THE CRUSHING, PAINFUL, BEAUTIFUL REALITY OF JESUS (ISAIAH 53)
Have you ever felt crushed? I bet you have in some way. Emotionally we are crushed by grief, loss, and loneliness. Physically we feel crushed by injuries, sickness, or chronic pain we can’t do anything to change. Intellectually we feel crushed by limitations, failures, or comparison. Spiritually we feel crushed at times by wondering where God is in our circumstances. In all of these human experiences, we have a kind and loving Savior who can identify with our aching pain.
SAGE
Maybe this lesson from a crushed sage leaf can encourage you today that the painful realities of your life have a meaningful purpose in light of eternity. Saying yes to Jesus and yes to the valleys and trials of discipleship, your enduring faith will be a beautiful aroma…
Sage Leaf Trail Talk about Trials and Suffering (in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area, Montana)
God gave an ancient prophet, Isaiah a revelation about a Savior who would one day come to experience and overcome the suffering of the world. For hundreds of years, the Hebrew people longed for the Day that this man would be born. Without knowing exactly when he would arrive in history, they expected him to be like no other person before or after. They knew from the prophets that he would make right what was wrong in the world.
AN UNEXPECTED BEAUTY: SUFFERING
What they didn’t expect was how much he would suffer. It is natural to see in the many prophecies of the Messiah, a triumphant, victorious figure who would save their nation from injustice. Yet it is unsettling (and to some, unbelievable) to read the prophecies about this man-Savior which tell of suffering and anguish that this man would endure to accomplish his mission.
The Hebrew people still wait for this Savior (Messiah). Yet he has already come, for those who are willing to accept Him. If you have ever read the whole story of Jesus in the New Testament of the Bible, then you will recognize Him as plain as day in Isaiah’s prophecy. As you read the prophecy below I pray that you will be comforted and awed by the depth of suffering that Jesus went through on your behalf.
His suffering had meaning. Firstly, He took upon Himself the suffering that you and I deserve. Secondly, He is the Remedy for our sinful state of separation from God because he bore the punishment of our rebellion on himself. All of your sin was placed upon Jesus when he was nailed to a cross about 2,000 years ago.
Reading Isaiah 53 forces you to reckon with the incomparable, undeniable love of the Father. The Father was willing to crush his one and only faithful and sinless Son, Jesus. Why? So that you could have a bridge to cross over from the death you deserve to the Life Jesus earned for you in his death on that cross. Read every word of this prophecy, written 700 years before the birth of Jesus, as a personal message written just for you:
“Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 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.
3 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.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 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.
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
10 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.
11 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.
12 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
THE AROMA OF CHRIST
Shooting Star Wildflower – Lee Metcalf Wilderness
Do you see now the beauty in Jesus Christ’s crushing death?
Can you see now how your own personal suffering has a beautiful aroma?
Suffering causes us to be humbly dependent on the Heavenly Father rather than pridefully disconnected from Him. We may wish and long for a different way, but in His infinite wisdom, this is the path God has chosen for his creation.
The Apostle Paul wrote about how followers of Jesus are a pleasing aroma to God as we submit to whatever path the Lord has assigned to us as disciples:
“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15)
In conclusion, these are to be sure, mysterious, deep, and counter-cultural perspectives on the reality of Jesus Christ. I hope you are encouraged that no suffering in your life will go unnoticed. No injustice will be overlooked. Jesus’ agony is not the end of the story. He raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God to this day. And he sees you. May the reality of Isaiah 53 enable you to believe that by surrendering your life fully to Jesus, all of your life’s strains and struggles will be like a sweet aroma to God as you cling to him and await the day when you cross over from this life to the boundless reward of life with him for eternity.
REFLECTION
1. Find a sage leaf or pine needle. Smell it in its natural state first. Then crush it and smell it again. What is different about the “before” smell, and the “after” smell?
2. How might this creation analogy give you hope today in your circumstances?
3. Say a prayer of thanksgiving to Jesus for His love for you which caused him to be crushed by your sin. Ask him to help you keep walking through the valleys and over the majestic peaks he has planned for you as you journey with Him.
