The Promised One

Scripture quotations are from the EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2018, 2024 – UK Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807.           Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.easyenglish.bible 

Isaiah 53

1 Will anyone believe the news that we have to tell people? Will anyone understand how the LORD has used His great power?

2 God's servant grew up in front of Him like a young, green plant, with its root in dry ground. He was not handsome *. He did not seem like a great king. We did not see Him as a special person. There was nothing to see that would make us want to be with Him.

3 People did not respect Him. They refused to accept Him. He was a man who received much pain. He knew what it felt like to be weak and ill. People did not even want to look at Him. They did not respect Him. We decided that He was worth nothing.

4 But He took away all our weakness! He carried our pain for us. We thought that He was receiving punishment for His own sins *. We thought that God was causing Him to suffer.

5 But it was our sins that caused His wounds. The bad things that we had done crushed Him. The punishment that He received has brought peace to us. The wounds that He received have made us well.

6 We have all turned away, like sheep that take the wrong path. Each of us has turned to follow our own way. But the LORD has taken all our sins and put the punishment on Him.

7 People were cruel to Him, and He received much pain. But He did not say anything to complain. He was like a lamb * that people were leading away to kill. He was like a sheep when they are cutting off its wool but it makes no noise. In the same way, He did not say anything.

8 They spoke lies to accuse Him in court. Then they led him away to kill Him. And nobody at that time said that it was wrong. His life in this world quickly came to an end. And it was the sins of our own people that caused Him to die.

9 They decided to bury Him with wicked people. But his body was put in a rich man's grave. He had not done anything to hurt anyone. He had not told lies to deceive people.

10 But it was the LORD who chose to hurt His servant. He caused his servant to receive much pain. His servant died to remove people's guilt. As a result, God will bless Him with many descendants*, and He will have a long life. What the LORD wants will happen, because of what His servant does.

11 When God's servant sees the result of his pain, He will understand what he has done. And He will be happy. The LORD says, ‘My righteous * servant will cause many people to be “not guilty”, because He will take the punishment for all their sins.

12 So I will put Him in a place of honour, as a great person deserves. He will share the good things that powerful men receive when they have won a battle. He deserves this, because He agreed to die as a sacrifice. People thought that He Himself was a sinner * when He took away the sins of many people. He prayed that God would forgive sinners.’

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Important Vocabulary to Learn

(Some of these words come from the reading and some come from the questions below.)

1. Words from the first 1000 high frequency General Service Word List

accept, battle, cause(d)/causing, court, decide(d), fix, follow, honour, kill, (The) LORD, lies, news, nothing, peace, plant, power(ful), problem, receive(d), refuse(d), respect, special, suffer, worth, wounds, wrong

(And all the other words in the reading that are not listed in numbers 2 to 4 below.)

2. Words from the second 1000 high frequency General Service Word List

accuse, bless, bury, complain, cruel, crushed, deceive, deserves, forgive, grave, guilt/guilty, hurt, noise, pain, path, prayed, punishment, quickly, root, sacrifice, sheep, weak/weakness, wicked, wool

3. Words from the Academic High Frequency Word List

      remove

4. Glossary of Off list Words and Special Terms (these words are marked with a *)

descendants - someone who comes from a family member who was born before them (e.g. a child, grandchild or a great-grand child).

handsome - describes a man who is very good-looking

lamb - a baby sheep

righteous - describes someone that God sees as being right in His eyes (not just a good person or someone who does good things.)

sinner/sinners - All those who do, say, or think wrong things. The Bible teaches us that everyone is a sinner, because we all break God’s law.

sins - wrong actions, words, or thoughts that break God’s law.

 

Learning Questions and Activities

1. Remembering - What does the writer say that we (all people) think of God’s servant? Which word does the reading use to say what God thought of his servant? (Check your answers in verse 3 and verse 11.)

2. Understanding - Does this reading describe something that happened during Old Testament Times, when it was written, or much later? When did God’s servant (the promised one) come to Earth? Why did God send this servant? (Take a closer look at verses 10 to 12.)

3. Applying - Verse 6 in the reading says that every person is a sinner because we have ‘turned away’ and ‘follow our own way’, not God’s way. What does this mean? What does the word ‘sin’ mean to you? Is this the same as the way the word is used in the reading? Are you a sinner? What does the reading say about the result of sin (verses 4 and 5)? What does the reading say that God’s servant did to fix the problem of our sins?

4. Analysing - Put the words below into the box below in the place that fits them best.

pain, honour, punishment, blessing, forgive, wounds, peace, lies, death, removes guilt

Can you explain the meaning of each word? Can you give an example of each word?

5. Evaluating - People who study the Bible tell us that this part of the book of Isaiah was written around the 6th century BCE.  Who is the ‘servant’ that the reading describes? (Look at the title above the reading again.)

Now look at this verse from the New Testament (Mark 10:45). (Mark wrote his book around A.D. 65 to 75, this was many hundreds of years after the book of Isaiah.) Mark  wrote… ‘Even the  Son of Man came to earth to be a servant to other people. He did not come here to have servants who must work for him. No, he came to die so that many people can be free.’  Who is ‘The Son of Man’ that Mark describes here? What else do you know about him?

In what ways are the 'Son of Man' and the 'Servant' in the reading the same? Do you believe they are the same person? Why? 

What was the reason for the life and death of the ‘Servant' (the Promised One)? What was the reason for the life and death of ‘The Son of Man’? 

Who is the ‘Servant’ to you? Who is the ‘Son of Man’ to you? Give reasons for your answer.

6. Creating - Print out and add colour to the pictures below. 

1. Cut them out and stick them onto some card. 

2. Use your pictures to talk about the reading to another person. (Do not just read everything from the reading. You can use other information from this lesson too.) Try to say everything in your own words. 

3. Explain why this reading is important to you. 

4. Explain why this reading is also important for the person you are sharing it with. 

5. Remember, it is important to share your message with kindness.