53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? Does God give us the ability to believe or do we have our own ability to believe? Does God's arm reach only a certain people or does it reach everyone? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. Are we supposed to seek out experiences of humiliation and a despised disposition when we are seeking conformity to the image of Christ? Are we allowed to be popular, social, or fun and outgoing? Or are we supposed to be serious, sober minded, mourning, and constantly having a contrite heart. What does it mean to pick up your cross? Wouldn't seeking suffering for sufferings sake be insane? Isn't it a psychological self-fulfilling prophecy to seek out suffering? 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Is a sad and mourning heart the will of God for our lives? Does God love us when we are mourning for him? Does God want us to seek only His favor or the favor of men as well? At what point is pleasing man acting in the fear of man? Did his apostles truly love him? Did his apostles also esteem him not?

Why did men hide their faces from him? Because of his social status? His looks? His serious and holy temperment? His lack of worldiness and conformity to the world? His often gloomy disposition? Exactly why did men hide their faces from him? 4 Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Does this mean we should seek out carrying others griefs? Are we blessed when we suffer for others when we don't deserve it? What kind of blessings can we expect in that position? 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. What does it mean to have Christ's peace? What does Christ's peace feel like? Is it a feeling? How do we sense it? What transgressions was he wounded for? Who's transgressions was he wounded for? What does it mean with his stripes we are healed? What does it mean to be healed? Is it emotional healing? Spiritual healing? Or both? Or is it more than that? What encompasses the healing of Christ? How do we access the healing of Christ? What do we have to do? Where and how can we get it? 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turnedevery oneto his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Are we still astray as Christians? Does we like sheep have gone astray still apply to a bornagain believer, a believer in the process of sanctification? 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Exactly how was he oppressed? Apart from the passion of the Christ (his death on a cross and beating prior to), what ways was he oppressed in his life? What does this mean to us? 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. What does it mean for us when it says that there was no deceit in his mouth? What kind of implications does that have for how we use our speech and tongue? Does he had done no violence mean we are to be passivists?

10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. What does it mean that God was pleased to crush his Son? Isn't that cosmic child-abuse? What does that mean about God? What does that mean about God's character, God's mind, and the way God works? If God will crush his own Son, what does that mean for us? Will God please to crush us? Is this the same as chastisement of the sons of God in Christ? 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. What does it mean by his knowledge shall the righteous one make many righteous? What is the knowledge of Christ? Do we have access to his knowledge?

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. What does it mean I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with

the strong,?