Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 52-57
Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. – Acts 8:35
Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah, depicting Him as the suffering servant who endured the punishment we deserve. Perhaps you can quote verses 5-6 from memory: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Years ago, I was holding some evangelistic meetings with college students in Halifax, Nova Scotia. One night after I had shared the gospel and a word of personal testimony with some students in a dorm, a young woman told me how she had recently come to faith in Christ. She was of Jewish descent and had been a vocal opponent of the Christians on her campus. But as she read her Old Testament one day, she came to Isaiah 53. For the first time, she saw what the Christians in her dorm had been trying to tell her. The Messiah had come–and died for her. Through the reading of this passage and through the witness and prayers of Christians on her campus, she gave her life to Christ and became an outspoken witness for Him.
Sometimes we read the book of Acts and wonder why miraculous things like that don’t seem to happen today. Friend, they do! Just like the official from Ethiopia, whom Philip led to Christ after he read from Isaiah 53, this young college woman found her Messiah and Savior by reading the very same passage.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for dying for my sin. By Your wounds, I have been healed. Amen.
To Ponder
Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He died in my place so that I can live eternally.
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