“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 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. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Isaiah 53:1-12 NIV
https://www.bible.com/111/isa.53.1-12.niv
I think The Book of Isaiah is my favorite. As a matter of fact, Jesus quoted Isaiah often in His ministry.
Here’s what makes Isaiah 53 an amazing chapter. First, Isaiah was written about 700 years before the death of Jesus. Just read it’s accuracy of what was to happen! Only God could make prophesy so accurate and so perfect!
Now, this chapter gets even better. Notice the tenses in the chapter. Isaiah is using the past tense yet he wrote this chapter 700 plus years before the events occurred. He wrote it as if it was a historical series of events yet it’s futuristic. Why?
I believe it’s because Isaiah wants to focus more on the impacts of the events versus the actual events happening. It’s like the main message is the people will look back on the events of Christ’s sufferings and realize the amazing love and grace God poured on them through Christ’s sufferings. So, the impacts or results matters more than the actual event!
So, when you read chapters in the Bible, study the tenses. Is the reading focusing on past, present or future and why? Sometimes, you will garner deeper meaning of the actual impacts of the scriptures by studying how the wording is crafted.
by Kent Brosh a Kawaiaha’o Blog Contributor
Alberta, Canada
