Isaiah 53-For the Glory of God

Today I was reading this passage and was struck by the great affliction that Jesus endured leading up to and during the Crucifixion and the vivid language that Isaiah uses to describe the scene. First of all, Jesus died for a people who were not interested in a Savior. Verse 2 says "...He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." Indeed, we not only had no desire for him, but prior to salvation, we hated him. "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not," verse 3. But in spite of all this, Christ died for our sins. He could have avoided the cross if he had wanted to; in power he could have slain his captors, resisted arrest, and triumphed over his enemies, but he chose to die for them instead.

Verses 4-9 describes the pain of affliction, the shame of torture, and the horror of the cross, all of which were endured without a word. But I think verses 10-11 really were the most encouraging to me. "Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. (v11) After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities." These verses tell us that it was the Lord's will that Jesus suffer and die on the cross; why? Because in fulfilling God's will there lies an incredible amount of glory for God, which is the whole purpose of our existence, and Jesus' experience at the cross. And though Christ was crucified, he was raised to life and now sees the "offspring" of his redemptive work-Christians bought with a price and serving God to increase His glory.