The journey from Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday is a story in reverse. It begins with an ending and ends with a beginning. It begins terminal and ends with a miracle. Truly, the story of Jesus Christ flips all conventional understandings on their head.
Isaiah 53 has the prophet see clearly the man of Jesus, and His journey to the cross. Read the passage and listen to the pathos of the prophet who recognizes in the midst of his own speech just how upside down the story of Jesus is. Listen carefully to the inverted justice and punishment that is laid upon the guiltless while the guilty are spared. And at the end, hear the mixed emotions of sadness and hope from a prophet who foresees the resurrection of our savior from ultimate death.
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.
The CGGC office is praying for all our readers on this Good Friday.
We’re praying for all of our churches, for our congregants, and for the manifold opportunities this week that Christian people will have to share the gospel, and to spread the message of Jesus Christ to those who have not heard, or who need to hear again.
This year we’ve been praying every day what Jesus commands in Luke 10:2. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
We’d ask that you pray this prayer with us each day, keeping in mind how many new people will be showing up in churches this weekend around the globe for a chance to hear the Lord on Easter Sunday. Pray eagerly that the Holy Spirit will flip their hearts and minds upside down for the risen Christ.
CGGC eNews—Vol. 19, No. 16
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