First Time Guest? Let us know!

Isaiah 53
Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

Isaiah 53:10
But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.

It wasn’t the suffering in of itself that pleased God. It was what the suffering accomplished that pleased God.

Isaiah 53:11
And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.

Reconciliation - to renew a friendship or to restore a right relationship.

2 Corinthians 5:19 (PHILLIPS)
God was in Christ personally reconciling the world to himself— not counting their sins against them— ...For God caused Christ, who himself knew nothing of sin, actually to be sin for our sakes, so that in Christ we might be made good with the goodness of God.

On Good Friday, God reconciled the world to himself in the Messiah.

2 Corinthians 5:18
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

God has charged us to bring people into harmony/right relationship with their Creator.

Maclaren
We are the representatives of Jesus Christ. He is to be incarnated again in the hearts, and manifested again in the lives, of His servants.

GOOD FRIDAY CHANGED EVERYTHING, FOR EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE.

Isaiah 53:12
Because he poured out his soul unto death.

Charles Spurgeon
Jesus gave poor sinners everything. His every faculty was laid out for them. To his last rag he was stripped upon the cross. No part of his body or his soul was kept back from being made a sacrifice. The last drop, was poured out till the cup was drained. He made no reserve: he kept not back even his innermost self. He hath poured out his soul unto death

Matthew 26:26-30
Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.