Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
– Isaiah 53:4–6
This is one of the most well-known passages in Isaiah. Isaiah 53. This servant song prophesying Jesus to come, the Servant who would pay the price for our sins. And I just want to lead us to pray almost word for word through these three verses that may be familiar to you, but I hope it will land in a fresh way.
Isaiah 53:4–6 teaches us that we have been saved from our transgressions.
There are times when, especially whenever we come across a familiar passage of Scripture, that we just need to let it soak in a fresh way. Just pray through it. And I think about this passage like we never want to get over the wonder and the weight and the beauty and the horror that are all present in these verses, beauty that we’re being healed from our wounds and saved from our transgressions. The horror, is because Jesus was crushed for them. He was pierced for them. So let’s just pray and God, as we pray, we pray that your Word would take deeper root in our hearts and you would draw us closer to you.
Jesus, we praise you as the fulfillment of prophecy, as the center of the Bible. The center to which all the Word points us. You are supreme in every way. And specifically today, in light of Isaiah 53, we praise you for your supreme sacrifice for us. God, we praise you for sending your son Jesus. We praise you for willingly bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows.
Isaiah 53:4–6 reminds us Jesus was crushed for our iniquities.
Jesus, we praise you for being pierced, for our transgressions, for my transgressions, for taking the payment of my, our transgressions upon yourself, for being crushed for my iniquities, our iniquities. Jesus, we praise you for the cross. We praise you for taking the chastisement that we deserve, the condemnation we deserve upon yourself in order that we might have peace, in order that our deepest wounds might be healed, wounds from sin in our lives, wounds from sin against us.
We know one day we will be totally healed from all the wounds of sin because you were wounded on the cross for us. All glory be to your name. We love you, Jesus. God, we praise you. We confess we’re like sheep who’ve gone astray. Every one of us, God, we have all, every one of us turn to our own way in so many different ways, and we’re still prone to do it.
This verse reminds us forgiveness and redemption are possible through Christ.
God forgive us. We’re still prone to turn to our own ways. Please have mercy on us. Forgive us, pull us back. Help us to live in continual repentance, turning from sin knowing that you, the Lord, have laid on him, your son, Jesus, our Savior, our iniquity.
Oh God, we praise you for your love for us Jesus, we praise you for your sacrifice, for us, for being pierced and crushed for our sake, so that we might know you, so that we might be in relationship with you and have a life in you, so we might be forgiven by you and filled with your Holy Spirit. All glory be to your name, the Suffering Servant. And we pray that in this little bit of time that we have on this earth, you would help us to spread the good news of your sacrifice for sin right around us and all around the world.
Prayer for the Gja People
We pray for the Gja people of India and Pakistan who’ve never heard this good news. The truth about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. For nearly 4 million Gja people… Please God cause the good news of Isaiah 53:4–6… The Suffering Servant Jesus to spread to the Gja people of India and Pakistan to all the people of the world. We pray, oh God. Hear our prayers. Spend our lives toward that end till all the world knows who Jesus is and what Jesus has done according to Isaiah 53:4–6, we pray in his name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
