“Who has believed our message? to whom has the Lord revealed this powerful arm?
My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him. He was despised and rejected- a man of sorrows, acquainted with the deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weakness He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And though we thought His troubles were 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 have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.
He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet He never said a word. He was led like a lamb to slaughter. As as sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open His mouth. Unjustly condemned, He was lead away. No one cared that he died without descendant, that his life was cut short in midstream. But He was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and He had never deceived anyone. But He was buried like a criminal; he as put in a rich man’s grave.
But is was the Lord’s good plan to crush Him and cause Him grief. Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in His hands. (Isaiah 53: 1-10, NLT)