The Suffering Servant

Sometimes in life great suffering precedes exaltation. The reason for this is that nothing that is worth doing is easy. When we really want to accomplish a great goal, there is a great price for us to pay. However, once we have paid the price, God is there to exalt us because of our faithfulness. That is exactly what happened to Jesus.

Isaiah was given great insights into the life and death of Jesus hundreds of years before He came to this earth. (Isaiah 52:13-14) God told Isaiah to tell us that His Servant would prosper. He would be highly exalted. But many were amazed when they saw Him. His face was so disfigured He hardly seemed human, and from His appearance one would scarcely know He was a man. What a picture of our Lord Jesus!

We are told in Hebrews 12 that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. He knew that the Father would be faithful to care for Him and exalt Him, if He would be faithful through the torture. As believers, we can know the same thing. If we are faithful to the Lord through whatever we have to suffer, God will be faithful to bless us more than we can imagine.

However, the suffering can be very intense. Jesus was beaten, a crown of thorns placed on His head and driven into His skull. He was savagely scourged within an inch of His life, even before being nailed to a cross. He did not even look human afterward. He kept His eyes on the Father and the goal of redemption, and we can endure anything if we do the same.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 53-56,