all saw the same thing that we can see today-the problem with unbelief. They spoke of it and we do today, because there is an urgent message contained in this repetition. No one knows how long it will be before the Lord comes for the believers, and there will no longer be time for those who don’t believe to repent and come to Christ. The bottom line is spoken clearly in RO 6: 23, “For sin pays its wage-death; but God’s free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In IS 1: 6, we see the foreshadowing of Christ’s suffering in a reprimand that God is delivering to the people of Israel. “From head to foot there is not a healthy spot on your body. You are covered with bruises and sores and open wounds. Your wounds have not been cleaned or bandaged.” God was speaking through the prophet Isaiah of the sins of the Israelites in this prophecy of the coming punishment they would have to endure. Today, we need to look at this message in light of the conduct of our own lives and of our congregations. We all know that there are some people and even some congregations which profess faith and have accepted a sinful lifestyle. Through being reminded of Christ’s suffering and understanding the extent of it, the hope exists that they will evaluate their lives against this message and come to the conclusion that Christ’s suffering should never come to waste. For those people and congregations that are living in Christ with righteous obedience to Him, this evaluation should produce great comfort. It is my belief that the Lord will let them know they are on the right track by granting them a peace that goes beyond human understanding.
Christ’s suffering was not a pretty or comforting sight. Can you imagine his mother, Mary’s, feelings as she saw her beloved child almost unrecognizable from what had been done to Him as he hung dying on the cross? I once read a report that was done several years ago by the Journal of the American Medical Association in which doctors described the physical details of what happens to the human body when it is crucified. It was great fodder for my worst nightmares! Imagine Christ’s feelings as He knew His mother’s suffering. Not a pretty thought. Yet, all of this was done for ordinary folks like you and me. That forces me to recognize something about the extent of the love that our Father in heaven has for us. The same can be said of Christ. So, it’s not a case of trying to be gory or write something sensational to titillate as the evening news might do for me to bring this ugly picture to mind. It is so we can appreciate the huge contrasts between Christ’s suffering and His resurrection to give hope. It is so that we can see the extent of God’s love for us in a way to which we can relate.
Let me close this message by sharing the actual words of #23, an air for altos called “He Was Despised.” This section of the “Messiah” is based on the Scriptures discussed above. “He was despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He gave His back to the smitters and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. He hid not His face from shame and spitting.” Christ was obedient to the Father and faced His suffering with courage. He models for us the ideals our Father teaches us. When we put this ugly, sad story of His suffering together with the reward He would receive for having endured it, we are called upon to have hope in our times of trouble, reminded of our Father’s love for us, and shown that we should put our trust in His ultimate justice.
PRAYER: O Lord, each year at this time of Lent, we are asked to revisit the story of Christ’s suffering on the cross. Help us to understand that the reason for this practice is not to destroy our hope, but to strengthen it. Let us reach toward Your perspective by relating to the extent of the suffering our Lord Jesus endured, so that we can have a hint of the extent of the love You have for us. Lead us to appreciate the gift of the grace You have opened to believers by the Atonement. Our response to this gift must be repentance and faith in Christ, so that His suffering does not go to waste. To that end, we dedicate our lives and our congregations to being obedient to Him. We praise and thank You for loving us that much. In Christ’s name, amen.
This is a tough story to tell, but one filled with hope for us all. We should never think that we are wasting our time by revisiting it during the Lenten season each year. Like many other things in the Scriptures, we learn something more every time we read it. Know that we are loved beyond human comprehension and should be encouraged in our attempts to be obedient to the Father in heaven Who loves us. Peter and I also send you our heartfelt love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn