As you read Isaiah 52:13 through Isaiah 53, please consider Jesus...God's perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus, the Servant of God, suffered for doing the will of His Father in Heaven...and yet was highly exalted by the Lord.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.--Philippians 2:5-11
Think on the humiliation of His birth and life...as well as His trial and His suffering and death. Most importantly think on the glory of what He purchased for you and me. The Father was pleased with His sacrifice...this does not mean that He was glad that His Son suffered, but that the work of God had been accomplished through Him...Eternal salvation. Divine justice was satisfied...we who believe could now be justified and clothed in Christ's righteousness.
Go through these verses and see the many faces of our Savior. He is a tender plant, a root out of dry ground, He is despised and rejected by men, and a Man of sorrows. He is the One who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows....He is the beaten Servant, the Lamb led to the slaughter, He is the Offering for sin...our sin. He is the one who poured out His soul unto death and intercedes for us before the throne of God. He is the one who died for us when we were His enemy.
People still reject Him today and willfully refuse to believe despite all the evidence. They despise and reject Him. They ridicule the simple, beautiful message of the Cross of Christ. But it really doesn't matter what "people" might do or what they might think. God is God and all will bow the knee one day. "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
His people on earth remember today that the innocent Son of God died in the place of guilty sinners and paid the price for our sins and accomplished salvation for a dying and lost world. My favorite part of Isaiah 53 to consider is verses 10 and 11...Isaiah wrote that He would "see His seed." Who are His seed...we are...if we believe. He would see US...those who would come to Him and be saved through His selfless act on the cross. He was thinking of you and me...knowing our salvation would be the result of His suffering and death and that we could now spend eternity with Him...Isaiah says this in verse 11: "He shall "see" the labor of His soul and be satisfied. AMAZING LOVE!
13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently;
He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you,
So His visage was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men;
15 So shall He sprinkle[b] many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.
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, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they[a] made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul,[b]and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
