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A Good Friday Contemplation

sawatdeeka
@sawatdeeka
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Isaiah 53 is a beautiful passage from an Old Testament prophet that looks forward down the centuries toward Christ's death on the cross for sinners. The Bible, 66 books written over a span of about 1,500 years, tells one story: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration to God's glory.

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 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, 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.

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Discussion (10)

  • Bill Berg@BillBerg

    I grew up a Baptist, followed the decision to follow Christ and believers' baptism at too young an age. Then in college under the assault of my computer science studies and the college challenges became a very doubting Thomas.

    A lot of prayer, study, and contact with liturgical Christians eventually led me to the LCMS, where I anxiously await our Tenebrae service this evening.

    I am truly one of those of "little faith" that need constant tending and reception of the sacraments to stay attached to Christ the vine.

    One of my nightly prayers is that those of us who trust that Christ suffered and died for us before we were born, and continue to listen to the Holy Spirit, will celebrate Easter for eternity.

    The world today makes it too easy to know fellow Christians by their fruits rather than which church their car is parked at on Sunday.

    Happy Easter!

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