Sometime it will be good to go over the entire chiasmus of this doctrine - which comprises chapters 51-55 of Isaiah. But in order to really comprehend the entirety of what Isaiah is trying to say, we must first understand chapter 53. Then we can understand all of those chapters and then they, in turn will give deeper meaning and understanding to the center point of it all.
So let's begin with chapter 53.
"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?'
When I saw what I saw, these words made more sense to me than I ever imagined. They are exactly how I felt. Isaiah and I were suddenly speaking the same language. Suddenly I realized how fantastical this all seemed - and yet how completely normal and right and true it felt.
"For he (Jesus Christ) shall grow up before him (Jehovah*) as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he (Jesus Christ) hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him (Jesus Christ), there is not beauty that we should desire him (Jesus Christ)."
To grow up as a tender plant, a root out of dry ground - we are being given the setting for what Isaiah is about to explain to us. The Lord will not be known to us and yet He is here and is in the midst of us. Most of us, when looking on our internal parts and seeing ourselves without ego, do not feel beautiful. If He is standing in our place, living our life and making each of our choices as though they were His own, then when we see Him, we will not see the beauty if we do not see our own. If we are looking at ourselves honestly and are judging and condemning rather than observing, we will not see His beauty because we cannot see our own.
"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."
How many times has a person come into your circle of influence that was someone you deemed less-than yourself? Truly. This is not an answer you will have to share with another living soul. Be honest in this moment and ask yourself how many and how often each day? Do you look at a person and think unkind things about their hair, their clothing, their weight, their walk, their words? Do you judge yourself better because they seem to have less success or less education? Do you judge yourself better because they seem to be less obedient, less righteous? Do you judge yourself as less than because they seem to be more obedient, more righteous? Do you judge yourself as less than because they seem to be better at something or stronger or prettier or more able?
We reject ourselves and we reject others so very often. But what if we saw the truth? What if we were able to step into that dimension where Gethsemane is and were able to see His face in front of us? What if we heard His voice when others were speaking? What if we were aware that every thought we entertained we were also forcing Him to entertain? What if we were aware that every interaction we had He was also having.
You see, in Gethsemane, by choosing to become our Savior, He gave up His agency for the existence of Gethsemane. He has to do everything you do. He has to say everything you say. He has to experience everything you experience. He has to think everything you think. If He did not, He could not truly know you. If He missed a single moment of your life, He would not be able to save you or to Atone for the moments He missed. He does not miss a single moment. He gave up His agency for the duration of Gethsemane so that you could keep yours. He will not choose differently even though everything in Him desires to choose differently...because that is how important agency is to Him. He has offered up His agency, that you and I might keep ours. And this is only the beginning of the gift that is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
In Gethsemane, the Savior is currently making your choices with you. You decide how He will live this moment. You decide what the experiences of this life will be.
Do you hide your face from those who are despised and rejected? Do you despise and reject yourself? How differently would you feel about others if when you saw them you were aware that you are very literally interacting with the Savior in that moment? When you look in the mirror, how would you feel if you were aware that in that moment you were not looking at yourself, but were in very deed looking at your Savior? Where would your heart be? What would you be focused on?
If this is your awareness, how will it change your life? Gethsemane is. It is as though it were an overlay in another dimension of this exact moment, in every moment. And Jesus Christ is playing every part for every person, a million overlays for each person in each moment. I know it boggles the mind and I wish we had words for the truths I saw. But this is the best way I can explain.
I am also assuming that in this moment, as you are coming to an awareness of just how integrated into you the Savior truly is, you are probably beginning to feel horrible rather than the joy that is intended. Isaiah saw that. He knew how we would react to what He was about to tell us about the Savior.
"Surely he (Jesus Christ) hath borne our (your) griefs, and carried our (your) sorrows: yet we (you) did esteem him (Jesus Christ) stricken, smitten of God (Elohim**), and afflicted."
Instead of feeling the joy and taking His yoke of Grace upon us and allowing ourselves to be with Him in that burden of light, we feel badly. We esteem him stricken. We see Gethsemane and the Cross as these very sad and very mournful things. We esteem Him smitten of God and afflicted.
We take the central moment of this earth's entire existence and make it into something dark and heavy and hard. We esteem Him smitten and afflicted. When we are meant to rejoice. He is bearing our griefs. He is bearing our sorrows. He is not stricken, smitten of God, or afflicted.
WE strike ourselves and each other. And He bears it. We smite each other - GOD IS NOT THE SMITER. And He bears it. We afflict each other and ourselves. And He bears it.
He bears all of it, and He does so joyfully. Yet we make it heavy and sad and painful. When we are brought to tears over Gethsemane, it should not be because of His pain. The scriptures tell us that He "...delights to save..." He delights to save you. DELIGHTS. That is a joyful and happy word. The tears of Gethsemane should be tears of rejoicing and gratitude, not tears of mourning and sorrow.
Rejoice in Him! Rejoice in His gift! Rejoice in the joy that you may have because He is, even now, reading these words because you are reading them and He is, even now, struggling within His heart to decide if this is really how He should feel about the Atonement because you are trying to let your heart understand this view.
His yoke is easy. His burden is light. When we truly understand Gethsemane and the fact that Jesus Christ DELIGHTS to save us, then we more willingly and freely seek His Grace, His yoke to be upon us. We choose light because we know that in choosing light, we allow Him in this moment of Gethsemane to choose light.
He delights to save you. So let Him. Rejoice in Him. His Grace is truly sufficient. Take that yoke. Receive that burden of light.
* In Hebrew this word is יְהֹוָה - which is the name "Jehovah" in English...the reason it is written in the Old Testament as "Lord" is because we do not use His name lightly. In Hebrew they use the word "Hashem" whenever the name of the Lord is written. Hashem means "the name". This is all in reference to the commandment to not use the name of the Lord in vain. So you will see the word Lord written out with all capitol letters (LORD) in the Old Testament in English. Wherever you see that, if you had been reading it in Hebrew you would see the letters יְהֹוָה - which is how you spell Jehovah in Hebrew.
** In Hebrew the word אֱלֹהִים is literally "Elohim." Reading the Old Testament in English, every time you see the word "God" you would see the word "Elohim" if you were reading in Hebrew.
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