ISAIAH 52-53
The PURPOSE:
30 is an opportunity to learn and develop the discipline of meditation on the Word of God through the loving sacrifice of one half hour each weekday. This particular devotion is in preparation to celebrate the Passion & Resurrection of Christ!
The PLAN:
Choose your window: You can utilize any 30 minutes, knowing that daily consistency will help. There is discipline, joy, and sacrifice in giving your finest and most alert 30 minutes for the task.
Grab a pencil: One of the great blessings of the Word on paper is that we are free to interact with the text. Take notes. Connect thoughts. Doodle the image of your mind’s eye. Ask questions. This is more than an exercise in reading, it is your head and your heart’s interaction with God through his inerrant, inspired Word.
Put down your Bible: WHAT?!? Even the plainest Bible comes with distractions. Introductions, maps, diagrams, scholar’s notes, chapter and section headings – these all color our time in the Word, sometimes eliminating the need/desire to interact with God. For this exercise, use the text provided in the packet, which is the NASB text of Isaiah 52-53, with minimal distraction.
Engage: Every day, read from the beginning up to and including the verses for the day. This keeps context fresh in your mind and deepens your understanding of previous days’ study. The object is to discern the message of the text in light of the entire book. Your primary question is: what has God said in these verses?
Notice, the object is NOT to discern your opinion of the text. Your favorite part is irrelevant until you’ve understood the text. Grabbing a favorite without understanding the meaning leads to eisegesis, which is injecting your own meaning into the text. 30 is aimed at defeating eisegesis, replacing it with exegesis, which is pulling the meaning out of the text – discovering what God has said.
Pray: Take your questions to God – the Holy Spirit is our first and best teacher (1Corinthians 1:6-16). Take your concerns to God – if you are honest with the Word, there will be parts you love and parts you just don’t like. Ask for the wisdom to understand. Take your joys to God – celebrate what is true in Christ.
Man of Sorrows: Spend your closing minutes praying through this classic hymn. Keep the heart of the day’s verses in mind. Consider: What do you now know to be true that makes this prayer more authentic and satisfying? How can you praise God in prayer and song because of today’s verses?
Interact: Join a brother or sister in Christ to interact with the text. We will be offering two opportunities each week to do this. 30 minutes TOGETHER, for practice, for strength, for encouragement, for accountability. Thirty minutes represents 0.3% of your week. Claim these opportunities during the 30 season and be blessed by one another. MAN OF SORROWS
Man of sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came. Ruined sinners to reclaim, Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Bearing shame and scoffing, rude. In my place, condemned, he stood. He sealed my pardon with his blood, Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Guilty, vile, and helpless me, spotless Lamb of God was he. Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Lifted up was he to die, “It is finished,” was his cry. Now in heaven, exalted high, Hallelujah! What a Savior!
When he comes, our glorious King, all his ransomed, home to bring, then anew this song we’ll sing, Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Philip Bliss (1838-1876)
ISAIAH 52-53
Day by Day Plan
Week 1 Day 01 : Isaiah 52:1-13 Day 02 : Isaiah 52:14-15 Day 03 : Isaiah 53:1 Day 04 : Isaiah 53:2-3 Day 05 : Isaiah 53:4-5
Week 2 Day 06 : Isaiah 53:6 Day 07 : Isaiah 53:7 Day 08 : Isaiah 53:8-9 Day 09 : Isaiah 53:10 Day 10 : Isaiah 53:11-12
HELPS Notes and Scribbles
Helps as you engage:
Who is this talking about?
What is true?
When will this truth come to pass?
Where does this take place?
Why is this true (why will be a key question in Ephesians)?
How does this happen?
Ask what this teaches about Jesus.
Draw lines on the paper to connect questions and answers as you find them!
Rewrite verses in your own words. Paraphrasing the text is a great way to internalize the idea.
Connect verses to prayers offered
Review prayers as you engage to see if God has shone a light on the truth!
Diagram the flow of the text – how does one paragraph chapter connect to the next?
Note repetition in the book. Words, phrases, etc. What do they indicate?
Note pronouns throughout. I, we, you, me. Note shifts in the pronouns. What is the effect?
AVOID COMMENTARIES. You’ll have plenty of time after the 30 days to see what the smart guys say.
USE THE DICTIONARY. Words are awesome! Make sure you understand them.
What does the text say about God? About Man? About Jesus? About our Response?
What does the text say about Creation? About the Fall? About Redemption? About the End?
Obviously you won’t use all of these helps every day. But try to use all of them at least once during the 30 day stretch. You’ll find each help will cast a different light on the passage, many serving to work together to bring deeper meaning to the truth in Christ.
ISAIAH 52-53
52:1 Awake, awake, clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion;
clothe yourself in your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city;
for the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer come into you.
2 Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem;
Loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the LORD, “You were sold for nothing and you will be redeemed without money.”
4 For thus says the LORD God, “My people went down at the first into Egypt to reside there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5 Now therefore, what do I have here,” declares the LORD,
“seeing that my people have been taken away without cause?” Again the LORD declares, “Those who rule over
them howl, and my name is continually blasphemed all day long. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name;
therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, “Here I am.”
7 How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,
who announces peace and brings good news of happiness,
who announces salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” 8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, they shout joyfully together;
for they will see with their own eyes when the LORD restores Zion.
9 Break forth, shout joyfully together, you waste places of Jerusalem;
for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations,
that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart, depart, go out from there, touch nothing unclean;
go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
12 But you will not go out in haste, nor will you go as fugitives;
for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
13 Behold, my servant will prosper, he will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
14 Just as many were astonished at you, my people, so his appearance was marred more than any man,
and his form more than the sons of men.
15 Thus he will sprinkle many nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of him;
for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand.
53:1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground;
he has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him,
nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and like one from whom men hide their face he was despised, and we did not esteem him.
4 Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried;
yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned his own way;
but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.
7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people,
to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death,
because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.
10 But the LORD was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief;
if he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days,
and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied;
by his knowledge the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.