Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out The Suffering Servant!
The Questions
1) What do we learn of the Promised Messiah from Isaiah’s description? (verse 2-3)
2) What did Jesus achieve on our behalf? (verses 4-5)
3) What truths can we know about our human condition from this passage? How does this impact our relationship with God? (verses 6)
Isaiah 53:2-6
2 He grew up before him like a young plant
and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form
or majesty that we should look at him,
no appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
He was like someone people turned away from;[a]
he was despised, and we didn’t value him.
4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses,
and he carried our pains;
but we in turn regarded him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.
6 We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished him
for the iniquity of us all.
Original Intent
1) What do we learn of the Promised Messiah from Isaiah’s description? (verse 2-3)
Throughout Scripture, many facets of Jesus’ character and His role in human history are revealed. He is present before creation (John 1:1) as a part of the Triune God and active in it (Hebrews 1:2); He is preordained as Savior (Ephesians 1:5); His role and presence echo throughout the Old Testament (John 8:56-58, Hebrews 11:26, Jude 1:5, 1 Corinthians 10:4). In Revelation, Christ is foretold as mighty redeemer and judge. (Revelation 19:11-16) But, between the imagery at creation and the powerful descriptions in Revelation, we glimpse something unexpected. Our God is humble and meek. (2 Corinthians 10:1) First on display in the lowest of places, a feeding trough, God is born in human form. Philippians 2 highlights His willing submission to death on a criminal’s cross. Isaiah’s prophecy describes Jesus growing up as a “tender shoot” in dry ground. This statement refers to Him as a “sucker” plant or something that comes from the plant but isn’t part of it. He brought divinity with Him in whole, it didn’t come from another source. “From dry ground” references the difficulties experienced where He was raised (in Nazareth, an insignificant town with economic and political troubles). Additionally, “dry ground” represents the harsh reality of hearts hardened by sin, unwilling to accept Christ as Lord. In His humanity, Jesus came from humble beginnings without majesty to attract us to Him. (verse 2) The Hebrew word God uses to refer to the relationship between Himself and Israel is “helper”. “The One enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth.” (Psalm 113:5-6) All of Scripture tells of a humble God who consistently stoops to “raise the poor from the dust and lift the needy from the ash heap.” (Psalm 113:7-8)
2) What did Jesus achieve on our behalf? (verses 4-5)
Jesus bore our griefs and sorrows, was pierced for our transgressions, and punished for our sins. The word translated rebellion in verse 5 comes from the Hebrew word, pesha, which generally is associated with rebellion, trespass, or revolt. In the New Testament language of Greek, the term used is parabasis, and it implies a breaking or violation of the law. Spiritually speaking, these actions are the result of a defiant or rebellious spirit, one that is bent away from a Holy God. Every sin we commit, willfully or not, is an act of rebellion against holiness. These are the transgressions, pesha, for which Jesus was pierced. Isaiah 53:5 proclaims He was crushed for our iniquities. “Iniquities” refer to something deeply profound in a person’s heart; it is our human sin nature. This depravity within a person leads us to sin and be accountable for the guilt that accompanies the iniquities of our wicked hearts. Jesus didn’t just take my iniquities and your iniquities. He took the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6) The sin of the entire world from the beginning of creation until He returns. He took it all. (1 John 2:2) Jesus was punished for all sin and sinfulness, for the sin that entered the world through Adam and Eve to the sins we commit today, and all that will be committed in the future. He was pierced, crushed, and punished for us, in our place. We are offered peace with God and healing for our broken, sin-infested hearts through His willing substitution for us. His peace and healing are not ours by default, but become ours when we choose to trust Him at His word and surrender ourselves fully to Him. This is what He gives us, and He gives it at the ultimate cost—His own life.
3) What truths can we know about our human condition from this passage? How does this impact our relationship with God? (verse 6)
Verse 6 describes the entirety of human experience in relation to God, “We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way…”. In any good relationship, we know there is a give and take, a mutual love, respect, and sacrifice. There is faithfulness and pursuit of the other person for the good of the relationship. But Scripture teaches that when it comes to our relationship with God, He is the one who is loving, respectful, sacrificing, faithful, and pursuing. We go astray. We turn to our own way. Of course, we have moments of love which grow over time, but these are due to the Holy Spirit working within our surrender to Him. It is the Spirit inside of every believer who cultivates true sacrifice, respect, faithfulness, and following Him. These moments grow into longer seasons as we practice submitting to the Spirit, but invariably, we wander from Him. As the old hymn says, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” (Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing) It is our nature to stray and His to stay.
Everyday Application
1) What do we learn of the Promised Messiah from Isaiah’s description? (verse 2-3)
Isaiah foretells how the Messiah would be despised and rejected which was fulfilled in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and even today. We would expect God’s message of hope, love, and forgiveness embodied in Jesus to be gladly received like water on a hot day. Instead, Jesus’ message is often despised and rejected. We are prone to esteem Him not. (verse 3) We likely know people who have rejected Christ or have animosity toward Jesus. We should think of them, pray for them, love them, reach them, and be present in their lives as the fragrance of Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:15) In doing so, we become conduits of God’s grace and love. Just as importantly, we should remove the log of sin from our own eye before removing the speck from others. (Matthew 7:4-5) We must examine our hearts and lives through the lens of Scripture as we submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in us. (James 1:22-25) It’s easy to be like the man who entered the temple, thanking God he wasn’t like the sinner across from him. (Luke 18:10-14) God asks us to examine our lives to see where we reject Him, His people, and the gospel. (2 Corinthians 13:5) If we are honest, we will know we reject God by our actions, thoughts, and speech. Even those committed to following Christ wholeheartedly fail to do so perfectly. Because of God’s humble, patient, merciful love, He continues extending opportunities for us to repent (turn away) from sin. We can turn to Jesus for forgiveness when we acknowledge and repent of the ways we reject Him. When we allow the compassionate Lord to remove our log of sin, we can extend His love and hope to others on His behalf.
2) What did Jesus achieve on our behalf? (verses 4-5)
In Isaiah 53:4, we are reminded that Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. Truly pondering this reality draws us to Him with deep gratitude and humility. We do not serve an unapproachable God who is “distant” or “up there,” but one who chooses to be right here, in the mix with us as we suffer. We have a Great High Priest who sympathizes with us as described in Hebrews 4:14-16. He is with us, and He cares about what we endure. Not only does He care, but He bears up our griefs and sorrows, taking them upon Himself. He steps into our place of sin, accepts the punishment for our sin and the ramifications of our sin nature. He bears it all, so we may be set free to live in a restored relationship at peace with Him. He provides the means for us to be healed at our deepest soul level. Because of His intimate investment in each of us, even though we were born into a sin-infested world, inheriting a sin-nature in our flesh, we can live renewed, reborn, and resurrected from the death that was our first inheritance.
3) What truths can we know about our human condition from this passage? How does this impact our relationship with God? (verses 6)
We are prone to wander. We go astray like sheep. How do sheep stray? It’s been said, “One nibble at a time,” and that’s quite accurate. A sheep becomes fixated on grazing and loses sight of both their surroundings and even the shepherd himself. Most sheep won’t “run” away; instead, they nibble away, one small action at a time. So do we. We nibble at selfishness, self-centeredness, pride, Pharisee-like legalism, lust, greed, anger, fear, and a myriad of other sins. In doing so, we take another small bite and barely notice how we are straying from Jesus bit by bit. At some point, our wandering might get so far off we look up from our grazing and wonder where our Shepherd has gone and how we got so far away from Him. We lost sight of Him, but He never lost sight of us. He is the Good Shepherd, and He leaves the ninety-nine to pursue us when we stray. (Matthew 18:10-14) We may leave His side, but we never leave His sight. Knowing we are prone to wander can help us become more purposeful in keeping our eyes on Him. We can and should set our hearts on Him more consistently and with greater intentionality. Even still, we will wander from Him. In those times, we can rest in this promise: He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), and He will always bring us back (Psalm 71:20-21).
What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with The Suffering Servant!
Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
Digging Deeper Community
Share What You’ve Learned!
Pray Together!
Join us in the GT Facebook Community!
Our Current Study Theme!
This is Advent Week Two!
Don’t miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to receive every GT Journey Study!
Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
Memorize It!
Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
Tap and hold on your mobile device to save.