Glimpses of Jesus

Isaiah 51:1-53:12

Ephesians 5:1-33

Psalm 69:19-36

Proverbs 24:7

Have you ever had the experience of walking down a busy street in an unfamiliar town and suddenly catching sight of someone you know?  You think to yourself, "Is that such and such?" And then you go, "no it can't be, not here" and then you realise it is and catch up with them to say hello and "what are you doing round here?"

This is the feeling I got today reading through the Isaiah section. My mind had kind of gone into autopilot reading yet more material about Judah's return from exile when all of a sudden there is a glimpse of Jesus.  A glimpse that turns into a full blown encounter with the one John called, "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,

      crushed for our sins.

   He was beaten so we could be whole.

      He was whipped so we could be healed.

 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed  away.

      We have left God’s paths to follow  our own.

   Yet the Lord laid on him

      the sins of us all.

This is not just unfamiliar territory to see Jesus in but a totally unfamiliar time. The latest this prophecy could have been written was in the 6th century BC if you go for the idea that this was written by a later follower of Isaiah and not the man himself.  So, 600 years before he is born we see a glimpse of his death and what it will mean.  God certainly works over long time scales.