Isaiah 53:3 ESV
“He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Isaiah 53 is a prophecy about Jesus Christ, the promised
seed of Abraham, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world. He, being God,
left his throne in heaven, came to earth, took on human form, suffered as we
suffer, and he was tempted in like manner as we are also tempted, yet without
sin.
During his years of ministry on the earth he healed the sick
and afflicted, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, performed many
miracles, fed the hungry, comforted the sorrowful, and preached repentance for the
forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.
Crowds followed him, mainly because of the miracles he
performed for them. But they were fickle, for when he preached the cost of
following him, many deserted him never to return, for they felt that his words
were “too hard.” For, he required they die with him to sin and suffer as he
suffered.
Many of the religious leaders, rulers, and teachers of the
law in the temple of God opposed him strongly, for they would not accept him as
their Messiah, they didn’t like what he taught, and they were jealous of his
popularity among the people, so they sought to destroy him.
Even some members of his own family were against him, and
they thought he was crazy, and they wanted to put him away. The religious
rulers plotted his death, they turned the people against him, and even his own
disciples deserted him, and one of them betrayed him to death.
Isaiah 53:4 ESV
“Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.”
Many of the Jews, at the persuasion of many of the rulers in
the temple of God, called for Jesus’ crucifixion, and so Jesus Christ, God the
Son, was hung on a cross to die, although he had done no wrong but only good. Therefore,
they denied the Holy and Righteous One, and they killed the Author of life, whom
God raised from the dead (Acts 3:12-16).
When Jesus died on that cross, he who knew no sin became sin
for us that we might become the righteousness of God. He died on that cross
that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And
he died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us.
But he not only carried our sins on that cross, but he
carried our griefs and our sorrows. He suffered for us on that cross that he
might become our compassionate and merciful high priest. So, he sympathizes
with us in our suffering, for he suffered for us that we might live with him.
But it was God’s will that Jesus should suffer and die for
our sins. It was in his plan and design from the very beginning that Jesus
would be our sacrificial Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. He was
and is the promised seed of Abraham, the Messiah, the Christ.
And he very much cares about us and what we are going
through, and he is there for us, who know him, to encourage us when we are down,
and to lift us up, and to give us courage and strength and wisdom to follow him
and to do what he says, and to say what he gives us to say to the people.
Isaiah 53:5 ESV
“But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.”
When Jesus died, our sins died with him so that by faith in
him we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are raised with him to
newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness. The old has gone, the new has come.
Now we are no longer under the control of sin and Satan or
in bondage (slavery) to sin, for Jesus set us free! Now, in the power of God’s
Spirit, we can walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. We
can walk in the light as God is in the light in fellowship with the Lord and
one another.
Sin no longer has dominion over our lives, for Jesus set us
free. Now Jesus is our Lord (owner-master) and we are under the Holy Spirit’s
control, if we are believing in Jesus Christ with God-persuaded faith in
Christ. Now we can live holy and godly lives, pleasing to our Lord, empowered
of God’s Spirit.
For, the whole point of Jesus’ death and resurrection was so
that we would die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness;
that we would forsake our lives of sin, submit to Christ as Lord, and follow
Jesus in obedience to his commands, to the glory and praise of God.
So, we are no longer at enmity with God, but now we are at
peace with God through what Jesus did for us on that cross, and by faith in him
in dying with him to sin, in leaving our lives of sin behind us, in
surrendering to him as Lord of our lives, and in walking according to his
commands.
Isaiah 53:6 ESV
“All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”
For, we were once like sheep who went astray. We were once
enslaved to sin and to all manner of evil. We were living to sin and to self,
doing what we desired, not what God desired. We were bound in sin, headed to
hell, without hope, and we all fell short of God’s divine approval.
But when Jesus died on that cross, he made the way for us to
come to faith in him and to be delivered from our slavery to sin so that we
could now become slaves to God and to his righteousness. Even the faith to
believe in him is founded in Jesus who is the author and the perfecter of our
faith.
God gifts us with faith and with repentance, and he
transforms our hearts and makes them new. We are rebirthed of the Holy Spirit
of God, and we are turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to
God by God’s Spirit, and not of our own flesh. But this is not automatic. We
have to surrender. We have to submit. And we have to obey, in God’s power.
So, if you have not surrendered your life to Jesus, and he
is not truly your Lord, because you have not submitted to him as Lord, and if
you have not turned away from your sins to follow Jesus in obedience to his
will, I pray you will do so today, for where you spend eternity depends on it.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17;
Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10,
15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom
12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Jn 6:44; Eph 2:8-10;
Heb 12:1-2]
Songs
in the Night
An Original Work / December 18, 2013
“About
midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other
prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84
Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.
I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!
Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.
I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!
Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.
Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!
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