6All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
Earlier this week in our Bible study together, we looked at King David’s words in Psalm 22, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” His words in this Psalm were deeply personal and honest. These words, however, were more than just personal and honest; they were also prophetic. You see, centuries later, an infinitely greater king, the King above all kings, Jesus, came to this earth and uttered those same words as He was laying down His life for the sins of the world. We have a Savior who knows what it is like to experience the feelings of loneliness and abandonment to the greatest extent.
As Jesus was experiencing the agony of being crucified on the cross for our sins, Matthew 27 tells us that He “called out with a loud voice, ‘My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?’” (verse 46). At this moment, Jesus experienced feelings of deep abandonment by God the Father as He took on the sins of the world. A note in the NLT Life Application Study Bible says that the agony from this feeling of temporary abandonment must have been far worse than the physical pain that He endured. Isaiah 53 gives even more detail of the agony Jesus endured. This passage from the prophet Isaiah is a prophecy about Jesus and what He would face when He came to earth. He wrote, “He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care” (verse 3). Jesus experienced deep rejection on this earth. As Isaiah’s prophecy continued, he wrote, “The Lord laid on Him the sins of us all” (verse 6). As Jesus took on our sins, He experienced the feelings of abandonment because it is sin that separates us from a holy God. He experienced the feelings of abandonment by God for you and me so that we could receive freedom from sin and eternal life with Him forever if we would place our faith in Him.
You have a Savior who not only hears you in your pain, grief, and sorrow but also deeply understands sorrow and grief at the most profound level. That means that as you express your worries, sorrows, and emotions to Him, He understands and empathizes with you. What a Savior we have, that He willingly endured the emotional and physical turmoil that was required in order to rescue us from our sins!
Moving toward action
Write out a prayer today thanking Jesus for all He has done. Thank Him for paying the price for the sins of the world, even when it meant experiencing rejection and deep pain. Express how much you love Him, not just for all He has done for you, but for who He is.
Prayer Prompt: Use this prompt to guide you as you pray.
“God, You stopped at nothing to save and rescue us. I thank You for…”
Going deeper
1Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[1] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
7He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.[2]
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.[3]
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.
9He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.
10But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
12I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
Translation notes (3)
- 53:4 Or Yet it was our sicknesses he carried; / it was our diseases.
- 53:8a Greek version reads He was humiliated and received no justice. Compare Acts 8:33.
- 53:8b Or As for his contemporaries, / who cared that his life was cut short in midstream? Greek version reads Who can speak of his descendants? / For his life was taken from the earth. Compare Acts 8:33.
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