Isaiah 53

I want to write some things about this chapter in the Bible. I had been thinking about one of the verses (verse 10), but then I read the entire chapter, and so I wanted to write about most of the chapter. This is from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was one of Gods prophets, and basicly that means that God spoke through him to the people. But what may surprise you is this book was written approximately 700 years before Christ. But these words prophesized about what would happen in the future when the Christ (Jesus) was there. So now we not only have those words, but we live in a time when Christ has already came and gone, and we now see that this prophesy came true. This is one of the many prophecies in the Old Testament which spoke about the coming ¨Messiah¨, which when translated means ¨God with us¨. And Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Anyways, I wish to speak about these verses in Isaiah. My words are in blue. The verses are from the New International Version Bible.


1 Who would have believed what we heard?
Who saw the Lord's power in this?

2 He grew up like a small plant before the Lord,
like a root growing in a dry land.
He had no special beauty or form to make us notice him;
there was nothing in his appearance to make us desire him.

It says that he had no special beautiful, and nothing in his appearance to make us desire him. When people saw Jesus (his body) they did not see anything different, or anything that made him stand out from others. But I know from reading in the New Testament (the part of the Bible written after Jesus was here) that when Jesus spoke, people saw something different. When Jesus spoke, even those who were against him saw that there was something special in him. They would say, ¨he speaks with such authority!¨. He never spoke with any doubt, or twisted his words so that he would be more liked by the people. He spoke what His Father in Heaven told him to speak.

3 He was hated and rejected by people.
He had much pain and suffering.
People would not even look at him.
He was hated, and we didn't even notice him.

Jesus knows how it is to be hated. Many people hated him because of the healings and miracles that he performed, and because of the message that He spoke. When He spoke, He put himself on the same level with God. And that angered many people, especially the Pharisee´s who were proud persons who liked to look religious in peoples eyes, but their hearts were rotten. These ¨religious¨people wanted to kill Jesus for a long time, and finally Jesus was arrested, and crucified. But it was our sins that put him on the cross. I would like to say, it was those evil people who told lies about Jesus, and spoke to the leaders in the government, and got him tortured and executed. But Jesus knew all along that he was going to be killed, and he told that to his followers. Jesus went to the cross willingly because it was Gods will for him, and to die for our sins.

4 But he took our suffering on him
and felt our pain for us.
We saw his suffering
and thought God was punishing him.

He took our suffering on him. Our suffering is what we all deserve, because we have all sinned. But he took our suffering, and felt our pain. He felt the pain for us. He felt the pain that we deserved. Jesus did not die because he did something wrong. Jesus died because we did something wrong. And that continues in the next verse where it says that he was wounded for the wrong we did, and crushed for the evil we did.

5 But he was wounded for the wrong we did;
he was crushed for the evil we did.
The punishment, which made us well, was given to him,
and we are healed because of his wounds.

The punishment that made us well was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds. The only reason that anyone is saved is because of what Christ did. His death was our gain. Because he died for our sins, we now have a way of having our sins forgiven. We are healed because he took our punishment and received the pain that otherwise would have been given to us.

6 We all have wandered away like sheep;
each of us has gone his own way.
But the Lord has put on him the punishment
for all the evil we have done.

Everyone has done evil and wandered away, God put the punishment on His Son, Jesus Christ.
All of us, like sheep, have wandered away. God is our shepherd, but we have wandered away from Him. And because we have done evil and wandered away, God put the punishment on His Son, Jesus Christ.

7 He was beaten down and punished,
but he didn't say a word.
He was like a lamb being led to be killed.
He was quiet, as a sheep is quiet while its wool is being cut;
he never opened his mouth.

After Jesus was arrested, he stood before different leaders, both government leaders and religious leaders. And He never asked to be released because He knew His death would allow people to be forgiven.

8 Men took him away roughly and unfairly.
He died without children to continue his family.
He was put to death;
he was punished for the sins of my people.

9 He was buried with wicked men,
and he died with the rich.
He had done nothing wrong,
and he had never lied.

10 But it was the Lord who decided
to crush him and make him suffer.
The Lord made his life a penalty offering,
but he will still see his descendants and live a long life.
He will complete the things the Lord wants him to do.

But it was the Lord who decided to crush him and make him suffer. Well first of all, why would crushing his only Son be in Gods plan? Well I want to answer that question, but to start somewhere before Christs execution. It is when Jesus is in a place with his disciples (not all his disciples, because one was betraying him at that very moment, and leading those that hated Jesus to that place to arrest him). Jesus is praying. He is asking God, ¨Please take this cup from me, but only if it is Your will¨. (Matthew chapter 26) But here is the question, what is in the cup? I don´t think Christ was actually holding a cup, so what was he talking about? And here is what I think was in the cup. It was the wrath of God, and it was Gods will that His Son drank it all. Thats a pretty hard statement, but I believe it to be completely true. Jesus Christ prayed that if God would do it and if it was His will, that he would not have to drink that cup. But Christ said ¨but take it away only it you will¨. I think that Jesus Christ experienced something on the cross more than being tortured by men, or the pain of nails in his hands and feet, and more than the pain of humiliation and being cursed. To be honest I do not think that Jesus was afraid of all that. The same time he was asking God to take the cup away from him if He willed, Jesus also told some of his disciples that his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. I think he was so sad (even to the point of death) because he was thinking about the cup that he must drink. Christ would soon carry the sin of the world, and die for it. God would take his wrath out on Jesus, His Son! Christ, the one who was without sin, would be punished for the sins of others. When Jesus Christ was on the cross, He said ¨Father, why do you forsake me?¨. I believe that caused Jesus more hurt than the physical pain of a thousand crucificixions. His Father, whom he had always been in communion with, whom he had always been connected to. That communion and connection was cut off. Jesus Christ did not just feel that he was being forsaken or abandoned by God, but that actually happened when He was on the cross. Jesus Christ was carrying our sin! My sin! Your sin! And when I say ¨your sin¨ I hope you stop and think about that. But God is a holy God, and wants nothing to do with sin. And when God sees that Jesus is carrying our sin, He must turn his back to His Son. He forsakes him. Wow. You know, I do not think we will ever understand the pain and suffering that Christ went through for us. Not in this world, or for all eternity. I do not think we will ever comprehend it.

11 "After his soul suffers many things,
he will see life and be satisfied.
My good servant will make many people right with God;
he will carry away their sins.

After Christ suffered and died, he rose again after 3 days, and soon returned to His Father in Heaven. This good servant (Christ is also called the suffering servant) will make many people right with God, and that is exactly what Jesus does. He makes people right with God. People do not make themselves right with God by living a good life, or having less sin than others. People are made right with God by what Jesus did on the cross. There is a path that leads to God, and in that path there is a gate, and that gate is Jesus Christ. He stands in the way of the Father, and you must go through him. Why? Because it is under no other name that a person is saved. Because there is only one that carries away sins, and that is Jesus Christ.

12 For this reason I will make him a great man among people,
and he will share in all things with those who are strong.
He willingly gave his life
and was treated like a criminal.
But he carried away the sins of many people
and asked forgiveness for those who sinned."

Christ died willingly. He was not forced to do it. He was treated like a criminal. Jesus Christ was crucified with two criminals. He asked forgiveness for those who sinned. While on the cross, Jesus Christ asked His Father to forgive these people, because they do not know what they do. And what were they doing? They were killing Gods Holy Son, although they did not actually believe that He was the Son of God. They thought of Him as a criminal, and that he was a lier.

I did not speak about every verse because I would be repeating myself, or for some of the verses, I do not completely understand them, and so I do not want to speak about what I don´t understand. The words of the Bible are revealed to a Christian over a lifetime, and God will be teaching me more about things in the future.

But I want to say a few more things. A person that is not forgiven by God, there punishment is for all eternity. Whether you go to hell or heaven, you will always exist. And if you do not receive Gods forgiveness, than that place is hell. You know, I think about that, and all the people in Hell who are suffering, and that suffering will continue forever and ever. In the Bible, Hell is described is the placed of ¨weeping and gnashing of teeth¨. I know a person is separated from God there, and for all eternity.

The Bible says that great is the path that leads to destruction but narrow is the path that leads to eternal life. That means that the path is big that leads to hell and many follow that path, and narrow is the path that leads to God in Heaven, and it is traveled by few. Christ has died for our sins, but I know that not everyone will be forgiven. But I am not going to now tell you to repeat a prayer, and then say that if you repeat that prayer, you will be saved. Because God knows your heart, and that is what matters. God knows if your words are not from the heart. Here is what I hope you are feeling right now. I hope that you feel convicted of your sin. And if you are feeling convicted, then that is from God. And I hope you are tired of the life you are living, and you want a change. I hope you are wanting to turn away from sin, and have a new life with God. But here is what I would like for you to do. I urge you to go to a place where you are a lone, and speak to God there, because He is listening. But remember that salvation can only come from God because His Son Jesus Christ died for you. It takes a humbled heart to know that we can´t save ourselves. Please go speak to God about this, about your sin, and about HIS salvation.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.