Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Glory In The Highest



Isaiah 53
1 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.

It often pains me to sit down and see the pain and hurt imposed on Jesus during his short life here on Earth. Verse 3 really seems to drive the nails deep. I used to think that somehow if I had been back in the day with Jesus that I would have cheered him and been his friend. Not only is that not true, but it's against prophesy. Even looking at prophesy it's hard to put myself in the people's shoes of spitting in Jesus' face. But what I do on a daily basis is just that. I don't have to imagine going back in time when I have Jesus' fresh body trampled everyday with my sins. I love the Lord so much but I'm fooling myself if I don't think that his sacrifice wasn't for me. We tend to joyfully talk of Jesus' sacrifice and forgiveness of our sins. How everything we do can be made white as snow. Yes, it's true. However, I am anything but joyous at trampling Jesus' body with my sin. I'm ashamed at using Jesus as a washing machine constantly having to come and remove my red sin. I hope that one day soon in Glory I'll be able to shed this sin and look upon the Savior and be able to thank him for his ultimate sacrifice for my redemption.

He's so worthy of our time and praise. As Charity said earlier, we tend to push him first out of our calender. So it pains me to look upon my sin and his suffering for it, but it also is necessary. Our redemption of sins is never free and it does Jesus a great injustice to say it was and is. For it's by looking at the price that we recognize the magnitude of praise and honor due to our Savior. This isn't a Christmas post per say, but one to get our hearts right and set on what Christmas is and why it's important and get our eyes back to our Savior Jesus.

No comments:

Post a Comment