March 27, 2001
"he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous;
and he shall bear their iniquities."
Isaiah 53:11 (RSV)
I love the way the verse reads in this version... it makes me think of Hebrews 12:2 "... for the joy set before him Jesus endured the cross." Certainly part of his joy would be that he would get to return to his Father, that he would no longer be here on earth and away from him but the greater part of his joy, and what provided his willingness to suffer was knowing what his life and death would accomplish. That it would make it possible for us to have a relationship with God and that was what God wanted!! He refers to our acceptance of our relationship with God as the FRUIT of his suffering. Suffering is one of those things we don't take lightly.... it is hard enough to face it in our own lives when we don't have a choice. To choose to take that on for someone else is mind-boggling -- but that is the heart of God. In my own life I need to do some things that are extremely difficult, I wouldn't call them suffering, but they are things I need to choose to do, and to make the choice is difficult because I know that they will cause pain for a time. The ONLY thing moving me toward them is believing in the 'FRUIT' of those actions, knowing what they will produce in my life & heart even though I can't see it right now and I can't understand exactly how it works. That is the heart that God has for us, he has of course always known what the fruit of those actions would produce... he knew what a difference it would make for many lives, he also knew how many people would then and now reject that sacrifice - and he did it anyway!!