Check out all the previous Christmas readings here.

Christmas Reading Plan | Week 1 | Day 5

Prayer

As you come to spend time with Jesus, calm your mind and body until you feel fully present. Thank Jesus that He came to serve us at Christmas, and ask Him to serve you today by opening your eyes more to who He is.

Bible Reading: Isaiah 52:13-53:3

Read these verses three times slowly.

See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
so he will sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Reflection & Questions

We continue to look at the promises of a Messiah to come from Isaiah. Isaiah, remember, was written hundreds of years before Jesus came, and yet Isaiah has so amazingly shown us exactly what Jesus would be like.

Today, we’re told about God’s “servant.” The Israelites thought this was a different person from the Messiah for clear reasons. How could Messiah be called a servant? How could Messiah have no “majesty to attract us to him”? How could Messiah be “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain”? This is not the picture of a king who would conquer and bring peace. This Servant is obviously not Messiah.

But in the Christmas story we find out that the Servant and the Messiah are one in the same. Jesus is the Servant-King. He left his throne in heaven and came humbly as a baby, born in a manger. He lived as a man of suffering, ultimately suffering a shameful and painful death on the cross on our behalf. Jesus said he “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28).

As we finish this week of readings in Isaiah, we see why Christmas can be filled with joy even if our circumstances are not. God has not left us in our sin and darkness, but He has brought His light, His Messiah to the world. Not in power and fame, but in gentleness and grace. He never stops watching over His people. And won’t flinch in the face of suffering for them. But we’re not to mistake his care with weakness. This Christmas King’s kingdom will never end. And when He returns, His Kingdom will be marked by a peace that is beyond our grandest dreams and will never end.

1. Are you looking for joy in your circumstances or in Jesus? Is there something you need to do or think differently?
2. One of the chief ways that we show we are like Jesus is through taking on the role of a servant. How are you a servant at home? At work? In your neighborhood?

Prayer

Talk to God in response to the reading today.

Worship Song

You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:

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Questions?