e hënë, 1 shtator 2008

Isaiah 53:7-9

Passage: Isaiah 53:7-9
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Journal: Isaiah foretells the trial, death and burial of Christ. The prophecy is with definitive precision, as he references that Christ was "with a rich man in his death." [Matthew 27:57-60 --When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away."]

The abuse of the slain lamb is evident in the words of Isaiah -- "oppressed;" "afflicted;" "slaughter;" and "stricken." Yet, in the midst of it all, our atoning savior went to the sacrificial table in resolute and focused solitude - the "silence of the lamb." [v. 7 -- "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth."] His perfection [v. 9b -- ". . . although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth."] became our perfection. His holiness became our holiness. He suffered so that we might escape our torment.