Glimpses of Jesus in the Book of Isaiah

The oppressed and the afflicted

I’m a lousy pray-er. I get so distracted by my own suffering that I have a hard time remembering other people’s needs. Especially when my brain cells are acting sluggish, as they have been since this pandemic began. And when I do make an effort to think of the subjects and situations that I could be praying about, I feel overwhelmed. Speechless. Numb.

After struggling with this weakness for months, I finally realize that I might do a better job of it if I make a list of the issues outside of myself that I can be interceding for, then choose only one or two to focus on each day. I look up prayer plans on the internet for suggestions that I might not think of. One that I really like is the category “the oppressed, the afflicted, and the vulnerable.” I add it to my list, making a note to be sure to remember subgroups such as addicts, foster children, and those experiencing homelessness.

Then one day, as I’m reading a passage in Isaiah, I come across verse 53:7 again. Isaiah 53 is one of my very most favorite chapters in the entire Bible. It’s a description of the Messiah, Jesus, and His suffering for our sakes, yet it was written centuries before the actual events. Here I find those words from my prayer list applied to Jesus: “He was oppressed and afflicted.”

Even though I’ve read this verse dozens of times, when I think of Jesus on the cross, when I read in scripture about His trials and crucifixion, I feel sorry for Him and I appreciate His sacrifice, but “oppressed” and “afflicted” aren’t the first words that come to my mind. And yet they’re so powerful. Especially when they’re applied to God.

Our God knows what it means to be oppressed. Anyone who’s oppressed right now should marvel at this verse. God knows how it feels to be afflicted. Anyone who’s afflicted right now can find comfort in that truth. Our God has been there. He’s done that. He’s got the scars to prove it. He can relate to the oppressed and the afflicted on a level that no other god can claim.

My heart goes out to this group so much that I make a special place for them in my prayer plan. God’s heart goes out to them so much that He chose to join them in their suffering. How incredible is that? How could I worship any other god?

No discouragement

Isaiah 42 is another passage describing the Messiah. Verse 4 says, “He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.” Is this the Jesus that I see in my mind’s eye? Not always. Sometimes when I think of Him during His last days on earth, I picture a classic painting showing Him before one of His judges, with His back slumped, His head bleeding, His eyes cast down, His mouth bent in agony. He looks pretty discouraged to me.

I know Jesus genuinely suffered from the humiliation and physical torment of His trials. But according to Isaiah He was never discouraged. Maybe I need to replace this mental image with one where His facial expression and body language reveal His hope and peace and power along with His pain. Even when He’s exhausted from hours of questioning and abuse. Even while He’s standing in the presence of those who He knows will condemn Him to a painful death. Even as He faces the certain prospect of bearing every sin of every human being on the cross.

So often I feel discouraged when I look at the world around me. Our culture is in outright rebellion against God. We’ve been engaged in a battle with a deadly virus for about a year and a half. My country is painfully divided. Even some Christians, who should be exercising discernment and self-control, are publicly venting their anger and frustration instead of patiently loving those who hate them.

Evil seems to be winning far more battles than God does. How could anyone not feel discouraged, especially those who know right from wrong and good from evil? And yet, even at this moment, even when my planet appears to be falling apart, even when hatred and violence seem to be out of control, God is not discouraged.

No faltering

Discouragement can lead to faltering. According to dictionary.com, faltering involves hesitating, wavering, and/or stumbling. If I’m really honest with myself, when I see the evil around me, don’t I sometimes wonder if God is hesitating and wavering or even stumbling as He attempts to rule this unruly world? Would all these bad things be happening if He really knew what He was doing and if He always acted with confidence? Of course, those thoughts are ridiculous. I might not always understand what God is doing but, as Isaiah says, He never falters. He can’t.

Jesus didn’t falter even as He washed the feet of the one who would betray Him. Jesus didn’t falter even as He told Peter, one of His most trusted disciples, that he would soon deny Him. Jesus didn’t falter even as He poured His heart out to His Father in the garden of Gethsemane. He expressed His fears and His pain, but His “not as I will, but as you will” was His unfaltering desire (Matthew 26:39). Jesus didn’t falter as He was arrested, as He stood before multiple judges, as He was mocked and beaten (oppressed and afflicted) by the soldiers, as He carried His cross, as the nails were pounded through His hands, as He bore the sins of the world on His broken body.

And if He wasn’t discouraged and faltering under those circumstances, then I can be sure that He doesn’t falter or become discouraged as He sees my life, and the history of this planet, unfolding day by day.