Isaiah 53:1-6 Amplified Bible
The Suffering Servant
53 Who has believed [confidently trusted in, relied on, and adhered to] our message [of salvation]?
And to whom [if not us] has the arm and infinite power of the Lord been revealed?
2
For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot (plant),
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has no stately form or majestic splendor
That we would look at Him,
Nor [handsome] appearance that we would [a]be attracted to Him.
3
He was despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief;
And like One from whom men hide their faces
He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.
4
But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,
And He has carried our sorrows and pains;
Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,
Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him].
5
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing];
The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him,
And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.
6
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned, each one, to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]
To fall on Him [instead of us].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Someone Familiar With Our Suffering
“You can’t truly know people unless you walk a mile in their shoes,” we sometimes say.
Two thousand ago, a man named Jesus walked into humanity’s full view, in our shoes, and showed that he genuinely knew the full range of human experience.
The Word of God for His Children often reminds them that Jesus was one of us.
The Word of God comes right out of God’s mouth to reveal to human kind He experienced joy and suffering and sorrow, feasting and hunger, the fruits of hard work and the setbacks of humiliation, injustice, poverty, life and death.
He also knew the grief of losing a close friend, which led him to weep (John 11:32-35).
In addition, Jesus was sometimes discouraged by the spiritual numbness of his disciples (Matthew 16:8-12), and weary from hot, dusty travel (John 4:6).
He became angry when people mistreated God and others (Matthew 21:12-13), he also took children in his arms, taught and blessed them (Matthew 19:13-14).
Countless times we read of him healing the sick and destitute, individually and by the village full, approaching the unapproachable, touching the untouchable.
In the account of his crucifixion, as Isaiah foretold, Jesus even experienced total rejection, complete betrayal and unimaginable physical and spiritual suffering.
The reality: Our salvation wasn’t won in the beauty and safety of a royal palace.
Jesus pioneered our salvation through the experience of human living in this world.
He faced all the temptations and struggles we meet daily—and yet he never sinned (Hebrews 4:15).
There is not one single human heart who can claim it has never been wounded.
There is not one single human heart which can claim it has not ever suffered.
His words from the cross “I am thirsty” (John 19:28) assure us that he willingly and obediently dealt with all human experiences as he worked to defeat sin.
For humanity, there must eventually, gradually, subtly, suddenly, come the realization that there is a very real place in God’s divine order – where all our hurting, our woundedness, our suffering, our brokenness, sin, come together.
From Genesis to Revelation, The Word of God reveals to all of God’s children Jesus is our ultimate example of the type of heart we need to turn to, we need to surrender to, because by his crucifixion, He is our healer, our wounded healer.
And we see this heart, the heart of Jesus, not only from His life but also in the death He died for us, not only by the death He died for us, but by the witness of the EMPTY tomb, the angels’ words, by His resurrection and by His Ascension.
A Wounded Healer’s Heart
Jesus is a Wounded Healer.
He experienced our wounds by coming in flesh so He could feel what we feel.
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5. NKJV.
Are You A Wounded Healer?
Am I A Wounded Healer?
You and I may not even know there is a name for it; you are too busy doing what needs to be done.
You and I have almost certainly, surely been gravely wounded, hurt, maybe too even abused, maybe even bullied, maybe even betrayed, maybe even humiliated.
Somehow, by some means, in too many ways, we are all wounded throughout our lives, physically, emotionally, psychologically; some of us have been hurt in more ways than we can remember – the measure of trauma is too inconceivable.
A Wounded Healer is one who, although they have been wounded time and time again; discern they learn to take those experiences and use them to help others, to minister like Jesus, during their time of loss, tragedy, grief, pain or illness.
Even from hospital beds, with bodies wracked by severe illnesses, like Jesus, they realize that though they are suffering, have suffered in their bodies, they have also learned, by prayer, witness and their testimony of the work of their Savior Jesus in their lives, they can now benefit all others from that suffering.
Now they have become a Wounded Healer.
God isn’t causing their pain but He can use their pain to get your attention and help you and me and others grow, teach the many of compassion and grace.
By their example, you and I can learn how we too can share all our Savior Jesus Christ, minister to others in the middle of our own pain and it helps them heal!
Hebrews 13:1-2 Amplified Bible
The Changeless Christ
13 Let love of your fellow believers continue. 2 Do not neglect to extend hospitality to strangers [especially among the family of believers—being friendly, cordial, and gracious, sharing the comforts of your home and doing your part generously], for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
When this passage in Hebrews was anonymously written, people were expected to show generous hospitality to travelers and strangers who might otherwise have nowhere else to stay as they went from village to village and town to town.
The context of this advice urges believers in God to show love and care for one another as well for others who may be in need, such as strangers, travelers.
This advice echoes the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46, where Rabbi Jesus teaches us all that caring for the needs of others is like doing the same for him.
This passage in Hebrews also invites us to consider that a stranger or visitor we encounter might be an angel—that is, a messenger from God (also Genesis 18).
The point is that we should treat anyone we meet as being so valuable and fully worthy of our time that they might be sent from God, and that showing love and care and compassion to them would be like doing the same for the Lord himself.
This can be hard to imagine, especially if hospitality is not so common anymore in our culture and we need to be ever so much more wary of “stranger danger.”
But here the Spirit of God is challenging us simply to treat others well, showing love and kindness to everyone, no matter who they are.
In other words, we are called, even from the midst of our suffering, to love and care for others just as our Lord, Savior Jesus Christ has done for us at Calvary.
Angels of Mercy who will probably not have a set of initials after their name, they won’t ever claim to know it all, and they won’t ever have all the answers.
But they know how to listen, they know how to care, whose families will show up with a casserole, a care package, or sit with you through the night if need be.
Sometimes they say nothing at all.
They do not have to because they have been there.
They were wounded, they know.
Silence is golden, a hug is infinitely better than words.
Where Our Hurt and Our Healing Collides
Isaiah 53:3-5 Amplified Bible
3
He was despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief;
And like One from whom men hide their faces
He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.
4
But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,
And He has carried our sorrows and pains;
Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,
Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him].
5
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing];
The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him,
And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is all of mankind’s Wounded Healer.
He experienced our wounds by coming in flesh so He could feel what we feel.
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5. NKJV.
If you have damaged emotions and physical and emotional scars, ABBA God the Father and Jesus His Son and God the Holy Spirit, are able to take care of those.
For God so loved the World that God sent His Son into the World that we should be saved – NOT CONDEMNED for our sins as we all so very righteously deserve.
Jesus gave His life at Calvary and rose again so that we could have eternal life AND be healers on this earth.
We cannot have open wounds and be a healer, we must have those taken care of.
Our resurrected Jesus is the only One who can overcome and heal our hurts so we can then recognize His Sovereignty and become the blessing God intended.
Maybe from your ailing’s you have never thought you had anything to offer.
My friend, I am certain you do.
If the Lord has forgiven you and restored you, pray for opportunities to give others hope and a light at the end of their tunnel.
Pray for the wisdom of God’s testimony and Jesus’ witness at Calvary above all, it is not an easy road to walk the road of suffering, but there are great rewards.
Are there areas in your life where you have opportunity to be a Wounded Healer?
I would love to hear about them!
Has someone else been a Wounded Healer to you?
Feel free to share Jesus Christ, your thoughts and encourage others here today.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Gracious God,
on this day we gather to remember the suffering death of Jesus.
He was despised and rejected,
oppressed and afflicted,
yet he was prepared to be wounded for our transgressions.
We come overwhelmed by the depth of Jesus’ love for us,
and his commitment to defeat evil,
even when that meant his own suffering and his own death.
In his willingness to make us righteous, he poured himself out to death, even death on a cross, and so, in response to such love and sacrifice, we commit all of ourselves as his disciples to overcome evil with Your good, our suffering with Your wholeness, with love and compassion, acceptance and mercy for all, meeting oppression with Your justice. Thank you, Jesus, for being willing to enter the grit and grime of our humanity to save us. There has never been a greater sacrifice! Let that be our Witness and let that we our sure and certain Testimony unto the world. Jesus’ name, we pray.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 