Advent, Day 9

THE LIGHT SNUFFED OUT
Near the end of the Isaiah scroll, God’s story lurched through a dramatic turn. God had always brought light to dark places, and the light always pierced through the darkness. Shadows would eventually reemerge, but they never withstood God’s radiant light. But now Isaiah foretold a ferocious assault of darkness at the very heart of hope. This developed a theme that had been hinted from the beginning, as Genesis 3:15 warned, “I will put enmity between [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. But Isaiah took that hint and turned the volume up to 11.

Isaiah revealed that the longed-for deliverer would be exalted and lifted up… worship, but as an object of scorn. Isaiah foresees him as ‘despised’—and not just by men. God himself would afflict and reject him! How could this be?! Could this truly be the same deliverer Israel had longed for all these millennia? How could this new portrait fit the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace? How could the eternal king be pierced and crushed—be led into a silent slaughter?

In those days, people usually thought prosperity was a sign of God’s favor, whereas pain was a sign of his displeasure. Yet Isaiah turns this paradigm on its head. The beloved becomes crushed. The text is saturated with hints as to why:
So shall he sprinkle many nations… he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed… and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all… by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities… he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
– Isaiah 52:15, 53:5-6, 11-12

The deliver would deliver by dying. He would release the oppressed by standing in their place. He would free the debtors by assuming their debts. He would rescue those in the pit by entering the pit to hoist them toward the light.

This portrait was difficult to reconcile with the many victorious promises of the past. But one thing was certain—God was willing to go to any length, to any depth, and through any descent to bring his rescue. The people must have looked around at the messy darkness around them and found some comfort knowing that darkness and mess would not keep God away. God was not afraid of their mess. He would see them delivered from evil, no matter what it cost.

DAILY SCRIPTURE READING
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 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.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
– Isaiah 53:3-9

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
– Do you tend to see prosperity as a sign of God’s favor?
– Consider the characters in Scripture whom God favored. Did they tend to avoid pain, or did God lead them through seasons of suffering?
– What does Isaiah 53 show us about the inner strength and character of God’s deliverer?
– What truths from Isaiah 53 might you cling to for help in future seasons of suffering?