4.10.2009

He Hath Poured Out His Soul Unto Death


1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 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.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt 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.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


Isaiah 53, verses 5-6, are deeply bound in me from childhood. In a colorful book that used scripture to teach the alphabet, the stark verses transfixed me.

The entire chapter is bound in me from a childhood and adolescence spent listening to the brethren in Meeting recite portions of it from memory nearly every week, and by thinking the words silently along with them.

Tonight-- Good Friday, Holy Friday-- its truth is yet bound in me, resounds in me, and surrounds the waiting world.

3 comments:

  1. Yeah, Isaiah 53 is drilled into my head never to be removed. I got to critique your photo though. An empty cross on good Friday?? Is our Lord a ghost?

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  2. You got me, fair and square. AND there are no criminals on either side. AND the cross wasn't such a clean thing, standing straight and true.

    In a quick image search, nothing else seemed appropriate. It all looked too tidy, or too feminine, or too something else, so I just searched for "cross in darkness."

    I just found a way to cover my back, though. Christ's body was taken off the cross and placed in the tomb before sunset of Good Friday, so this picture represents the small space of time on Good Friday after His body had been taken off the cross and before the Sabbath began.

    Here's a link from a Catholic dude.

    Just pretend I planned it this way...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I guess I can cut you some slack. But next year ... ...

    ReplyDelete

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