Isaiah asks, “Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?” He then proceeds to describe this; a man who was common in appearance, easy to overlook and even look down upon. And, as the obvious target of God’s wrath he would be, in his disfigurement, ultimately hard to even look upon at all. Isaiah asks rightly, “Who will believe that God’s saving power would come like this?”
If we are taken back by this our wonder must multiply as we discover that we ourselves are the cause of this circumstance. We who are all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. We are not just physically lost, we are lost-of- heart, alienated-by-nature to God. Our lost hearts thought he brought this upon himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures while the fact was, it was our pains he carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. This will all play out because we’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off—and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for our sins. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true. Still, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin, piling all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him!
Why? So that he would ultimately see life come from it—life, life, and more life. However, to secure life he had to face off with death. Because he will not flinch, God’s plan will deeply prosper through him. Out of his terrible travail of soul, he will see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, God’s righteous servant, will make many righteous. By carrying the burden of their sins, his saving power will come to bear in the new hearts of the lowly. He will have a family of those who are found-in-heart and like-in-nature. Mystery upon mystery! We the cause of this are ourselves the extravagant reward that is behind this inconceivable plan of God’s. How scandalous that we, the cause of his nightmare have always been the object of his dreams!
Truly, “Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?”
Father, Thank you. Thank you that you have born our sin and shame and that we do not have to grovel as the cause of your suffering. Thank you. Thank you for the new life that you have established in our hearts and are manifesting through our lives. May our hearts live in awe and wonder at the glory of this mystery and the majesty of your name. Amen.
Note; Today’s reflections are a byproduct of my paraphrasing and rearrangement of Isaiah 53. Grappling with the passage in this manner is just one of the ways I use to take in God’s words with the understanding that his Word is compatible with and intended to nourish my rescued heart and new nature.