“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 all have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on Him the sins of us all.”
- Isaiah 53:4-6
Last week we were introduced to the Suffering Servant, a Man of Sorrows, our Lord and Savior. Jesus had to lower Himself greatly to get to the point of being our Messiah. For though He is God, and was with the Father and the Spirit at the beginning of everything, He lowered Himself to take on the stature of a baby. He came to know temptation as we do and yet remained perfect through all His human life. Thus, He was the perfect sacrifice to atone for our fragility, our weaknesses, our sins.
If we don’t wrestle with our fragility, I believe we weaken the power of the Gospel in our lives. Without our sins and weaknesses, Jesus’ death was an unnecessary way to give us a shot at Heaven. When salvation becomes merely about praying a prayer and walking in faith, we lose sight of the full Gospel picture. We must wrestle with our fragility, which helps us come to see exactly why Jesus came. This section of Isaiah is all about our weaknesses.
Fragile Spirits:
The fall weakened our spirits. In the garden it was whole, and we had an unbroken connection to God’s very presence. As we fell and continued to fall, our spirits broke and our connection to God was shattered. We could never carry the weight of our sins and failures and bring them to God ourselves anymore. Our sorrows were uncontained and outshined our spirit. Thus it was fitting for Jesus, the Suffering Servant, to take the weight of all our sins, for His Spirit remained Holy and tethered to God.
Fragile Minds:
The fall weakened our minds. It's quite funny how often we boast of our human achievements in science, medicine, engineering, and more. Our minds have done remarkable things and yet so often prone to more terrible thoughts. They’re weak, usually motivated by impure things, but hey, the ends justify the means right? I guess what I am saying is we far too often highly esteem human ideas and accomplishments. Some of us even trust our abilities to reason, more than God’s plans that we can’t see. We are so irrational, we thought Jesus was being punished for His sins. The Perfect Holy Son of the Living God, punished for His sins. I wish I could make these things up, but it's clear when we look to the Pharisees and see them trust more in their abilities to think and teach and interpret than listen to the very Word of God in human flesh.
Verse 4 reveals our fragile spirits and minds. Verse 5, our hearts and bodies.
Fragile Hearts:
The fall weakened our hearts. Our desires became twisted. We wanted power, birthed oppression, collected wealth, expended the poor, built walls, destroyed others, and blamed it all on someone else. None are innocent, tyrants or rebels. The heart is very flippant and every society through all of history has experienced the sins of a hard heart. We rebelled against God, looking to meet the desires of our hearts, and in doing so ran a spear through the side of Jesus. His heart pierced because of our heart's desires.
Fragile Bodies:
The fall weakened our bodies. This isn’t rocket science at this point, and you may be saying, “Cam, I get it, we’re fragile individuals.” I get it too, but we must go deep, we must see how deep our fragility goes. If any of these are easiest to understand, it's our bodies. They ache from our work, women experience pain when bringing new life into the world, and various threats to our health abound. Yet, for all the weakness and brokenness, Jesus came to bring healing. Every cancer will end someday. Our bodies will be perfected in the resurrection! Think about that the next time you wake up with a random pain!
Verse 6 rounds us out with our fragile wills and a glimpse at redemption.
Fragile Wills:
The fall weakened our wills. In a sense, it was our wills that weakened everything. At our core, we make poor choices, whether poor for us or poor for others. It's our wills that prevent us from working out and eating right. It’s our wills or the wills of others that enable tyranny, war, and injustice. It’s our wills that drive us to make our path instead of sticking close to God. We are weak and easily swayed and tempted by what is around us.
Fragility Redeemed:
All of our fragility, every piece of us… Our spirits, minds, hearts, bodies, and wills are redeemed and perfected in Christ. Think about that. Every awful negative thing written above can be transformed and renewed to what it was always meant to be! Perfectly good and holy, tethered to God’s very presence! All of that healing and wholeness because of the work of Christ on the cross and His busting down of the tombstone.
In Christ, our spirits are filled and tied to the Holy Spirit, working day in and day out to bring transformation to the rest of us. Renewing our mind to rely not on its reasoning but to think on what is honorable before God. Our hearts get softened and molded to reflect the very heart of God. The body can experience healing and wholeness in ways even the brightest doctors can’t achieve. Then our will become aligned with the will of God.
Final Blessing:
All of our brokenness is redeemable in Christ. Fragility is not our nature in Christ, so why keep living out of our weaknesses?
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breathe, and every heartbeat of your journey!
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