Reading: Isaiah 52-54; Psalm 119:97-128
Father, the eyes of your people from of old longed for your salvation and the fulfillment of your promise. Thanks be to you that I live in the day where your salvation is freely offered and your promises have come true in Christ! Help me to understand the implications of what Jesus has done. It is seemingly simple to understand, yet the more I study the gospel the wider its reach seems, and the deeper its depths. Thank you for the gift of your salvation. How beautiful were the feet of Jesus when he came publishing good news! His beauty was not in his appearance. He was despised by men and beaten beyond recognition. He was well-acquainted with grief and sorrow. He was killed on my behalf and on behalf of everyone who has lived before or since. The weight of all our sins was laid on him. He bore that weight without uttering a word. He did not try to get out of what was coming, and so he was killed. Brutally murdered by being nailed to a cross and hung to die. And all of this was your will, Lord. It was your will to crush him. But you knew that through his grief there would be much rejoicing when he came back to life and became the once-for-all sacrificial atonement your children needed. Through his righteousness now many are made righteous, including me.
Grayson Pope 