The Reason for the Season IS the Reason for LIFE
Isaiah 52:13- 53:12
13 See, my servant will act wisely [
b] ; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him [
c]— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so will he sprinkle many nations, [
d] and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression [
a] and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. [
b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes [
c] his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life [
d] and be satisfied [
e] ; by his knowledge [
f] my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, [
g] and he will divide the spoils with the strong, [
h] because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
...and this was written over 700 years before Christ was even born. On this Christmas, 2008 years after Christ birth we remember this amazing act that God did by sending his own self in the form of a man to earth to ultimately suffer and die on a cross, then defeating death by resurrecting three days later. He took the sin of the world upon himself, including yours. Don’t let this Christmas go by without giving the glory and thanks to God that he deservers.
