Read Isaiah 52:13 through 55:13; Philippians 2:1–30
For most people who prick their finger or touch a hot stove, their arm involuntarily, even forcefully, pulls away. Pain helps protect the body. Children with congenital analgesia (the inability to feel pain) often suffer fractured bones, eye damage, burns, and damage to their tongues and lips. Humans were designed to avoid discomfort and to do what they can to alleviate their own physical suffering.
As recorded in Isaiah 52 and 53, God gave the prophet a vision of the Messiah as a Suffering Servant, one who would be “disfigured,” “marred,” “pierced,” and “crushed” in order to bear our sins. According to Isaiah 53:10, the Servant would suffer because “it was the Lord’s will to crush him.”
Paul commented on that suffering:
[Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8).
Jesus was the perfect Suffering Servant, not because He could not feel the pain, but because He was willing to endure it so that we could have salvation.
CHALLENGE FOR TODAY: When you catch yourself grumbling, remember what Jesus willingly endured for you.
©by Gospel Publishing House, 1445 N Boonville Ave., Springfield, Missouri 65802