Surely he took up our pain, and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  Isaiah 53: 4 – 6

As the season of Lent moves forward I find myself focusing my heart and mind on the splendid gift of salvation.  So I ponder Isaiah 53 once again.

The Jews at the time of Isaiah were frightened.  Assyria whose thundering horsemen and clanging chariots conquered the neighboring nations, was about to pounce on them.  Israel had reason to fear that they were to be the next victim.  Their weak military forces could not possibly defeat the mighty, even legendary, forces of Assyria. They felt helpless and hopeless.  Many in the Land looked to Egypt to fight for them.  The Jews remembered the days of King David when the Sons of Abraham had a victorious army. Not now. They were now two nations, Israel and Judah, a people in disarray.

I try to imagine their plight.  Where is God? If they are his chosen people, why do they feel orphaned? Has God left them bereft, about to be swallowed by heathen nations?

It was into this situation that the Prophet Isaiah spoke. He made it clear that the Jews could not expect to receive God’s protection if they persisted in disobeying him over and over again.  That must have sounded like bad news to them because they could not change.

Then chapter 53!  The answer to their dilemma is so unexpected that it must have left the hearers perplexed.  It is a compelling truth of God’s amazing grace. The Savior is born; He will take on himself our sins.  He has none. On the Cross it looked like God was punishing Him for some reason, but the reason for all that suffering is because of our sins that lay on him.  His shed blood atoned for my sin and the sin of all who will believe. It was for me and you.

The answer to the human dilemma is not stronger armies, more money and so on. That is the human, we might say, rational way of looking at things. No, unto us a child is born, God as a baby, a man, a crucified man a man raised from the dead and now in heaven interceding for us day and night. That is our revealed reality. May this thought dominate my musings during this season of Lent. Forbid that I should look to another for protection.