Week 2 - Wednesday

LOVE!

Reading:
Isaiah 52 and 53

Something that struck me from chapter 52 verses 3 through 6 was that no ransom needed to be given to free the captives so that they could return to Israel, Judah and Jerusalem.  They were taken away without a price, and so they were to be returned without one.  The captors have no claim on them. 
How does this compare to the captivity of God's people to evil? 
A price was paid, a very great price, to set us free.
Our debts were made in sins, and a claim did lie on us that had to be paid.

When I read chapter 52 verse 13 through the end of chapter 53, my reaction was something like, "#$! That is describing Jesus.  It could hardly be more explicit.  How did people miss that!?!" 

At first reading, I also felt like the passage describing God's suffering servant didn't follow what came immediately before it.  Okay, first we're talking about Jerusalem being fixed up - then something about a messenger with good news - and then a description of the life of Christ.  I have been taught that when I feel that way about a bible passage, it is time to sit down and figure out why. 

So here is what I have: God's suffering servant, Jesus, is the means by which God's people are allowed to come back. No payment had to be given for them to return to Jerusalem, but they still needed to be redeemed from their rift with God.  Jesus is the means by which that redemption would be made.  Isaiah chapter 53 is the outline for Operation Free the Captives. 

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.