A Message to our Jewish Friends

The prophet Isaiah writes of one to come in Isaiah 52:14 to 53:12:

His face was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men, so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at him. For that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they understand.

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their face. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief. When you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Who is this one who took on himself the sins of the world? This calls for honesty!

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