yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
therefore i will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
[isaiah 53:10-12]
one of the hardest things for us to understand is why God does things the way he does–all of isaiah 53 leading up to these passages is a picture of the suffering servant, that will finally be revealed to us in Jesus. we see the pain and torment–grief, suffering, torment, affliction, crushing, striking, oppression–and it is followed by this phrase:
yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
satan wanted Jesus dead–(luke 22:5-6),
yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
the assembly wanted to betray him unto death–(matthew 26:59),
yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
the disciples didn’t want it to happen–(matthew 16:22),
yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
Jesus, in his humanity did not want to be crushed–(luke 22:42),
yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
and yet, he submitted to the Father’s will-(luke 23:46)
it was the will of the Lord to crush him.
it is Jesus who came to pour out his soul to death, and submitting to the Father’s perfect and good will, he bore the sin of many. yes, we will struggle to understand God’s will, especially when it doesn’t accord with our own plans. let us imitate Jesus, submitting to God’s will, when it is the hardest path for us to walk.
today–he is interceding for you and i, the transgressors, so that we can be in the presence of our Holy Father. let us go to him, let us live in the light of his will.
~ce