Isaiah 53, which we have looked at for the last two weeks, gives the suffering of Christ in detail. Many have said over the last thousand years that it is to bloody of a story. It is bloody and vicious, but it is also true. But to me, the amazing thing is that it was written over 700 years before Jesus lived and died! However, the skeptic will say that the story of Jesus was made up to go along with Isaiah's account and all the Old Testament prophecies concerning His life and death. Such a person, however, is either poorly educated or simply chooses to ignore facts. The Romans were extreme record keepers, and the story of Jesus is written in their histories. Believing then, that the histories and the Scripture are true, let's look again at the first six verses of Isaiah 53. We have looked at these over the last two weeks, so let's revisit them to bring us up to speed.

Isaiah 53:1-6; 1.) Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2.) For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3.) He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4.) Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5.) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed. 6.) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

        Wow! Christ went through torment for us! But there is more in the next three verses. 

⁷ He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? ⁹ And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth.

        Isaiah was the one who told us that Jesus would be born to a virgin, and we marvel at the perfection of that prophecy. Here he also gives another exact prophecy, but it has to do with the manner in which He died. He didn't rant and rage at the unfairness of it all, He didn't curse the people who laughed at Him and spit on Him, He didn't condemn His executioners. He had a job to do, a prophecy to fulfill. How we face our death really tells of the life we led. Jesus was more than brave. And then, he was buried in a rich man's tomb. What kind of false prophecy would that be? Jesus had no control of where He was buried. The 700 year old prophecy was fulfilled on the spur of the moment. It was not faked.

        The Bible is amazing. Those who say it isn't all true and say that those who believe it without question are foolish are, themselves, foolish. The Bible delivers good stories and the Bible delivers painful stories. Simply, the Bible is truth. And next week, this truthful story is wrapped up.

                               

 

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