The Suffering Servant.
Welcome aboard The Clarion Express, because we are going to talk about the Suffering Servant.
The Bible tells us that God so loved you and me that He sent His only begotten Son. But this Son did not come as a Son of a King for Isaiah 53 speaks about Him as the suffering servant. This is from the Message Bible: “Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this? The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about Him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at Him and people turned away. We looked down on Him, thought He was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains He carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought He brought it on Himself, that God was punishing Him for His own failures. But it was our sins that did that to Him, that ripped and tore and crushed Him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through His bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone
our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on Him, on Him. 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 the
sins of My people. They buried Him with the wicked, threw Him in the grave of 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 gave Himself as an offering for sin so that He’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God’s plan will deeply prosper through Him. Out of that terrible travail of soul, He’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad He did it. Through what He experienced, My righteous one, My servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as He Himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I’ll reward Him extravagantly— the best of everything, the highest honors— Because He looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because He embraced the company of the lowest. He took on His own shoulders the sin of the many, He took up the cause of all the black sheep.”
It was the Father’s great love to send Yeshua(God’s Salvation) for the purpose of just that, salvation. But what a price to pay. What a great cost. But the cost meant nothing, nothing, compared to the salvation that God wanted for His people. God created man because He loved him. Yes, even before man was created, God loved him! Nothing was too good for His people, not even His own Son. Can we, should
we, take the death of Yeshua (God’s salvation) so lightly? Do we come and mourn, do we come and repent, do we come and lay our own lives down as He did, a life that puts God first, a life of sacrifice, a life of denial?
Luke 9: 23 tells us this, Yeshua says, “Then He said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me'”.
Matthew 16:24-26 says, “Then said Yeshua unto His disciples,’ If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it”.
The cross symbolizes the pain, hardship, and persecution that may come with following Yeshua. If God showed us His great love, shouldn’t we show Him our love? We must follow in the footsteps of our Messiah, because it is only in walking in His footsteps that we will find Him.
2 Timothy 3: 12 says this, “Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted.”
Revelation 2:10, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
We must remember and contemplate and meditate on the death of Yeshua. How else can He be our example? How else can we walk in His footsteps? Let’s put down the Easter Bunny and Easter baskets, and let us mature into the people of God who truly represent the Suffering Servant through our own lives. Great love must be returned with great love.
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