Isaiah 51-53 -- A Call To Obedience For A Reason

The eyes of Israel will eventually be opened to the truth about Jesus being the Messiah, along with the eyes of many non-Jewish people as well:  “He will surprise many nations.  Kings will be amazed and shut their mouths.  They will see things they had not been told about Him, and they will understand things they had not heard.   Who would have believed what we heard?  Who saw the Lord’s power in this?”

What kind of Savior have they missed?

“He took our suffering on Him and felt our pain for us … He was wounded for the wrong we did; He was crushed for the evil we did.  The punishment, which made us well, was given to Him, and we are healed because of His wounds.  We all have wondered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way.  But the Lord has put on Him the punishment for all the evil we have done … He was put to death.  He was punished for the sins of my people… He had done nothing wrong … The Lord made His life a penalty offering, but … He will complete the things the Lord wants Him to do … My good servant will make many people right with God; He will carry away their sin … He willingly gave His life … But He carried away the sins of many people and asked forgiveness for those who sinned.”

In my commentary, it quoted from a hymn by Thomas Chisholm, saying, “And all our sin, and all our sin, and all our sin was laid on Him … He sought us where we were …and brought us home, and brought us home, and brought us home, safely home to God.”

That three-times-repeated “all our sin” really hit me.  Yes, I know Jesus died for all my sins.  It’s too easy to simply think of that as “all my sins I’ve committed up to now.”  But it didn’t stop there.  Christ in God is all-knowing, and He died to remove all the sins I’ll ever commit.  Having died for them all, He already knows the terrible depth of not only what I’ve already done, but even what I will choose to commit today, tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life!  He’s seen it, knows it, and He’s died for it.  He’s removed it as far as the east is from the west, and placed it on the ocean floor where it can never be remembered by God.  What an incredible Savior.  And what I need to do is to obey God’s word from here on out – more even that I would have before having read this again – to mitigate the causes of His suffering for me by choosing to love Him for what He’s already done for me, by not sinning any more than I can.

Father, I know that this body and mind are infected with the sin-virus.  Help me fight off its effects and strive not to sin, to honor Your Son for all He’s already done for me, for both my past AND my future.  Help me to love You more so that I can.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford