Isaiah 53- People Thought God Was Against Jesus (TMF:501)

Monday, September 26, 2016
Peace to Live By: Isaiah 53- People Thought God Was Against Jesus (TMF:501) - Daniel Litton
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       At the time of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Israelites had surely “esteemed him stricken, smitten by God.” But that wasn’t the beginning of these harsh feelings against Jesus. One dramatic and pinnacle example of this can be seen in Matthew’s Gospel, in chapter 12. The Pharisees by this time resented Jesus so much that the said his ability to cast out demons had come from “Beelzebul, the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:24, ESV). Of course, this wasn’t the case as Jesus’ power was coming from God himself, and he was God. But if we fast-forward to the scene at the cross at Calvary, we see the Israelites, most definitely Pharisees included, shaking their heads at him as they passed by the cross from which he was hanging (see Matthew 27:39). The Jewish people thought God was against him. They thought he was altogether stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God himself. And, in a way, they were right because he was baring our sins.