It is the Christmas season again, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas! We get busy with our holiday preparations, trying to give those we love a blessed and happy time, and we may get stressed out. It can seem like there is never enough – money, time, energy, or whatever. Don’t let it drown out your joy. It’s Jesus’ birthday! Like the song says, “Don’t worry, be happy.” God is good … all the time … and we can enjoy Christmas no matter what our circumstances may be – if we reflect on who Jesus is.
Consider that about 700
years before the birth of Christ a prophet named Isaiah spoke of the coming
Messiah, His life, His sacrifice for us, and His Kingdom, in terms that
unmistakably describe Jesus. How
remarkable. How miraculous. Please reflect on it and believe.
Isaiah 53
(New Living Translation)
Who
has believed our message?
To whom has the LORD revealed his powerful
arm?
My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like
a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about
his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest
grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the
other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment
from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.
He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.
He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.
But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his
hands.
When he sees all that is accomplished by his
anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
I will give him the honors of a victorious
soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
No comments:
Post a Comment