Isaiah 53:8

By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.

I rather like this phrase ‘the land of the living’. It’s got a much more poetic ring to it than simply saying ‘life’. And the idea of being ‘cut off from the land of the living’ is much more striking than if this verse simply said ‘he was killed’. The whole verse seems to underline the separation that took place between Jesus and everyone else. He was ‘taken away’ and ‘cut off’. The lonely figure of Jesus walks to his death whilst the whole of the rest of his generation stand idly by, doing nothing and saying nothing to stop it.

He was cut off from the land of the living. Cut off from fellowship with others. Cut off from all that is good, enjoyable, nourishing and happy. That would be bad enough. But we know that it was, in fact, even worse. When he was punished for our transgressions, Jesus was also cut off from his heavenly Father. Cut off from the very source of life itself. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he cried out on the cross. But why? Surely God, who sent him to the cross, could at least have hung around to comfort and encourage the Servant during his darkest hour? Why all this loneliness and abandonment?

Sin is the ultimate separating force. It cuts us off from a Holy God, and from the life which he gives. And it also cuts us off from fellowship with one another, undermining love and trust and loyalty. Abandoned by his followers and his friends, alienated from his father as he had never been before or since, Jesus was experiencing the separating power of our sin.

It’s hard to imagine the strength of a force that could turn the Father’s face away from his beloved son in the moment of his greatest suffering. And yet, there is an even stronger force at work in the world. The gracious, forgiving, redeeming love of God, expressed in the Servant’s sacrificial death, reconciles us with a power much greater than the separating power of sin.

Because he was cut off, we have been brought near. Because he was excluded from the land of the living, we have been welcomed into an abundant and eternal life that is better than anything this world can even begin to imagine.

Let’s praise him for that today.