Isaiah 53:5
“He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”
Reflection:
If you are a prophet you should not prophecy that your hero will be defeated. That is not how heroes traditionally work. According to Buddhism, their Buddha achieved magnificent feats of intellect and then lived a long life after that, enjoying his success. According to Islam, their leader Muhammad was a powerful military man who was able to unite the scattered clans in the Middle East like never before, making them a dominant military force. In Hinduism, one of the gods Shiva can take on any form in order to come down to earth in order to fix problems.
But then you have Christmas. Christmas is a celebration of weakness. It is a celebration of God becoming man in order for Him to be able to suffer. God takes on flesh that can be “wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities” so that “by His stripes we are healed.” Who would ever predict a thing like that? That does not seem like a traditional hero.
But that is exactly the point – Jesus is not a traditional hero. He is better. He does not give you temporary deliverance through His own glory. He gives you eternal deliverance through His own defeat.
In Christ,
Pastor Yonkman