In The Word
Read: Isaiah 52:13-53:12
The Exalted Servant
13 Behold, My Servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
14 Just as many were appalled at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred beyond that of a man,
And His form beyond the sons of mankind.
15 So He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what they had not been told, they will see,
And what they had not heard, they will understand.
The Suffering Servant
53 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
3 He was despised and abandoned by men,
A man of great pain and familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was despised, and we had no regard for Him.
4 However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.
5 But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off from the land of the living
For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
9 And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the Lord desired
To crush Him, causing Him grief;
If He renders Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will bear their wrongdoings.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His life unto death,
And was counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
There is a song that proclaims the person of Jesus, “Oh what a Savior… Oh what a Friend!” As we read today’s scriptures we can see the truth in those lyrics. Leaving behind the splendor and glory of heaven, Jesus was born in complete obscurity, without fame or comfort. The Messiah of God freely gave up His unmatched power to come to earth and rescue us from our own bondage. Our grief was placed on Him, our sorrows He bore; He was pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our unrighteousness. All that we may be made whole.
And yet we did not acknowledge Him. It was in this obscurity that Jesus Christ did His greatest work. It was in His time of being downcast that we gained the greatest gift of salvation. In all this, it pleased the Lord to crush His only Son. Why?!
Because the Father knew that the Son’s obscurity would not last forever. “Behold, My Servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. (Isaiah 52:13)” He knew Jesus would be triumphant over all the works of Satan and the restoration of humanity to Himself would finally be established.
For many today, we feel like we serve God in the same obscurity. If that is you, be encouraged, because like Jesus, our greatest achievements are done when the world does not see us. Our greatest gifts to those around us are given when we never get the fame. However, it will be in those times that we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” God is aware of you and what you go through for His will. Just keep working, and in His season, you will move from obscurity to exaltation.