Messianic Laser Light (Lent 20, 2017)

If there’s a passage of Scripture that points like a laser to the Messiah, it’s this one:

Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 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. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

There is a laser-like precision to this prophecy.  It’s easy on this side of the Cross to know that Jesus fulfills it perfectly.  When you point people to this Messianic Laser Light, the truth of the Gospel will be unmistakable.  Shine your light on the Savior and His work on the Cross.

Fun Fact of Light:  Lasers.  The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility & Photon Science page offers this helpful analysis about lasers:

 “Laser” is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. A laser is created when the electrons in atoms in special glasses, crystals, or gases absorb energy from an electrical current or another laser and become “excited.” The excited electrons move from a lower-energy orbit to a higher-energy orbit around the atom’s nucleus. When they return to their normal or “ground” state, the electrons emit photons (particles of light).

These photons are all at the same wavelength and are “coherent,” meaning the crests and troughs of the light waves are all in lockstep. In contrast, ordinary visible light comprises multiple wavelengths and is not coherent.

Laser light is different from normal light in other ways as well. First, its light contains only one wavelength (one specific color). The particular wavelength of light is determined by the amount of energy released when the excited electron drops to a lower orbit. Second, laser light is directional. Whereas a laser generates a very tight beam, a flashlight produces light that is diffuse. Because laser light is coherent, it stays focused for vast distances, even to the moon and back.”

For Further Thought:

How ought the light of life, the fact of the resurrection of Christ, focus all of Christianity on the same wavelength?  Does it always?  Why or why not?

Father God, we thank You for the powerful Light of Jesus Christ who is the Name above all Names, the King of kings and Lord of lords.  We praise You for His perfect sacrifice, forever setting a focus upon the sinful nature of man and the beautiful, merciful love of God.  Thank You for sending Jesus to die for our sins and for the prophecies in Scripture that were fulfilled in His first advent.  Grant us humble hearts and watchful eyes as we wait for His return we’ve been assured will happen in the same way as He ascended to heaven.  Until that day, may we always be about Your work, putting aside our Christian differences on things which are superficial and focusing instead on first things.  Amen.