LEARNING DAILY

 

Isaiah 53:4-5, Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows (sicknesses), that weighed Him down.  And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God for His sins!  But He was wounded and crushed for our sins.  He was beaten that we might have peace.  He was whipped, and we were healed.  (NLT)  I capitalized the pronouns.

 

If one stops to think, it would be easy to understand why the Jewish people were confused when Jesus began His earthly ministry.  For so long they had been waiting on the conquering Messiah to come to liberate them from those earthly kingdoms that dominated them for so long. They even knew about the prophecy of Isaiah in Chapter 53, known as the “Suffering Servant”.  However, David Jeremiah explains they misunderstood this prophecy believing they were the suffering servant “suffering at the hands of other nations” (DJSB).

 

The DJSB states, “What they overlooked was their sin and the repentance they needed to make them suitable citizens of God’s coming kingdom.  When Jesus talked about sin, they failed to see His point – most of them anyway.”  Read Isaiah 53 carefully; take your time to really think about this prophecy about the coming Messiah.  It explains how Jesus would be silent before those who put Him on trial and those who mocked Him.  It tells of the torment He would have to endure as the Lamb of God nailed to a cross.  Yes, He did suffer; but perhaps the real emphasis needs to be on His triumph over the suffering.

 

As you read Isaiah 53, notice the different things He did for you and for me.  As I read and study this chapter, I understand that He knows about grief and disappointment.  I read that through His pain and death on the cross, He healed us physically and spiritually as He became our substitute.  I wonder if we misunderstand what He did there!  Israel did not understand He was taking their place– and actually the entire world’s – on the cross for their sins.  What about us today?

 

Read the words found in John 8:12, “Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”   In 1 John 1:7, he writes that we are “to walk in he light as He is the light”.  Jesus died not only to save us but to help us walk on the narrow way to His Kingdom.  We must continue to walk in His light, which means we “continue to repent of our sins, continue to seek to walk honestly and purely before the Lord” (from a devotion I get daily).  When you sin, confess it immediately and ask for forgiveness!  Read 1 John 1:9. This is not a license to sin and a way out!  But, we will all sin!

 

Jesus came to this earth that we might have “life, abundant life “(John 10:10).  He came to be a “Servant who gives His life to benefit others” (Mark 10:45) (DJSB).  He came to this world to die on our cross revealing His ultimate purpose as spoken by the prophet Isaiah.  He deserves our praise continually!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB