OUR DAILY BREAD 31 JULY 2024 DEVOTIONAL, WEDNESDAY ODB MESSAGE
Our Daily Bread 31 July 2024 Devotional TOPIC: The Beautiful One
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 53:1-6
KEY VERSE: 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… But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:2, 5
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Psalms 54-56; Romans 3
TODAY’S INSIGHT
Isaiah 53 gives us a clear description of the sacrifice of Christ in the Old Testament, describing His rejection (vv. 1-3), His suffering in our place (vv. 4-6), His sacrificial death and burial (vv. 7-9), and His reconciling atonement and resurrection (vv. 10-12). The chapter is the last of four messianic prophecies in the book of Isaiah (42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12) known as the “Servant Songs” because they prophetically refer to Jesus the Messiah as Servant (42:1; 49:3; 50:10; 52:13), although Jewish scholars tend to identify the Servant as Israel itself.
In the New Testament, Isaiah is quoted or alluded to numerous times. New Testament writers unequivocally apply quotes from Isaiah 53 to Christ (Matthew 8:17; Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37; John 12:38-41; Acts 8:32-35; Romans 10:16; 1 Peter 2:24).
Our Daily Bread 31 July 2024 Devotional MESSAGE
For more than 130 years, the Eiffel Tower has stood majestically over the city of Paris, a symbol of architectural brilliance and beauty. The city proudly promotes the tower as a key element of its magnificence.
As it was being built, however, many people thought little of it. Famous French writer Guy de Maupassant, for example, said it had “a ridiculous thin shape like a factory chimney.” He couldn’t see its beauty.
Those of us who love Jesus and have entrusted our hearts to Him as our Savior count Him as beautiful for who He is and what He’s done for us. Yet the prophet Isaiah penned these words: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (53:2).
But the towering majesty of what He did for us is the truest, purest form of beauty that humans will ever know and experience. He “took up our pain and bore our suffering” (v. 4). He was “pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (v. 5).
We’ll never know anyone as beautiful—as majestic—as the one who suffered for us on the cross, taking the unspeakable punishment of our sins upon Himself.
That’s Jesus. The Beautiful One. Let’s look to Him and live.
REFLECT: How has Jesus revealed His beauty to you? What does it mean for you to find your only hope in Him?
PRAY: Dear Beautiful One, thank You for Your selfless sacrifice for me.
Our Daily Bread 31 July 2024 Devotional, Wednesday ODB Message. Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODB) is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread. our daily bread devotional for today audio our daily bread booklet.