The Beginning, the End, and Everything In-BetweenSample

I don’t know anyone who enjoys pain and problems. No one dreams of more difficulty and brokenness in life. We all have problems, we fail at times, and we all sin.

Throughout the Bible, we get an honest account of people’s failure. Adam and Eve sin and get kicked out of Eden. Jacob lies to his dad to get a blessing. Moses kills someone and flees Egypt. God’s story has sinful people, which means God’s plan must include forgiveness of sin and restoration. If God is to make his home among his family, they need to be made right from their sins and failures. But how would God accomplish it?

The prophet Isaiah spoke of a man we call the “suffering servant.” This man would take upon himself the sins of others and be pierced, crushed, beaten, and whipped. His life would be taken as an offering or a sacrifice for sin. Since Messiah means “Savior,” Isaiah 53 sounds like the way God planned to save people from their sins.

Do you remember the first sin? When God came down to the Garden of Eden to address Adam and Eve’s rebellion in Genesis 3:15, he spoke a promise. The serpent’s lies had led to the first sin, but God promised that one day sin (and the serpent) would be crushed by a descendant of Eve. If the suffering servant takes on the sins of rebels, couldn’t he also be the serpent-crusher promised in Eden?

Consider: Many passages of Scripture in The Old Testament suggest the Messiah was coming to defeat sin and rescue us from death. As you read the following passages, consider how the writers are clueing the reader in on what the Messiah would do.

Reflect: What does Isaiah 53 tell you about God’s plan and God’s way of forgiving people? Does it sound like what Jesus experienced on his last day of life through his trial, beatings, and crucifixion?