Today’s Passage: Isaiah 53 (see bottom of post)
Sunday evening, I was blessed to be in attendance to hear a wonderful sermon on sacrifice. I had already been thinking of a lesson on Christian sacrifice, so the sermon was definitely timely and it served to move up the topic to today’s devotional.
In the Old Testament, priests were given specific instructions for the atonement of the people’s sins; however, they were commanded to do this over and over because the sacrifice of lambs, bulls and goats could not truly take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). The sins were rolled forward until a sacrifice of the highest form, without spot or blemish and perfect in nature, would be given in their place. This sacrifice would fulfill prophecy and would need to be given only once (Hebrews 9:26-28), for it was the greatest sacrifice that would ever be made, the death of one part of the Godhead in human form: Jesus Christ our Savior.
It is difficult for me to imagine how much this sacrifice meant to God. God was not just allowing His Son to suffer, but He was also giving Himself to die. Jesus was equal with God but took on the task of being lowered to the position of His Creation and even lower than this: a servant of mankind with no home of His own or even a place to lay His head (Philippians 2:5-7). Jesus spent His few adulthood years teaching those who ridiculed Him, rejected Him and despised Him, all the while knowing that He would receive the most unjust treatment ever experienced by a human being.
This man was completely innocent – not as a child who does not know any better or one who incompetently cannot discern right from wrong – but as a man who was tempted just as we are yet He overcame every single temptation (Hebrews 4:15). Without such a man, a sacrifice for our sins could not take place. The animal sacrifice without spot or blemish was a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice of a man without sin in His life. No one else could become this sacrifice but Jesus, because no one before or since has been without sin.
Jesus became despised and slandered throughout His travels to save mankind from sin because He was just, wise and knew man’s heart. People who were corrected by Jesus knew He was true in His judgment of them and this is why many of them hated Him. Sometimes we humans are too proud to admit our faults so we try to justify them and lash out at those who know our weaknesses.
If you do not do so already, I encourage you to read Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 before partaking of the communion on Sundays. I find this passage to be humbling to me and it helps me visualize Christ and His suffering more clearly than any other passage. God very descriptively speaks through Isaiah of Jesus’ coming and the persecution that He will endure for us who failed Him in every way. Yet He did not leave us without hope; He instead gave us the greatest gift we could ever receive: eternal life with Him.
Jesus gave absolutely everything He could ever give for us: Himself. There is no greater offering that could be given than we have already received. I look around me and wonder why He would do such a thing for a creature as selfish as man.
I am provoked to thought by this passage. Do I selfishly expect to receive such a gift of grace with no willingness to sacrifice for Christ? Am I so caught up in my own day-to-day activities and problems that I am unconcerned about Jesus’ willingness to receive punishment in my place? Why do I sometimes fear going outside of my comfort zone to lead others to Christ when my dear Savior did not afford His own comfort? As I ponder the lack of excuses I have for these questions, I consider that it would be a good idea to post a sticky note on my bathroom mirror with the subject of today’s lesson on it: “What have I sacrificed for Christ today?”
Consider the things that affect you and take up your time on a daily basis, and then read the following passage. I pray that if anything in your life is amiss, you will be awakened to them as you read from Isaiah. Please pray that I will work daily to do the same in my own life. Tomorrow, I plan to continue the study of these sacrifices by discussing what sacrifices God finds pleasing of us. God bless you today and every day, dear sister! May we never fail to ask of ourselves, “What have I sacrificed for Christ today?”
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
“See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him – his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness – so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
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 men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his 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 her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 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 a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, 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.”
