4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,stricken by him, and afflicted.
3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
I love reading these chapters in Isaiah. Isaiah lived approximately 700 years before the birth of Jesus and yet clearly describes the method and means of his death in chapter 53. It amazes me how anyone can read these verses in Isaiah and not be brought to their knees, while comparing these statements to the accounts of Jesus’ death recorded in the gospels. Issiah’s account impresses on me the Sovereignty of God. God has a plan, He knows exactly what He is doing, and He is doing it. Our ways are not His ways, Isaiah wrote. We won’t always understand God’s plan, but it is very important to understand that He has a definite purpose and His plan will come to fruition.
Jesus claimed that His purpose was to do the work of the one who sent Him. He also gave us the task of going out and making disciples of all of the nations. Paul reminds us of this again in his witty statements found in verses 14 and 15 of Romans. No one can be saved unless someone shares with them the message of Jesus and the salvation found in His death and resurrection. This message of death and resurrection resulting in salvation for all people, recorded by Isaiah some 700 years before Jesus was even born! We serve a mighty God!
Father God, I love to see Your power displayed for Your glory. I thank You for Your written word and its power to show us the many aspects of You. I thank You for showing me that You have a plan and that I have an important role to play in bringing that plan to completion. Help me have “beautiful feet” by empowering me to bring good news to the people who are waiting to hear it. May Your Kingdom come quickly!
Ed Sorrell
Sixty-six books in a year 