The Kingdom of God Part 2
March 2, 2011
Isaiah 60:1-22; 61:1-11; 65:17-25; 66:7-24
I. The Nations Come 60:1-22
II. The Year of the Lord 61: 1-11
III. New Heavens and New Earth 65:17-25; 66:7-24
" Gary Smalley and John Trent, who are both Christian Counselors and best selling authors, invite us to imagine the worst football team in the nation. Their athletic director has scheduled them against the defending national champions. The game is played, of course, on the champions' home field. All the athletic director expects, is to get a sizable paycheck, that will meet this year's athletic budget, for his small school. The team hustles onto the field to a smattering of applause, and a large number of boos from the home fans. Then, thunderous cheers announce the arrival of the national champions. And the visiting players realize, all of a sudden, why their opponents are champions. They are huge, fast, strong, and they play with confidence. In light of this, the visitors feel their own confidence level sink, to their knees.
Suddenly, the entire visitors' squad looks up and sees a vision. It is more real than anything they have ever witnessed before. They see themselves-----exhausted, sweat-streaked, dirty, bruised, and bandaged. Yet they are cheering wildly. How could this be? Then they see the scoreboard: 4th Quarter; Home Champions:13; Visitors:14; Time: 00.00
The vision disappears. Back to reality. A stadium full of fans, fanatically yelling for their opponents. A team with twice as many players, all of them much bigger and stronger facing them. But now, they are a different team. They have changed inside. Encouragement and wild elation flow through their minds and emotions. Now they can play with energy and confidence. They absorb the hits as they run to the ball, gang tackle, block with bone-jarring tenacity and sacrifice everything they have, for this one moment in history. They have seen a picture of what could be. They were ready to make it happen.
Tell the same vision to the home team and their fans, and you get an entirely different reaction-----laughter, scorn, disbelief, ridicule. A little vision could not make the difference. Their big boys would run over the small school kids, with ease.
Or would they?
Each person needs a vision of the end-----the final goal-----of life. That kind of vision will basically determine how we live each day. Isaiah gave Israel a major vision, of what God wanted-----a people who lived out their lives with trust, obedience, hope, righteousness, and justice. Most of Israel, though, just saw the reality, of a Jerusalem, which was far from its glory days-----a Jerusalem, without fortifications, without a true army, without hope, against the powerful nations of the world. But Isaiah saw, a glorious God, who wanted to share His glory, with Israel, and also, with any other nation, who would believe -----
and he has revealed that vision to all of us. Do we live in expectation of a new heaven and a new earth or do we expect life to go on, forever, just like it is today? The vision and expectation that we have, will determine the way that we will live our earthly lives, as well as our eternal ones.
I. The Nations Come 60:1-22
Last week, we talked a lot about the spiritual kingdom of God, that He has already begun in the hearts of every believers. This week's lesson, is much more about the physical kingdom, which God Has promised will be established some day, first in the Millennial Rein of 1000 years and 2nd, in the place we call Heaven.
Isaiah begins the 60th chapter of his book with the words "Arise, shine,for your light has come." This is more than a simple command to obey, because it carries with it, the power to obey. Jerusalem wouldn't be able to rise up by herself because her sins are so great------but God, in His power, will inject, into His words, the ability for her to succeed. It will be a pronouncement of spiritual and physical healing, on their nation. And like so many other passages in Isaiah, it is actually, a future command, which God will give to Israel, in the end times.
Darkness will be worldwide. When God calls them to arise-------the earth will have passed through the darkest period in its history. For 7 long years, death, destruction and evil, of all kinds, will have dominated the earth. Mankind's wickedness will have been unstoppable and the earthquakes and tsunamis and tidal waves and fires and hurricanes and devastating plagues and every other conceivable, natural disaster, will have been so violent, that the earth won't be anything, but a quivering shadow of its former self. The world's population will have diminished drastically, and war will threaten to destroy whomever is left. But at the very darkest moment, Jesus will come back and His glory will beam, out of Jerusalem.
(Before the days of street lights, it is said that Benjamin Franklin decided to show the people of Philadelphia, the need for lights, on dark streets. He purchased a lantern and hung it on a long bracket, extending from the front of His home. Each evening at dusk, he lighted the wick, and the lantern's light, though feeble, permeated the immediate area.
After a very short time, neighbors saw the advantage of the light, as passersby were able to avoid potholes and other obstacles, in the roadway. Soon they also placed lanterns in front of their own homes. The idea grew, and soon more and more city streets benefitted from the glow of lights, as Philadelphia experienced a new day.)
Light is needed to dispel darkness-------so after the darkness of the Tribulation, the light that comes on Israel, will attract the Gentile nations. Multitudes of people will flock to Jerusalem and will bring their wealth to bless Israel and to glorify the Lord. In the Millennial kingdom, nations that once antagonized and persecuted the Jews, will submit and serve them, with great respect and honor. And if there happens to be, any nations that refuse to recognize God's blessing, on His Remnant; they will be judged and eventually, totally destroyed. Benefits from every nation will pour into Israel and her people will recognize, that only the Lord could have caused that to happen, because no other power could have changed the hearts of millions of people and encouraged them to give so lavishly, to a nation that they had traditionally, despised and hated for centuries.
The Lord has such wondrous blessing, in store for His unified kingdom. The Church will be there, to help the Lord rule and reign, and Israel, will no longer be forsaken or hated or put to the side. She will enjoy all the blessings of God. The riches that she will have lost, during the Tribulation, will be replaced, a with greater value attached to them. Violence and ruin and upheaval will be replaced with salvation and praise. There will be no need, for the inferior light of the moon or the sun or the stars, because the glory of Jesus' presence, will illuminate the city, with a beautiful, brilliant radiance, which will be everlasting. God will upgrade everything from good to better and from better to best. Everything will be excellent. Justice and peace and righteousness will be the ruling forces----and they will be unchallenged. And the atmosphere of the kingdom, will be characterized by one, long continuous celebration. In the Millennial Kingdom people will live for a very long time, like they did in the days of Noah, 100 years will be just a drop in the bucket------and then, in the eternal kingdom of the new heavens and the new earth, people will live forever.
The Year of the Lord 61:1-11
There is a wonderful linking of Jesus' first and second coming, to the earth, in chapter 6, because it gives a description of His earthly ministry.The opening verses are famous, because they're from the passage, that was chosen, by Jesus, when He preached His first time, in Nazareth, when He came out of the wilderness, to start His earthly ministry. In the synagogue, Jesus stood up and read, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the poor; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering sight to the blind; to set at liberty those that are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And then He stopped reading, and handed the scroll back to the attendant, and with all the eyes of His listeners, focused on Him----- He said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
No one really understood what He meant, because they weren't expecting their Messiah to come in the way that Jesus had come. But, we understand and the words in chapter 61, are still being fulfilled in our hearing. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, in the hearts and lives of believers, is preaching the Gospel message, to anyone who will hear it. And He will keep on preaching it, as long as "His season of favor" lasts. And, none of us, know how long that will be------thats why we can't waste, even a single day, without telling somebody about Jesus.
But that day in Nazareth, Jesus omitted the last part of that verse, he didn't read the part that says, "and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn". Because the time for His vengeance, had not come yet, it still hasn't. John 3:17 says "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." Jesus didn't come, the first time, to proclaim or exact God's vengeance, on sin-sick people--------He came to offer them comfort and freedom, by paying the bill for their sin, Himself. Jesus fulfills all the prophecies and promises of God, he just doesn't do it all at the same time. At His 1st Coming, He brought in "the year of the Lord's favor", which is symbolized, in the scripture, by the Year of Jubilee, when all captives were set free and all debt was forgiven.
And at His 2nd coming, He will bring in "the Day of God's Vengeance", which is when, the door of grace, will shut forever-------and people will go to their eternal homes-either heaven or hell. There's a gap in between the two Comings, and we are living, right now, in that interval.
It's like, Isaiah was looking into the future and he could see 2 mountain peaks, far away, one behind the other. But he couldn't see how much distance there was between the 2. Jesus didn't come to judge or condemn the first time, He came to love people into the kingdom. At the end of the age, God's anger will fall on those who will persist in wickedness and those who will deny Him as their Savior------but that time is not now. His earthly ministry was one of grace and mercy. He came to offer forgiveness and new life. We are still living in that age---and as the vessels, of the Lord's presence here, and as His obedient servants, it is our responsibility to love people, into the kingdom of God, not to judge them there---we should have compassion on the lost, not animosity and judgmentalness and holier-than- thou attitudes, toward them…
("The story is told, about George Frederick Handel, who was siting alone one day, in the darkness of discouragement. Accolades, from his concert audience, had been replaced by jeers. Earlier that day, his orchestra had been thrown out, after their rehearsal! London appeared to have no room for him and his music.
Then a friend arrived at Handel's door with a manuscript for an oratorio, and He asked Handel to write the music, for it. Handel was ready to refuse, until he noticed the title----"Messiah"-----As he began to read the manuscript, love for the Lord, so overwhelmed Handel, that He fell to his knees, begging for God's help with the music. All else was forgotten, as Handel worked for 3 weeks, with hardly any break. The beautiful masterpiece "Messiah" was the result. When it was first sung in Dublin, Handel, who just weeks earlier had felt like a failure--------received a standing ovation.")
Israel will go through great darkness, but when Jesus comes, the darkness will be forgotten, and a new day, will dawn.
The mourning, that Isaiah talks about Jesus comforting, in this passage, was not for loved ones who had died, which is how we typically think of mourning. It was for Judah's national sin. And, just like there is, in every culture------- there are some of their people, who will be saddened, by the nation's disobedience and they will mourn over it. And Isaiah could look far into the future, even though he probably didn't understand it----- and could see, that Israel would continue, even to the present day, denying Jesus' identity----------and that in the Tribulation days, there would come a time, when the whole remnant of the nation, would finally recognize Him, for who He is, and their mourning would be inconsolable.
And that will be the day, when Jesus will come the second time, and will exchange their beauty for ashes; their joy for mourning and their praise for sorrow. And everybody who will witness their release from mourning, will refer to them, as "oaks of righteousness" planted by the Lord. The Lord's blessing shall be so obvious that everyone will know that a miracle of God has taken place.
A brand new life will replace their old one. During the Millennium, the nation of Israel, will rebuild and repair and restore places, that have been devastated for generations. Tribulation-saved Gentiles, will join in the work of the kingdom, in willing submission, to the Jewish priests and ministers. Jerusalem will ring with the sound of joy from the believing Remnant, who will praise God for everything, He's done. The restored Jerusalem, will be a real place, and we will really live there. And what Isaiah says will come to pass, will happen, because the Lord Jesus, is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords; and He is the ruler of our hearts and our lives, and He, one day, will rule the world.
The last two verses of this chapter, seem to form a very beautiful testimony that could belong to any one of us-----and should belong, to each of us-------"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me in garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes things that are sown in it, to spring forth, so the Lord God, will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations."
Jesus will cleanse the nation of Israel, and clothe them with His righteousness and grace, just like He has already done for us. His grace and righteousness cover the wearer, just like garments do, that are worn by couples, on their wedding day.The bride and her bridegroom choose, the very best, that they can afford, for their wedding. So does God and His wealth, is beyond comprehension. His grace, already, is the motive for our rejoicing and thanksgiving----- and in that future day, it will finally be the motive for the rejoicing and thanksgiving of Israel too.
III. New Heavens, New Earth 65:17-25; 66:7-24
Revelation 20 and 21, outline the sequence of events that will happen when Jesus comes back again, which have to happen, before the new Heavens and the new earth will be created------
1.)The Millennium---the 1000 year reign of the Lord will begin immediately after the Lord's return to earth(Rev. 20:4-6)
2.)At the end of the Millennium(Rev. 20:7), Satan will be released from the pit and will rally an innumerable number of people for his army(Rev. 20:8-10).
3.)Jesus will put down the rebellion and the Great White Throne Judgment will take place(Rev. 20:11-15).
4.)That will be the final event before the new heavens and the new earth are created(Rev. 21:1).
5.)This new creation will usher in eternity.
And then, Chapter 65, of Isaiah, contains a beautiful description, of the new heavens and the new earth.
The inhabitants of the new heavens and the new earth will rejoice forever, because they are going to live forever. In the same way, the city where they will live, will be eternal. The earth and the city will be a new creation from the hand of God.The present earth will have passed away and will have been replaced with the new perfect earth. (Hebrews 1:10-12 says, "You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and Your years will not fail." Within the city there will be perpetual rejoicing, forever. The sound of weeping will never again be heard----and the Lord will rejoice with His people. The people, in this new world, will be able to live in total security----they will never be invaded and they will never be captured or plundered. They will enjoy their lands and buildings perpetually, and will live in peace; confident, that they will be there, forever, to enjoy the fruit of their labors.
It is the nature of the wolf to kill the lamb. It is the nature of the lion to eat meat. Its the nature of the snake to strike and kill its prey. But all of this will be completely, turned upside down. The 'law of the jungle' will no longer operate----- and the diets of animals, will be radically changed to accommodate it. The end result will be total peace, on every level. There will be no more killing, no more bloodshed, and no more fear. Birds and animals will feed without danger, and a marvelous tranquility will engulf the whole realm of nature. Every living thing, will be under the shepherd's control, and will dwell in perfect peace together. Prayer will be an integral part of this new place, and our faithful God, will respond instantly, to His people's prayers, before we even have a chance to verbalize them. The life that we have always longed for, the life that has always been, just beyond our reach-----that life, is what God is preparing for us. This will all happen through the power of God, and the power of God, is beyond our comprehension.
The place that God is preparing for us, will be more, than we even know, that we can have. C.S. Lewis, came to this conclusion, "If I find in myself, a desire, which no experience in the world, can satisfy, the most probable explanation is, that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably, earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing…..I must make it, the main object of life, to press on to that other country, and to help others do the same."
In the end, there will only be one commandment, which God's servants will have to obey forever and ever--- and the instructions for this, are given in Isaiah 65:18, which says, "Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create." And for those who refuse to rejoice in what God creates, Jeremy Taylor, the 17th century, Anglican Bishop, summed it up like this-----"God threatens terrible things, if we will not be happy. How could it be otherwise? Hell will be full of eternal souls, who don't want God, and have gotten their way------and Heaven, will be full of eternal souls, who long for God, and they, will get all that they want----God, Himself, in infinite, joyful measure."
And as new, as it will be, the setting for our lasting joy, will be somewhat similar, but still, so different, from where we live now----------where we live now is so inadequate, compared to where we will live then----- but it won't be alien to us at all, though, because this world is a faded shadow of that one------we will recognize it and we will know, in our hearts, that we are finally home-------
In chapter 66, Isaiah turned his eyes far into the future and saw another miracle that only God could perform--------a birth without labor and a delivery without pain. This mother is Jerusalem and she is birthing a nation. There are 2 views about who this nation is: 1.) the church after Jesus was resurrected, since Jesus did come from the bloodline of Israel and because the earliest Christians were all Jews. and 2.) the more widely accepted, main view, is that the child hasn't been born yet, and that that child will be, the Remnant of Israel, which will be saved as a nation, when Jesus comes back again. This will be a true nation and it will be born without effort from Israel, by the will of the Lord. The disbelieving nation of 2000 years, will become the believing nation, in an instant!
Israel became a recognized government on May 14, 1948. She had to fight a war to achieve that status and she has to continue to fight wars to keep that status. But there is coming a day, when God will establish her, once and for all, as a political and as a spiritual nation. God will purify her and she will believe in the the Lord Jesus, as her Messiah and Israel will, for the first time,experience perfect joy, perfect peace and perfect satisfaction. God will care for her and comfort her like a mother comforts a child. She will be gathered from all the far places,where she has been scattered and she will be restored as a family-----the children of Israel will become the evangelizing missionaries, to the Gentile nations, who are present, during the Tribulation, and they will be brought to Jerusalem, by air, by road, by rail and by sea-------and they will be an offering of praise to the Lord----------The Redeemed Remnant, will live through the Millennium-------- and they will be brought into the new Heavens and the new earth, along with the saved, from every nation and from every generation-----
and there will be no doubt, in that day, that the ungodly, will receive, their judgment.
Hazel Felleman's
"Heaven"
Think of-----standing on shore, and finding it Heaven!
taking hold of a hand and finding it God's hand.
breathing a new air,and finding it celestial air.
feeling invigorated, and finding it immortality.
passing from storm to tempest, into an unknown calm.
waking up and finding out that I'm in Heaven; I'm finally home.
"When I Get Where I'm Going"
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
JOY "The Kingdom of God" February 23
February 23, 2011
The Kingdom of God Part 1
I. A Highway----40: 3-5, 42:14-17, 43: 16-21, 49: 8-13
II. Water in the Desert----41: 17-20, 43: 19-21, 49:10, 51:3
III. The Holy Spirit-----44: 1-5
IV. Mother Zion-----54:1-17
Marxist Guerillas captured missionary, Bruce Olsen and dragged him through South American jungles, to their isolated camp, in Columbia. Day after day, month after month, he had no idea, what the next day would bring, except more suffering, from malaria and from endless rain, soaking his body. Each hour, he had to face a new and fresh guard and every few days, he faced a new trek through the jungle, to a new hide-out. Dislocated joints----no matter how painful, were no excuse, not to walk on, through the jungle, wherever his captors wanted to take him. Eventually, he taught himself, a pain-ignoring technique. He would tell himself, "I'm in pain, yes, but this pain exists only in my body and the real me, is not my body, my body is just a physical form, where my mind and my spirit dwell--and they are separate from my body, not a part of it."
Olsen wrote this, about his experience, "It may seem bizarre to some people, but the truth is, that it never once, occurred to me, that it was God's responsibility, to rescue me, miraculously, from this situation. Instead, I believed that it was my responsibility, to serve God,right where I was. So, everyday I prayed, "Father, I'm alive, and I want to use this time constructively. How can I be useful to you today? Olsen said, that, that that kind of prayer was how he started every day of his life. He said, "that he didn't believe that his prayers and his outlook should change, just because he was in the hand of Guerillas, because, he knew, that it was His God, not his captors, who would control, the outcome of the situation.
That kind of prayer was nothing new for Bruce Olsen. He had become a believer at the age of 14----- and at age19, the Lord, had called him to be a missionary, to the "stone age-Indian tribes", in South America. So, in 1961, he went to Columbia, with a one way ticket and 70 dollars, in his pocket. He was captured first, by the Motilones Tribe, and after a lot of suspicion, an arrow shot in his foot, and many barbaric feats to prove his bravery-------he led many of them to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ------as well as many other people groups, in the area. In 1989, he was kidnapped, by the Guerillas, who wanted to use him, as a bargaining tool, with the government and with the Indians. There was national outcry and 50 tribes banded together and threatened war, if Olsen wasn't released. It took 9 months to secure his freedom-----but during that time, he led more than 60, of the guerillas, to a saving faith, through prayer and bible study. And after that ordeal, from then until now, there has been a phenomenal willingness and openness, to the gospel, in that area. Countless lives have been changed, and thousands of people have accepted the Lord, as their Savior. Olsen and the many believers, that he has influenced, have built schools and clinics and agricultural centers. --------One man's obedience, over 50 years, has given Jesus and civilization, to a whole generation. Amazing!!!!!!!!
God used Isaiah's message, to teach the same lesson that Bruce Olsen understood, to Israel. But Israel didn't endure pain and discouragement like Olsen did, they lamented and groaned under their situation. But God kept giving them opportunity to know Him and to trust Him. And, He kept promising them, that He would never leave them nor forsake them and He assured them that eventually, in spite of their temporary rejection, they would inherit, all of His wonderful blessings.
Life brings pain and disappointment, as well as joy and laughter, to each of us. We have to decide before they come, how we will live through them. Do we have a special plan for trying times? that may or may not work-------- or do we pray each day, the same way that Olsen did-----that no matter what comes our way, that God is in control of it and that it is for our good, ultimately and that we need, for Him to use us, in a constructive way, for His glory and for the kingdom, in the middle of it.
We need to get into the habit of expecting God to use us. The kingdom of God is now! ------we should behave now, the same way we will behave, when Jesus comes back, to establish His kingdom. Our behavior now, should be such, that it will just extend and blossom into perfection, once we arrive in the eternal kingdom. (we have a tendency to make excuses for ourselves and our behavior now, putting off until the 2nd coming, what we should be doing today) If we're believers, our kingdom behavior should have already started and it should just get fuller, as eternity becomes a reality. Jesus lived the fullest human life that anyone has ever lived and He's our example. Life is more than a physical functioning of the body------it involves a personal relationship------full-life involves having a deep and abiding relationship with God, through Jesus, and that life begins now….
I. A Highway
This is a picture of a road being built over rugged terrain. When engineers were building the railroad through the Rocky Mts., they encountered the same obstacles that Isaiah has mentioned in this passage. Valleys had to be filled and brought up to grade and mountains had to be cut through, in order to construct a reasonably level way. Every valley, in its path, was exalted and every mountain and hill was made low. At the same time, twists and turns were straightened out and rough ground was made smooth. Only then, could the track be laid down and the railroad become workable.
When John the Baptist preached, in the Jordan valley, he identified this leveling process as a picture of repentance. It wasn't physical ground that needed to be leveled, it was the hearts and the lives, of John's listeners, that needed to be leveled. When John cried ,"Repent ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand!" it was the truth, the kingdom was already there, because Jesus was already in the world. The baptisms that John performed were not like the Christian baptisms, that we have all experienced------they didn't signify the death and resurrection of Jesus-------the baptisms that John performed were ones of repentance-------they symbolized the willingness, of the people being baptized, to put their lives in order, in preparation, for the coming of the Messiah.
The King has already come, and He is with us now, where we are, as we are, in the wilderness and the desert of our lives and He will come again and we need to be ready to receive Him. If we know Him now, then we won't be strangers, when He comes back again.
One day, in the future, God will accomplish His purpose. Every valley will be lifted up and every mountain will be made flat. Isaiah may be talking about literal, topographal changes, in this passage----but he is, also, definitely, talking about a new moral topography. He is talking about salvation and how it disrupts the landscape of the world that we live in. He is saying that lifting, and lowering and smoothing and leveling are necessary, to thrive in the kingdom of God. He is talking about depression being relieved and pride being flattened and troubled personalities being smoothed and difficult people becoming easy to get along with. Jesus, alone, can make this happen and through it, God has decreed that the glory of the Lord Jesus, will be revealed to the whole world-----we can be certain of it, because God has said it is so. His glory, can be seen everywhere right now, the problem is, not everyone looks for it or cares to see it--------but one great day, it will be admired and trembled at and delighted in, by all people.
The great sin of human beings, is that we diminish God's glory, even believers do. The truth is, we don't even really understand it. But there will come a day, when God will level, all obstacles in our path, and we will see Him for who His is, in all His majestic splendor. The glory of the Lord, is the fiery radiance of His nature, as He led the Children of Israel through the desert at night and it's the cool comfort of a cloud, as He led them in the day------it is the blazing beauty, that set Moses' face aglow, on Mt. Sinai -------and it is the sweetness of His presence as it filled the tabernacle-----God's glory is the sound of 1000 angels singing, as they lit up the sky, on the night, that the baby Jesus was born------and it is the passion that the crucified Savior, felt, as He hung on the cross for us. The glory of the Lord, is God Himself, becoming visible. It is God, bringing His presence down to us, when we least expect it. It is God giving us the true answer, to our deepest longings, Himself. We need to have the courage to welcome Him, and to let Him restructure our hearts and our lives. He is worth the upheaval.
Isaiah says, that God is like a soldier going into battle and that He's like a woman crying out, in labor. These two similes teach us,
that God's glory, is revealed to us, by His grace. God's grace is more than leniency and permissiveness and niceness. God's grace is His resolve and determination------ that He will settle for nothing less, than our eternal joy and satisfaction with Him and that He is willing to fight for our salvation, no matter how much He has to suffer for it.
We need God----we need for Him to clear the pathway for us, there is nothing we can do, in our own strength, that matters, for any purpose. We can go through our days and our routines, without once calling on Him, but that doesn't mean that we can really accomplish anything------ because, even a bind person, can get around in familiar surroundings. God wants to take us, to where we're helpless without Him. He wants us to trust Him enough, to follow Him, no matter where He leads us, even if we can't see over the next hill, or around the bend in the road, believing, that He'll take us safely home.
The intervention of God, in our lives, is ongoing. Isaiah reminded His readers about how God had led them out of Egypt and about how He had destroyed Pharaoh's army and parted the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan River------He wanted them to remember who He had been, so that they could trust, who He was, right then---- and---- who He would be, in the future. He wanted them to believe that they could always count on Him, to move any roadblocks, that would hamper them on their path to salvation.
God wants us to understand, that the great Exodus out of Egypt, was not a one-time event; that it's a pattern. In the ways of God, the Exodus, is just a drop in the bucket-------God can repeat it, and so much more, any time He wants to. It's His standard "modus of operandi" with us, through the finished work of Jesus, on the cross. He doesn't want us, to so concentrate on His mercies ,to us, in the past, that we miss the new things, that He is doing in our lives, today. God never acts out of character, but a part of His character, is that He never runs out of new ideas. He is able, in ways that we can't even begin to imagine, to lead us on dry ground, though any Red Sea barrier that we come up against. We don't have to worry, if we will just wait and be patient and not fret, He will part the waters. And when God does this for us and we get to the other side------for just a moment----we can catch a glimpse of His true glory-and it will grip our hearts and thrill our souls. (Jim Elliot, was martyred by the Auca Indians in Equador in 1956-----he wrote this in his journal in 1951, "I walked out to the hills just now. It is exalting, delicious. To stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens hailing your heart----to gaze and glory and give oneself to God, what more could a man ask? Oh the fulness, the pleasure, the sheer excitement, of knowing God on earth. I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him…")
The rough road has been smoothed out for us. We don't have to wait for something better------Jesus is it. Jesus is the great leveler. He is the embodiment of God's grace and His glory. He, is how God pours out favor on us, and, how we are bound to God, in return. From the beginning, God has given Himself to us, through covenants and formal agreements, that we can believe in, and stand on. God is not ad-libbing His way along. He has always had plan. He is not casual or offhanded, in His dealings, with us. He is a serious person, who takes us seriously, and who knows how weak we are. God knows that we could never keep up our end of the covenant, with Him, and He knows, that we need Jesus, to do it for us. So, He sent Him. Isaiah's prophetic vision, sweeps across the history of salvation. He is able to see it all, because the great Highway is straight and true. And, through his words, we can see it too------We can see God, through the the Lord Jesus, as He restores the ruins, that sin has made out of us. We can see, how He sets us free, from our self-imposed prisons and how He leads us forward, into a new way of life, where He cares for us, moment by moment and provides for us fully, and overcomes, even the slightest obstacle. And, we can see, that His salvation, gathers in the Jews, as well as multitudes of people, from all over the world, and we can rejoice, as we see history rush, toward the the great day of the Lord, when all people will serve Him together.
II. Water in the Desert
God has promised, that there will come a day, when their will be water in the desert, in places, physically, where there has never been before. This hasn't happened in it fullness yet, even though, in the 64 years, of Israel's modern existence, incredible advances have been achieved. And even though they have done wonderful things-----all their efforts have still been man-made achievements------it has been the result of sheer hard work and human diligence, and technology. God hasn't yet, miraculously created rivers and forests, in places where there is no water. But, one day He will------and the entire world will see, that it's His hand alone, that has brought it to pass------When cedars and acacias, myrtles, olives, pines, firs and boxwoods, are made to flourish, in the dry desert and pools of water lie in places that were dry and barren, it will be obvious to everybody, that God has been at work. We will see this happen when the Millennial Kingdom is put into place.
And in a spiritual sense-------our hearts and lives are dry, parched deserts. And God, has already provided the life-giving water that can satisfy our souls. He presents Himself to us as our abundant refreshment, through the sacrifice of Jesus. In John 7:37-38, Jesus said, " If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'out of the heart will flow rivers of living water.'" God's ultimate purpose in lavishing Himself upon us so richly, is so, that He will receive the glory and we will receive His mercy. God is not someone that we need to dread, in His sovereignty---He is the one, that we need to open our hearts up to and be satisfied. In the scripture-------water being poured out----is a symbol of the overflowing, life-giving, abundance of the Holy Spirit. When thirsty people, "seek water", in prayer-------God will answer them, with the only answer, in the universe, that makes sense------He gives us Himself, immediately and fully. And even though He doesn't always do it in the way that we want, or the way that we understand------He always does it, in the way that we need.
God promises us water and He doesn't promise it as a morning dew or as a light sprinkling------- He promises us pools and rivers and springs and fountains, of water. We need that much of God; and we can have that much of God! And by refreshing us, God increases the vision of his own glory. The outflowing of His grace, opens people's minds, to see, know, consider and understand, just how good, God really is. As He pours out His refreshment from heaven we are able to serve His purpose, by enjoying His abundant goodness, in the sight of the nations. That's why we should seek His outpouring and embrace the fullness of it. We can experience God and all that He has to offer, through the Holy Spirit. What a blessing! The most convincing witness, of the reality of God, in the truth-denying and truth-killing world, that we live in, is not the brilliance of man------it is the presence of God, who lives in our midst, in the person of the Holy Spirit. We can stake the quenching of our thirst, the enrichment of our lives and our eternal survival on Him.
We need to believe in the God of the scripture------we need to think of Him, treat Him and pray to Him, based on who He has revealed Himself to be, through the scripture, through Jesus and through the Holy Spirit. We need to believe that the life-giving waters of the Spirit, can fill us up to overflow and that we can trust Him to uphold us and to strengthen us and to guide us and to comfort us and to teach us and to refresh us. We need to believe that He can make us invincible to the world and to the enemy. We don't have to ever believe the lies that they sling at us. We have to learn to give up on ourselves and to delight in the Lord and to recognize that He is all we need.
God is a life-giver----- If He touched Abraham and Sarah, as old and barren, as they were and was able to give them a child-----who was the beginning of a mighty nation, who was called to bless the world------why in the world, do we have so little faith, that we wind up forgetting, that He can bring something new to you and me? If we have the faith of Abraham, not the adequacy of it, but the same need of it, matched with his openness and his willingness to trust God, then the Lord will count it to us as righteousness, just like He did for Abraham and He will make our weakness, a strength. What God did for Abraham was not a solitary thing--it was the same as what He did for Moses------ it's His pattern. Romans 4:17 says that "God gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist." God will turn our waste places, into the Garden of Eden-----the water He pours out, will make those places, lush and green and alive. (Leonardo Da Vinci was at work for a long period of time on a great masterpiece. He had labored long to create the work of art, and it was near completion. Standing near him, was a young student, who spent much of his time with his mouth open, amazed at the the master with the brush. Just before finishing the painting, Da Vinci turned to the young student and gave him the brush and said, "Now, you finish it!" The student protested and backed away, but Da Vinci said, "Will not what I have done, inspire you, to do your best.") We, are the students of God, and He gives us everything we need, to be the best of what He desires for us to be.
III. The Holy Spirit
This passage 44:1-5, in many ways, is similar to all the other references in this book, that promise future blessing to Israel. It describes refreshment, health and prosperity, plus the promise of spiritual enlightenment.
It also speaks to us believers, who are already enlightened. God, through Isaiah, has gone out of His way to reassure us of His promised blessings. He has made us; He has formed us and He will help us. And it is all because of His grace! God doesn't want us to be insecure with Him. His remedy, for our abuse of His grace, is to lavish us with more grace. We can't demand anything from God because our sins discredit us and free God from all obligation to us. But, God, in His grace and in His goodness, doesn't quit on us. He just pours more of Himself out on us. After Adam and Eve had sinned in the garden, they hid, they didn't' go to God and confess their disobedience-----God came down to them. That's God's way----He comes down and makes His presence known to us. He seeks us out------He extends the hand of reconciliation and restoration to us--He always has and He always will. He pours Himself out with such generosity that we become a people who are saturated with God. We are so privileged to live, now, during the era, within His great plan for history, when the Holy Spirit is being poured out. 2000 years ago, on the Day of Pentecost, God unleashed the mighty river of the Holy Spirit upon a guilty world. And He has continued to pour out His spirit in wave after wave, of His unstinting grace. Sometimes, the tide of the spirit may ebb, but then, just when we need Him the most, God will cause Him to surge, and we will be revived and filled up, with His presence, to the overflow. God didn't send the Spirit just to make our church service fun------although there is no greater joy, than a church flooded with the Spirit------He sent the Spirit, to make us holy. He has already begun the new heaven and the new earth here among us. Hebrews 6:5 says that, "We have tasted the powers of the age to come." What greater gift could God give us----the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom-come, in out hearts, right now. "We need to live, so that other people can see a reason not to die." Under the influence of the Spirit------we can't sit and do nothing ----we have to go where God is working and serve any way that He calls us to. (The story is told of a man who prayed to God to bring new hope and new life to him after the death of his wife. He agonized in prayer and devoted himself to Bible Study and sought every way that He knew how, to get peace and direction for his life. He had almost given up when he was invited to a grief share program at his church. There he found a lot of people who were experiencing some of the same raw emotions of sorrow and loss that he was. He made him feel better to know that he wasn't alone. Then God surprised him--the man's employer began a series of mission trips to Kenya. He went on the very first one and discovered a new involvement in God's work and realized that God, could still use him to minister to others and lead them to know Him as their Savior. Then God surprised him again. He led him closer and closer to another member of the grief-share group, until it led to a new marriage commitment. This one had a 10 year old daughter attached to it. Through a new wife, a new daughter and a new mission field-------God had brought the man back to life.)
IV. Mother Zion
The test of the church's faith is not just the reading of and the obedience to, the scripture------ but it is also, the gladness that can be found in it's worship. The Gospel demands a carefree spirit. If we aren't going to hell anymore; and we stand to inherit every blessing that Almighty God can think of; and if nothing can stand in the way of our relationship with God, because of our salvation------then why in the world, are we not a joyous group of people, who sing all the time. In this passage--54:1-17 God uses 3 common images to portray the miracle of God's grace: a barren woman; an unfaithful wife being restored to her husband and a beautiful city.
Few words, in the English language, could be more important for an understanding of the Gospel, than the word surprise.
In the 1st image He brings barrenness and joy together-----much to our surprise. In Isaiah's culture, infertility marked a woman with shame. Isaiah sees the people of God as barren woman with nothing to be happy about. They had been given the opportunity to take God's message to the world, and they had rejected the opportunity. They were distraught and it was their own fault. But God invited the desolate woman to sing for joy-------which, in the eyes of the world, would seem to be a cruel thing. But He isn't rubbing it in, He is trying to get her to switch her capability for happiness, from herself to the Servant of the Lord. God want us all, to realize, that our failure to accomplish things in our own strength is real, but that our joy shouldn't die because of it. Jesus died so that we could have joy, no matter what our circumstance are-----because joy is knowing, that nothing can separate us from the the love of God, that we have in Christ Jesus. In Galations 4:21-31----Paul quotes Isaiah, in trying to explain, exactly what this means to believers. There are 2 ways that we can serve God:
1.) to draw on the energy of our own good intentions. or
2.) to rely on God's power, acting in our weakness.
Our virtue can look good, feel good, act good and talk good. But it is sterile-----it's empty---there is no power. The power of the Holy Spirit will make us fruitful and He will make us hum with power. The Gospel announces that Jesus took our failure to the cross, where the shame of it died, once and for all, forever. And He sent us His Spirit so that we will thrive forever. Isaiah was able to see God's grace spreading to the ends of the earth and He is telling us that we are barren, but that it doesn't matter anymore and that we can live in expectancy, because God's plan for His people, is more and more blessing. Real joy flows from our surprise and relief that Jesus is, what we have, sadly,failed to be. We are this barren woman and we, just like the Jews, have nothing to be proud of. But, thanks to the Lord Jesus, we don't have to hang our heads in shame, we can throw our heads back and laugh with delight, as God uses His own power, to multiply our spiritual family, beyond measure. We have to look with honesty, at our tired ideals, that never amount to very much and reject them. And then, we have to look to God's magnificent power, working for His greater glory and our richer joy and the salvation of the nations-----and we need to embrace Him. The human race is a created entity----so we aren't the ones, thank goodness, who have to save the world. God, is the Savior of the world and He is the giver of life-----and the barren woman can thrive, because the Spirit, gives her joy------because her joy is In Him, not in her circumstances.
The 2nd image of miraculous grace, is one of an unfaithful wife, who is reconciled to her husband. The amazing thing about this image is what the text doesn't say-----"the faithful city had sunk to the level of prostitution. Israel had prostituted themselves in defiance, against her husband, God. But, He, in His grace and love and mercy, looked beyond His people's guilt. In this passage, He doesn't even talk about it. He didn't emphasize His own offended honor------He expressed deep sympathy for Israel's wounded feelings. God said that He was angry and that He had a right to be, but that His anger had been assuaged, because His Servant had taken all of the unfaithful wife's guilt, away. The slate was wiped totally clean and the wife would forget all of her heartache under the deluge of God's everlasting love. The gospel is not "He loves me, He loves me not, depending on our own loveliness or goodness." The Gospel is the grace of God, a new covenant of peace with God, that brings a permanent wholeness, that we don't deserve. That's why we can enjoy God's grace without fearing that He's going to take it back. We didn't cause the grace to begin with, so we can't do anything to cause God to take it back. God's anger is real, but it will pass; God's love is real, but it will last, forever. (verse 5 also gives great comfort to widows--woman who have been forsaken by their husband because of death or because of divorce----God will come to them and be their husbands---He will do everything a bridegroom does----He will love, protect, support, comfort and provide for her---she won't feel alone anymore.)
And the 3rd image, of God's miraculous grace, is a literal place---it's a city that gleams, with brilliant jewels; a city so lavish, in its beauty, that our finite minds, cannot conceive of it. God has built the city and it is where He will live with His children forever. The resources for its dazzling appearance are endless. In this city, God will give us great material riches, but they won't matter to us at all because this city is also where He will give us great wisdom, in the place of our spiritual poverty and it is where He will give us complete security, in the place of worldly turbulence; and where He will give us perfect comfort, in place of our pitiful despair. It is where God will be our protector and our provider and our defender. And it is where He, will provide, endless peace for His children. This is the heritage of the servant of the Lord and His followers, and we should enjoy the blessing of it, even more, because its a gift that we don't deserve.
Augustine said ,"We count on God's mercy for our past mistakes; on God's love for our present needs; on God's sovereignty for our future." and He never disappoints us!
The Kingdom of God Part 1
I. A Highway----40: 3-5, 42:14-17, 43: 16-21, 49: 8-13
II. Water in the Desert----41: 17-20, 43: 19-21, 49:10, 51:3
III. The Holy Spirit-----44: 1-5
IV. Mother Zion-----54:1-17
Marxist Guerillas captured missionary, Bruce Olsen and dragged him through South American jungles, to their isolated camp, in Columbia. Day after day, month after month, he had no idea, what the next day would bring, except more suffering, from malaria and from endless rain, soaking his body. Each hour, he had to face a new and fresh guard and every few days, he faced a new trek through the jungle, to a new hide-out. Dislocated joints----no matter how painful, were no excuse, not to walk on, through the jungle, wherever his captors wanted to take him. Eventually, he taught himself, a pain-ignoring technique. He would tell himself, "I'm in pain, yes, but this pain exists only in my body and the real me, is not my body, my body is just a physical form, where my mind and my spirit dwell--and they are separate from my body, not a part of it."
Olsen wrote this, about his experience, "It may seem bizarre to some people, but the truth is, that it never once, occurred to me, that it was God's responsibility, to rescue me, miraculously, from this situation. Instead, I believed that it was my responsibility, to serve God,right where I was. So, everyday I prayed, "Father, I'm alive, and I want to use this time constructively. How can I be useful to you today? Olsen said, that, that that kind of prayer was how he started every day of his life. He said, "that he didn't believe that his prayers and his outlook should change, just because he was in the hand of Guerillas, because, he knew, that it was His God, not his captors, who would control, the outcome of the situation.
That kind of prayer was nothing new for Bruce Olsen. He had become a believer at the age of 14----- and at age19, the Lord, had called him to be a missionary, to the "stone age-Indian tribes", in South America. So, in 1961, he went to Columbia, with a one way ticket and 70 dollars, in his pocket. He was captured first, by the Motilones Tribe, and after a lot of suspicion, an arrow shot in his foot, and many barbaric feats to prove his bravery-------he led many of them to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ------as well as many other people groups, in the area. In 1989, he was kidnapped, by the Guerillas, who wanted to use him, as a bargaining tool, with the government and with the Indians. There was national outcry and 50 tribes banded together and threatened war, if Olsen wasn't released. It took 9 months to secure his freedom-----but during that time, he led more than 60, of the guerillas, to a saving faith, through prayer and bible study. And after that ordeal, from then until now, there has been a phenomenal willingness and openness, to the gospel, in that area. Countless lives have been changed, and thousands of people have accepted the Lord, as their Savior. Olsen and the many believers, that he has influenced, have built schools and clinics and agricultural centers. --------One man's obedience, over 50 years, has given Jesus and civilization, to a whole generation. Amazing!!!!!!!!
God used Isaiah's message, to teach the same lesson that Bruce Olsen understood, to Israel. But Israel didn't endure pain and discouragement like Olsen did, they lamented and groaned under their situation. But God kept giving them opportunity to know Him and to trust Him. And, He kept promising them, that He would never leave them nor forsake them and He assured them that eventually, in spite of their temporary rejection, they would inherit, all of His wonderful blessings.
Life brings pain and disappointment, as well as joy and laughter, to each of us. We have to decide before they come, how we will live through them. Do we have a special plan for trying times? that may or may not work-------- or do we pray each day, the same way that Olsen did-----that no matter what comes our way, that God is in control of it and that it is for our good, ultimately and that we need, for Him to use us, in a constructive way, for His glory and for the kingdom, in the middle of it.
We need to get into the habit of expecting God to use us. The kingdom of God is now! ------we should behave now, the same way we will behave, when Jesus comes back, to establish His kingdom. Our behavior now, should be such, that it will just extend and blossom into perfection, once we arrive in the eternal kingdom. (we have a tendency to make excuses for ourselves and our behavior now, putting off until the 2nd coming, what we should be doing today) If we're believers, our kingdom behavior should have already started and it should just get fuller, as eternity becomes a reality. Jesus lived the fullest human life that anyone has ever lived and He's our example. Life is more than a physical functioning of the body------it involves a personal relationship------full-life involves having a deep and abiding relationship with God, through Jesus, and that life begins now….
I. A Highway
This is a picture of a road being built over rugged terrain. When engineers were building the railroad through the Rocky Mts., they encountered the same obstacles that Isaiah has mentioned in this passage. Valleys had to be filled and brought up to grade and mountains had to be cut through, in order to construct a reasonably level way. Every valley, in its path, was exalted and every mountain and hill was made low. At the same time, twists and turns were straightened out and rough ground was made smooth. Only then, could the track be laid down and the railroad become workable.
When John the Baptist preached, in the Jordan valley, he identified this leveling process as a picture of repentance. It wasn't physical ground that needed to be leveled, it was the hearts and the lives, of John's listeners, that needed to be leveled. When John cried ,"Repent ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand!" it was the truth, the kingdom was already there, because Jesus was already in the world. The baptisms that John performed were not like the Christian baptisms, that we have all experienced------they didn't signify the death and resurrection of Jesus-------the baptisms that John performed were ones of repentance-------they symbolized the willingness, of the people being baptized, to put their lives in order, in preparation, for the coming of the Messiah.
The King has already come, and He is with us now, where we are, as we are, in the wilderness and the desert of our lives and He will come again and we need to be ready to receive Him. If we know Him now, then we won't be strangers, when He comes back again.
One day, in the future, God will accomplish His purpose. Every valley will be lifted up and every mountain will be made flat. Isaiah may be talking about literal, topographal changes, in this passage----but he is, also, definitely, talking about a new moral topography. He is talking about salvation and how it disrupts the landscape of the world that we live in. He is saying that lifting, and lowering and smoothing and leveling are necessary, to thrive in the kingdom of God. He is talking about depression being relieved and pride being flattened and troubled personalities being smoothed and difficult people becoming easy to get along with. Jesus, alone, can make this happen and through it, God has decreed that the glory of the Lord Jesus, will be revealed to the whole world-----we can be certain of it, because God has said it is so. His glory, can be seen everywhere right now, the problem is, not everyone looks for it or cares to see it--------but one great day, it will be admired and trembled at and delighted in, by all people.
The great sin of human beings, is that we diminish God's glory, even believers do. The truth is, we don't even really understand it. But there will come a day, when God will level, all obstacles in our path, and we will see Him for who His is, in all His majestic splendor. The glory of the Lord, is the fiery radiance of His nature, as He led the Children of Israel through the desert at night and it's the cool comfort of a cloud, as He led them in the day------it is the blazing beauty, that set Moses' face aglow, on Mt. Sinai -------and it is the sweetness of His presence as it filled the tabernacle-----God's glory is the sound of 1000 angels singing, as they lit up the sky, on the night, that the baby Jesus was born------and it is the passion that the crucified Savior, felt, as He hung on the cross for us. The glory of the Lord, is God Himself, becoming visible. It is God, bringing His presence down to us, when we least expect it. It is God giving us the true answer, to our deepest longings, Himself. We need to have the courage to welcome Him, and to let Him restructure our hearts and our lives. He is worth the upheaval.
Isaiah says, that God is like a soldier going into battle and that He's like a woman crying out, in labor. These two similes teach us,
that God's glory, is revealed to us, by His grace. God's grace is more than leniency and permissiveness and niceness. God's grace is His resolve and determination------ that He will settle for nothing less, than our eternal joy and satisfaction with Him and that He is willing to fight for our salvation, no matter how much He has to suffer for it.
We need God----we need for Him to clear the pathway for us, there is nothing we can do, in our own strength, that matters, for any purpose. We can go through our days and our routines, without once calling on Him, but that doesn't mean that we can really accomplish anything------ because, even a bind person, can get around in familiar surroundings. God wants to take us, to where we're helpless without Him. He wants us to trust Him enough, to follow Him, no matter where He leads us, even if we can't see over the next hill, or around the bend in the road, believing, that He'll take us safely home.
The intervention of God, in our lives, is ongoing. Isaiah reminded His readers about how God had led them out of Egypt and about how He had destroyed Pharaoh's army and parted the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan River------He wanted them to remember who He had been, so that they could trust, who He was, right then---- and---- who He would be, in the future. He wanted them to believe that they could always count on Him, to move any roadblocks, that would hamper them on their path to salvation.
God wants us to understand, that the great Exodus out of Egypt, was not a one-time event; that it's a pattern. In the ways of God, the Exodus, is just a drop in the bucket-------God can repeat it, and so much more, any time He wants to. It's His standard "modus of operandi" with us, through the finished work of Jesus, on the cross. He doesn't want us, to so concentrate on His mercies ,to us, in the past, that we miss the new things, that He is doing in our lives, today. God never acts out of character, but a part of His character, is that He never runs out of new ideas. He is able, in ways that we can't even begin to imagine, to lead us on dry ground, though any Red Sea barrier that we come up against. We don't have to worry, if we will just wait and be patient and not fret, He will part the waters. And when God does this for us and we get to the other side------for just a moment----we can catch a glimpse of His true glory-and it will grip our hearts and thrill our souls. (Jim Elliot, was martyred by the Auca Indians in Equador in 1956-----he wrote this in his journal in 1951, "I walked out to the hills just now. It is exalting, delicious. To stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens hailing your heart----to gaze and glory and give oneself to God, what more could a man ask? Oh the fulness, the pleasure, the sheer excitement, of knowing God on earth. I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him…")
The rough road has been smoothed out for us. We don't have to wait for something better------Jesus is it. Jesus is the great leveler. He is the embodiment of God's grace and His glory. He, is how God pours out favor on us, and, how we are bound to God, in return. From the beginning, God has given Himself to us, through covenants and formal agreements, that we can believe in, and stand on. God is not ad-libbing His way along. He has always had plan. He is not casual or offhanded, in His dealings, with us. He is a serious person, who takes us seriously, and who knows how weak we are. God knows that we could never keep up our end of the covenant, with Him, and He knows, that we need Jesus, to do it for us. So, He sent Him. Isaiah's prophetic vision, sweeps across the history of salvation. He is able to see it all, because the great Highway is straight and true. And, through his words, we can see it too------We can see God, through the the Lord Jesus, as He restores the ruins, that sin has made out of us. We can see, how He sets us free, from our self-imposed prisons and how He leads us forward, into a new way of life, where He cares for us, moment by moment and provides for us fully, and overcomes, even the slightest obstacle. And, we can see, that His salvation, gathers in the Jews, as well as multitudes of people, from all over the world, and we can rejoice, as we see history rush, toward the the great day of the Lord, when all people will serve Him together.
II. Water in the Desert
God has promised, that there will come a day, when their will be water in the desert, in places, physically, where there has never been before. This hasn't happened in it fullness yet, even though, in the 64 years, of Israel's modern existence, incredible advances have been achieved. And even though they have done wonderful things-----all their efforts have still been man-made achievements------it has been the result of sheer hard work and human diligence, and technology. God hasn't yet, miraculously created rivers and forests, in places where there is no water. But, one day He will------and the entire world will see, that it's His hand alone, that has brought it to pass------When cedars and acacias, myrtles, olives, pines, firs and boxwoods, are made to flourish, in the dry desert and pools of water lie in places that were dry and barren, it will be obvious to everybody, that God has been at work. We will see this happen when the Millennial Kingdom is put into place.
And in a spiritual sense-------our hearts and lives are dry, parched deserts. And God, has already provided the life-giving water that can satisfy our souls. He presents Himself to us as our abundant refreshment, through the sacrifice of Jesus. In John 7:37-38, Jesus said, " If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'out of the heart will flow rivers of living water.'" God's ultimate purpose in lavishing Himself upon us so richly, is so, that He will receive the glory and we will receive His mercy. God is not someone that we need to dread, in His sovereignty---He is the one, that we need to open our hearts up to and be satisfied. In the scripture-------water being poured out----is a symbol of the overflowing, life-giving, abundance of the Holy Spirit. When thirsty people, "seek water", in prayer-------God will answer them, with the only answer, in the universe, that makes sense------He gives us Himself, immediately and fully. And even though He doesn't always do it in the way that we want, or the way that we understand------He always does it, in the way that we need.
God promises us water and He doesn't promise it as a morning dew or as a light sprinkling------- He promises us pools and rivers and springs and fountains, of water. We need that much of God; and we can have that much of God! And by refreshing us, God increases the vision of his own glory. The outflowing of His grace, opens people's minds, to see, know, consider and understand, just how good, God really is. As He pours out His refreshment from heaven we are able to serve His purpose, by enjoying His abundant goodness, in the sight of the nations. That's why we should seek His outpouring and embrace the fullness of it. We can experience God and all that He has to offer, through the Holy Spirit. What a blessing! The most convincing witness, of the reality of God, in the truth-denying and truth-killing world, that we live in, is not the brilliance of man------it is the presence of God, who lives in our midst, in the person of the Holy Spirit. We can stake the quenching of our thirst, the enrichment of our lives and our eternal survival on Him.
We need to believe in the God of the scripture------we need to think of Him, treat Him and pray to Him, based on who He has revealed Himself to be, through the scripture, through Jesus and through the Holy Spirit. We need to believe that the life-giving waters of the Spirit, can fill us up to overflow and that we can trust Him to uphold us and to strengthen us and to guide us and to comfort us and to teach us and to refresh us. We need to believe that He can make us invincible to the world and to the enemy. We don't have to ever believe the lies that they sling at us. We have to learn to give up on ourselves and to delight in the Lord and to recognize that He is all we need.
God is a life-giver----- If He touched Abraham and Sarah, as old and barren, as they were and was able to give them a child-----who was the beginning of a mighty nation, who was called to bless the world------why in the world, do we have so little faith, that we wind up forgetting, that He can bring something new to you and me? If we have the faith of Abraham, not the adequacy of it, but the same need of it, matched with his openness and his willingness to trust God, then the Lord will count it to us as righteousness, just like He did for Abraham and He will make our weakness, a strength. What God did for Abraham was not a solitary thing--it was the same as what He did for Moses------ it's His pattern. Romans 4:17 says that "God gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist." God will turn our waste places, into the Garden of Eden-----the water He pours out, will make those places, lush and green and alive. (Leonardo Da Vinci was at work for a long period of time on a great masterpiece. He had labored long to create the work of art, and it was near completion. Standing near him, was a young student, who spent much of his time with his mouth open, amazed at the the master with the brush. Just before finishing the painting, Da Vinci turned to the young student and gave him the brush and said, "Now, you finish it!" The student protested and backed away, but Da Vinci said, "Will not what I have done, inspire you, to do your best.") We, are the students of God, and He gives us everything we need, to be the best of what He desires for us to be.
III. The Holy Spirit
This passage 44:1-5, in many ways, is similar to all the other references in this book, that promise future blessing to Israel. It describes refreshment, health and prosperity, plus the promise of spiritual enlightenment.
It also speaks to us believers, who are already enlightened. God, through Isaiah, has gone out of His way to reassure us of His promised blessings. He has made us; He has formed us and He will help us. And it is all because of His grace! God doesn't want us to be insecure with Him. His remedy, for our abuse of His grace, is to lavish us with more grace. We can't demand anything from God because our sins discredit us and free God from all obligation to us. But, God, in His grace and in His goodness, doesn't quit on us. He just pours more of Himself out on us. After Adam and Eve had sinned in the garden, they hid, they didn't' go to God and confess their disobedience-----God came down to them. That's God's way----He comes down and makes His presence known to us. He seeks us out------He extends the hand of reconciliation and restoration to us--He always has and He always will. He pours Himself out with such generosity that we become a people who are saturated with God. We are so privileged to live, now, during the era, within His great plan for history, when the Holy Spirit is being poured out. 2000 years ago, on the Day of Pentecost, God unleashed the mighty river of the Holy Spirit upon a guilty world. And He has continued to pour out His spirit in wave after wave, of His unstinting grace. Sometimes, the tide of the spirit may ebb, but then, just when we need Him the most, God will cause Him to surge, and we will be revived and filled up, with His presence, to the overflow. God didn't send the Spirit just to make our church service fun------although there is no greater joy, than a church flooded with the Spirit------He sent the Spirit, to make us holy. He has already begun the new heaven and the new earth here among us. Hebrews 6:5 says that, "We have tasted the powers of the age to come." What greater gift could God give us----the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom-come, in out hearts, right now. "We need to live, so that other people can see a reason not to die." Under the influence of the Spirit------we can't sit and do nothing ----we have to go where God is working and serve any way that He calls us to. (The story is told of a man who prayed to God to bring new hope and new life to him after the death of his wife. He agonized in prayer and devoted himself to Bible Study and sought every way that He knew how, to get peace and direction for his life. He had almost given up when he was invited to a grief share program at his church. There he found a lot of people who were experiencing some of the same raw emotions of sorrow and loss that he was. He made him feel better to know that he wasn't alone. Then God surprised him--the man's employer began a series of mission trips to Kenya. He went on the very first one and discovered a new involvement in God's work and realized that God, could still use him to minister to others and lead them to know Him as their Savior. Then God surprised him again. He led him closer and closer to another member of the grief-share group, until it led to a new marriage commitment. This one had a 10 year old daughter attached to it. Through a new wife, a new daughter and a new mission field-------God had brought the man back to life.)
IV. Mother Zion
The test of the church's faith is not just the reading of and the obedience to, the scripture------ but it is also, the gladness that can be found in it's worship. The Gospel demands a carefree spirit. If we aren't going to hell anymore; and we stand to inherit every blessing that Almighty God can think of; and if nothing can stand in the way of our relationship with God, because of our salvation------then why in the world, are we not a joyous group of people, who sing all the time. In this passage--54:1-17 God uses 3 common images to portray the miracle of God's grace: a barren woman; an unfaithful wife being restored to her husband and a beautiful city.
Few words, in the English language, could be more important for an understanding of the Gospel, than the word surprise.
In the 1st image He brings barrenness and joy together-----much to our surprise. In Isaiah's culture, infertility marked a woman with shame. Isaiah sees the people of God as barren woman with nothing to be happy about. They had been given the opportunity to take God's message to the world, and they had rejected the opportunity. They were distraught and it was their own fault. But God invited the desolate woman to sing for joy-------which, in the eyes of the world, would seem to be a cruel thing. But He isn't rubbing it in, He is trying to get her to switch her capability for happiness, from herself to the Servant of the Lord. God want us all, to realize, that our failure to accomplish things in our own strength is real, but that our joy shouldn't die because of it. Jesus died so that we could have joy, no matter what our circumstance are-----because joy is knowing, that nothing can separate us from the the love of God, that we have in Christ Jesus. In Galations 4:21-31----Paul quotes Isaiah, in trying to explain, exactly what this means to believers. There are 2 ways that we can serve God:
1.) to draw on the energy of our own good intentions. or
2.) to rely on God's power, acting in our weakness.
Our virtue can look good, feel good, act good and talk good. But it is sterile-----it's empty---there is no power. The power of the Holy Spirit will make us fruitful and He will make us hum with power. The Gospel announces that Jesus took our failure to the cross, where the shame of it died, once and for all, forever. And He sent us His Spirit so that we will thrive forever. Isaiah was able to see God's grace spreading to the ends of the earth and He is telling us that we are barren, but that it doesn't matter anymore and that we can live in expectancy, because God's plan for His people, is more and more blessing. Real joy flows from our surprise and relief that Jesus is, what we have, sadly,failed to be. We are this barren woman and we, just like the Jews, have nothing to be proud of. But, thanks to the Lord Jesus, we don't have to hang our heads in shame, we can throw our heads back and laugh with delight, as God uses His own power, to multiply our spiritual family, beyond measure. We have to look with honesty, at our tired ideals, that never amount to very much and reject them. And then, we have to look to God's magnificent power, working for His greater glory and our richer joy and the salvation of the nations-----and we need to embrace Him. The human race is a created entity----so we aren't the ones, thank goodness, who have to save the world. God, is the Savior of the world and He is the giver of life-----and the barren woman can thrive, because the Spirit, gives her joy------because her joy is In Him, not in her circumstances.
The 2nd image of miraculous grace, is one of an unfaithful wife, who is reconciled to her husband. The amazing thing about this image is what the text doesn't say-----"the faithful city had sunk to the level of prostitution. Israel had prostituted themselves in defiance, against her husband, God. But, He, in His grace and love and mercy, looked beyond His people's guilt. In this passage, He doesn't even talk about it. He didn't emphasize His own offended honor------He expressed deep sympathy for Israel's wounded feelings. God said that He was angry and that He had a right to be, but that His anger had been assuaged, because His Servant had taken all of the unfaithful wife's guilt, away. The slate was wiped totally clean and the wife would forget all of her heartache under the deluge of God's everlasting love. The gospel is not "He loves me, He loves me not, depending on our own loveliness or goodness." The Gospel is the grace of God, a new covenant of peace with God, that brings a permanent wholeness, that we don't deserve. That's why we can enjoy God's grace without fearing that He's going to take it back. We didn't cause the grace to begin with, so we can't do anything to cause God to take it back. God's anger is real, but it will pass; God's love is real, but it will last, forever. (verse 5 also gives great comfort to widows--woman who have been forsaken by their husband because of death or because of divorce----God will come to them and be their husbands---He will do everything a bridegroom does----He will love, protect, support, comfort and provide for her---she won't feel alone anymore.)
And the 3rd image, of God's miraculous grace, is a literal place---it's a city that gleams, with brilliant jewels; a city so lavish, in its beauty, that our finite minds, cannot conceive of it. God has built the city and it is where He will live with His children forever. The resources for its dazzling appearance are endless. In this city, God will give us great material riches, but they won't matter to us at all because this city is also where He will give us great wisdom, in the place of our spiritual poverty and it is where He will give us complete security, in the place of worldly turbulence; and where He will give us perfect comfort, in place of our pitiful despair. It is where God will be our protector and our provider and our defender. And it is where He, will provide, endless peace for His children. This is the heritage of the servant of the Lord and His followers, and we should enjoy the blessing of it, even more, because its a gift that we don't deserve.
Augustine said ,"We count on God's mercy for our past mistakes; on God's love for our present needs; on God's sovereignty for our future." and He never disappoints us!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
JOY "The Servant II" February 16
February 16, 2011
The Servant 2
Isaiah 52:13- 53:12
I The Shocking Servant 52: 13-15
II The Sorrowing and Smitten Servant 53: 1-6
III The Silent Servant 53: 7-9
IV The Satisfied Servant 53: 10-12
(Ernest Gordon tells a story, in the book, Miracle on the River Kwai, about Scottish soldiers, who were forced by their Japanese captors, to labor, on a jungle railroad. Under the strain of captivity, they had degenerated into hateful, even barbaric, behavior, toward each other, and then, one afternoon, something happened, that changed everything.
At the end of the day, it was the job of the Japanese officer, in charge, to count all the pieces of equipment, to cut down on any ideas of mutiny. That day, his count showed that a shovel was missing. He became enraged and demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill every one of the prisoners, on the spot. It was very obvious that the officer meant what he said! As fear and anger, swirled in the air, around them, one man finally stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them, to do a 2nd tool check. That time, they discovered that no shovel was missing----there had been a miscount, the first time.
The word spread, like wildfire, through the whole camp. An innocent man, had been willing to give up his own life, so that no one else would have to. He was willing to sacrifice himself, in order to save, all of the others. The incident had a profound effect…..the men in the camp, began to treat each other like they were brothers.
When the victorious allies swept in, the survivors, who were, by that time, walking skeletons, lined up in front of their captors and instead of attacking them or even lashing out at them------they looked at them, with pity and compassion, and forgave them. Then they turned and walked away, with their rescuers, into the rest of their lives.)
Jesus took it upon Himself, to be the suffering servant, and He went all the way to the cross, to save the life, of any person who would believe in Him and the power of His sacrifice. By the time that He got to the cross, Isaiah tells us, that He was so scarred and ugly that His appearance was beyond appalling. And Isaiah also tells us, that in the end, Jesus will be exalted above all people and that every knee will bend and every tongue will confess His glory!
To the Roman authorities and to the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus was an insignificant and rejected rabble-rouser. To us, on this side of the cross, He is our, ever-present, Risen Savior and Lord. As the Suffering Servant, He knew human sorrow and physical pain. But His suffering had a purpose, because He bore the punishment for our sins, so that He could be the peacemaker between God and us. Every one of us has strayed from our shepherd, like sheep tend to do----but God has placed the punishment for our straying, on Jesus, and He endured it all, without any complaint. He accepted and yielded Himself, to the death penalty, even though He was totally innocent. Everything that Jesus went through, was all a part of the fulfillment of God's plan, to restore us to Himself, as His children.
The death of Jesus, as the substitute, for us, exhibits the love of the cross, more richly and more fully, more gloriously and more glowingly, than any other account of it. Martin Luther saw this and gloried in it. He wrote this to a friend, "Learn to know Christ and Him crucified. Learn to sing to Him and say, "Lord Jesus, You are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours.You become what you are not, so that I might become what I was not."
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is one of the best known and most loved Messianic passages in the Bible and, it is the climax, of the Book of Isaiah. It is a call for all believers, to be a testimony, to the wonderful love, of the Lord Jesus and to the mind-boggling, generosity and power of God. It is a God-ordained challenge, to the Jews 1st, and then to the church, to proclaim the marvelous good news of the death, burial and resurrection of our Savior. And at the same time, it boldly invites all believers, to take up the cross of Jesus, in the world that we live in, and to be the suffering servant's representative, ready to sacrifice, whatever He calls us to, for the salvation of our generation.
I. The Shocking Servant: 52: 13-15
We know that in this passage of scripture that Isaiah is describing Jesus and we know that His mission into the world succeeded. We know that Jesus is highly exalted, because He was commissioned and qualified by God. Jesus knew just what to do, to achieve His purpose, and it worked. He did rise from the dead and and He was lifted up to the right hand of the Father and He does reign on high, with all power and authority, and He is coming again to dwell with us forever. Jesus, as the suffering servant is not to be pitied, He is to be worshiped. But the truth is, worship isn't generally, people's first reaction, to the cross. (when mary Kathryn and Griff were little. I think they were probably 4 and 5. It was Easter time and we were coming home from church talking about Jesus hanging on the cross. Griff said, "Mama, I would love to have seen Jesus hanging on that cross." and Mary Kathryn said, with all of her 5 year old wisdom, "Oh honey, you wouldn't have, it would have been so sad."----Griff was curious and drawn to it and Mary Kathryn was sad and uncomfortable with it.)
When we read this passage, about what theologians call, the Passion of Christ, the 1st thing that we notice about it, is the sheer horror of it. Jesus was beaten so badly and His body was abused, so beyond brutality, that people, seeing Him, would not have asked, "Is this the Promised Messiah?" they would have asked, "Is this even a human being?" But Isaiah want us to understand, with our hearts and our minds, that there was a direct correlation between the depth of Jesus' physical repulsiveness and the depth of His effectiveness, to purify us. His extreme power to cleanse us was measured by His extreme suffering.
The Holy Spirit prompted Isaiah to write with such graphic detail, about Jesus' visible, physical abuse, that it had to be an accurate account----- and Psalm 22 says "that people were so appalled at His appearance, that they turned their faces away." and Matt. Mark, Luke and John all indicate, that most of Jesus injuries, were inflicted on Him, by the priests and the scribes. They all say, that He was slapped and spit on and beaten around the face before, He was flogged, by the Roman soldiers and crowned with the crown of thorns. All of His legal and His human rights were taken away from Him, by the religious authorities, the very people, who should have recognized Him, for who He was.
It's unbelievable to think, that men who were appointed, to lead the people in worship and to teach them about God, would stoop to such barbaric cruelty, against any human being, much less the Son of God. The scripture says, that the Lord's injuries were so grave that He was physically marred, beyond recognition. One thing is certain, by the time that Jesus was nailed to the cross, He was in an unspeakable physical condition. This fact, emphasizes the miracle, of His resurrection. Any human being, subjected to such physical abuse, crucified, drained of blood and then laid, in an unheated tomb for 3 days, would not have been fit to stand, much less walk around and take command of situations, like Jesus did, after His resurrection.
The word "sprinkle" in this passage, is taken from a Hebrew word which means "to astonish." So this actually means, "As ,many as were astonished by Him, so shall He astonish many nations." This is a hard concept to understand, but theologians believe that Isaiah is referring to the rite of purification, under the Mosaic Law. The priests would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the altar and on the sacred vessels, as a symbol of sanctification. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat, which symbolized, that Israel's sins, as a nation, had been forgiven and they were fit, for the presence of God, for the next year. Even the priests, themselves, had to be sprinkled with the "water of purification." And on an individual level, if a person had been cured of leprosy, a priest would sprinkle blood on Him, to show that His disease was washed away and that he was healthy and fit, to be accepted back into the community. That's what Jesus has done-----He has sprinkled His blood on multitudes, of moral lepers and made them fit to be accepted, into the presence of God, and into His family. Jesus is both our sacrifice and our High Priest-------He didn't need to be cleansed--------His blood was already pure enough and lavish enough, to atone for the sin of the world, once and for all.
Isaiah prophesied, that there would come a day, when salvation would be established forever, and when the kings and the religious authorities, of this world, who have led and who will lead, the assault against Jesus, will have their mouths shut, forever.
Sometimes when I read certain books and when I watch creative movies, I can't help but marvel, at the intellect of a person's mind and their imagination. But human imagination, as wonderful as it is, could never have come up with the solution that God did, to take away our guilt. That Jesus would judge our wicked hearts, by bearing our our sin Himself, is beyond comprehension. Even we, who love the Gospel, struggle, to grasp an understanding, of the reality of it. It is a mystery to us, that this was part of the "joy set before Him", that He wanted to cleanse the very ones, who dehumanized Him and caused Him, so much anguish and pain. His suffering is our blessing! That kind of love, fills us with speechless wonder.
Many people have been tortured and killed in inhumane ways, and knowing about their suffering, arouses our sympathy and moves us to compassion------but just knowing about their suffering, doesn't change our hearts and make us new people. But Jesus' suffering and death, was a moment in time, that changed the hearts of mankind, for all eternity. The gospel message is not just "Christ lived and then He died"-----that would only be an historical fact, like "George Washington lived and he died". The Gospel message is , "Christ lived, to show us the way and then He died for our sins, so that we could walk the way." You and I are as guilty of Jesus' death as Annas and Caiphas and Herod Antipas and Pilate. We plucked out Jesus beard and slapped His face and spit on Him and beat Him on the head and flogged and ridiculed Him and nailed Him to that cross,every bit as much, as they did. People are astonished when they finally understand the message of the Gospel and the beauty of the ugly brokenness of Jesus's body-----but the truth is, we can't rejoice in the good news of salvation, unless we first face, the bad news, of condemnation. Jesus didn't suffer and die because He was guilty, He suffered and died because we were guilty. ( I will never forget when I visited Rome and walked into St. Peter's Basilica, in Vatican City and burst into tears, when I saw Michalangelos's Pieta-------the sculpture of Jesus after He was taken down off the cross and was being held all broken and pitiful, in His mother's arms and Nicodemas was standing behind them. I remember being so moved by the sorrow, in the eyes of Nicodemas, and then, I remember that I almost couldn't breathe, when I realized that the face of Nicodemas was Michalangelo's own self-portrait------it made me sob. Dale cried too; we couldn't help it. There is no doubt, in my mind, that Michalangelo knew that His sin, had beaten Jesus' body and placed Him on the cross, and it brought me face to face, with the fact, that mine had too.)
II. The Sorrowing and Smitten Servant 53:1-6
The nations respond to the Suffering Servant with silence. There are no words, in the human language, that can express the depth of what we feel, when the Gospel becomes real to us. Even the people closest to Jesus had no words. They walked and talked with Him; they knew Him personally, they shared food and shelter and tears and laughter and many long conversations and still there were no words. There were a lot of people, who knew Him, as the man in their neighborhood, who made His living as a carpenter, but was, a gifted teacher of the scripture and could even perform incredible, miraculous healings. He grew up, in the full light of God's glory, but He was a mystery to those around Him.
Knowing about Him, though, didn't make belief in Him, as God's son, the Messiah, a reality. We can't really understand the enormity of it-----we just have to accept it and believe it. It took faith to see the glory of God in Jesus, of Nazareth. It still does!
"The arm of the Lord" is a phrase that carries a double meaning. It refers to God's sovereign power and it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, because He came to the earth, specifically, to carry out the Father's will.
1.) God's sovereign power----God's arm of power flies in low, under, the defensive radar,of our human prejudices and self-glory, and stirs our hearts. It wakes them up and gives us, a true glimmer, of the glory of Jesus. We can't believe the truth of the Gospel, without God's help. Because, we are so much more shallow and superficial, than we believe ourselves to be, we look on the surface of things. We, unfortunately, judge by appearances, and God, thank goodness, looks under the surface, at our hearts. He, with His strong arm of power, through the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit, prompts us to believe with our hearts, what, we could never believe with our eyes.
2.) The Lord Jesus Christ----In sending Jesus, God was stretching out His arm of power, to give us salvation. Jesus grew up before the Father, like a tender plant----He was like a root coming up, out of dry ground. From the moment of His birth, Jesus walked in the full gaze of the Father. God watched Him grow through childhood into manhood and He liked, so much, what He saw, that when Jesus began His earthly ministry------the heavens opened up, and everybody at His baptism, heard the voice of God say, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." God was so absolutely sure, of the Lord's perfect progress and ultimate victory, in His mission, that the words, that He had Isaiah speak, concerning Jesus, were in the past and the present tense, even though 7 centuries still remained till His birth.
As a child, the Lord Jesus was as tender as any baby is. He was dependent on His mother for everything. At her knee, He learned how to crawl and walk and to feed Himself. From both of His parents, He learned about life, and behavior, and manners and God. He played with His brothers and sisters----- and because He was their oldest----- I am sure, that there were times, when He had to babysit.
He was also like a root, springing up from a dry, infertile ground, because He came from such an unlikely location. He was born into poverty. He was descended from a line of royal people who had lost their royal status many years before. The whole area was a conquered jurisdiction, under Roman rule. Nobody would have expected the Savior of the world, to spring from a peasant family, from Nazareth. And Nazareth, itself, didn't have a good reputation. It was a post for Roman soldiers, with all the problems that would be associated with military towns. But God knew who Jesus was-----He knew that He was the root of Jesse---the descendant of King David and He knew that Jesus would be a tender plant, of blessing and beauty, and grace; and that He would grow up, out of the dry ground, of complacent and disbelieving Israel, specifically, and of wicked humanity, in general. To God, the Father, Jesus was precious beyond words--------but to unbelieving people, He had no form, no comeliness and no beauty. And, it didn't have a lot to do with the way He physically looked-----it had everything to do with His character.
For the most part, people couldn't see His moral beauty---because they didn't want to. We still don't want to. We don't like it, when people show us the error of our ways, by their moral behavior or by their pointing it out to us, in scripture----it makes us uncomfortable----so we do everything we can, to make ourselves feel better, by tearing them down. (A typical American family was driving home from church. Dad was fussing about the sermon being too long and sort of boring. Mom said she thought the organist played a little too loud during the second hymn that we sang. Sis, who was a music major, in college, said that the soloist sang about half a note off key during most of the song. Grandma said that she couldn't hear very well-----they were sitting in a bad place. Little Willie listened to all of this and started to fuss about the lady in the big hat who had sat in front of him, keeping him from seeing anything-------but intend, he leaned up and nudged his dad in the back of the neck and said, "But Dad, you gotta admit, it sure was a good show-----and you only had to give em a nickel.")
The Bible is silent, about what Jesus actually, looked like. But from what it does say about Him, I don't think He was physically ugly, at all. We know that He was a carpenter-----so He must have broad shoulders and fairly large muscles, because of all the lifting and heavy labor that He would have done. Luke 2:52 says that, "He grew in stature with God and man." And, we know that when He started His ministry, that crowds flocked to Him, to hear His sermons and to see and experience His miracles. So, there must have been something, physically attractive about Him, because, people are shallow and they are rarely drawn to ugly people.
But, people of lowly birth tend to be invisible to the ruling classes. So it wouldn't have really mattered what He looked like.
Great leaders are frequently affluent and blessed with useful connections. There is a usually a certain amount of pomp and flair associated with their rise to public notice. Jesus didn't have anything, of material worth, to recommend Him and He didn't know anybody of note, who could sponsor Him.
He grew up in obscurity, and it wasn't until He began to heal the sick and to speak our publicly, that anybody even really noticed Him.
Men looked at Jesus with scorn and distain, because His teaching interfered, with the lives that they loved to live. That's when men began to turn away from Him. (Isaiah 53:3) says, "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not." It got to the point ,that it didn't matter how many miracles He could perform or how many gracious words that He could speak--------people only treated Him with derision and rejection. And because He was suffering in our place, He endured it all patiently. The Jewish leaders, as a whole, just could not acknowledge, that a man of such humble origin, could really support the claims, that He made about Himself-----they must have thought and discussed among themselves, "God's son, yeah right!" They ignored, the clear evidence in the scripture, of His identity, and they let prejudice overcome their logic.
It's normal for us to think that Jesus was smitten by men-------because------it was men who beat Him and spat at Him and plucked out His beard. It was men who nailed Him to the cross and mocked Him while He hung there--but the reality is, that it was actually God who did the smiting. God always knew, that the penalty for sin would only be able to be paid for, in the way that it was. He always knew that Jesus had been born, so that He could die, in our place.
Often, the physical agony of crucifixion is stressed. I could give you detailed, medical explanations, of what took place inside the Lord's body---- and it was terrible, horrific even---------but His physical suffering was nothing, compared to the spiritual suffering, that He endured. The Lord's physical suffering is not what redeemed us------we were redeemed, when God laid the sins of the world on Jesus and Jesus accepted them, in our place. The spiritual sacrifice that He made for us, was far more costly, than any physical pain, could ever be. The cup, that Jesus dreaded in the Garden of Gethsemane, was the indescribable cup, of substitution. For a few brief moments, Jesus became pure and unadulterated sin-----and when that happened, God, who cannot be where sin is, left Him. They had never been apart-----God had always been with Jesus, every moment of every day------so the agony, of being separated from His heavenly Father, was almost more than He could bear and He cried out, "My God, MY God, why have you forsaken me!" (Matt. 27:46) But God never gives us more than we can stand, and it was in that moment, that the cup was drained to the dregs, and the sacrifice was complete. It was entirely for us that Jesus suffered. We were guilty, but He took our place. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And His stripes, are what have purchased our healing.
Isaiah writes like we were at the cross, because we were. It was our guilt that required Jesus' death. (Rembrandt, like Michalangelo, knew who had taken His place on the cross------in his painting, "The Raising of the Cross", Rembrandt painted himself into the picture as one of the men, crucifying Jesus.) Isaiah did the same thing with a pen and piece of paper. He didn't just tell the story of Jesus, He told our story too. Where would we have been, that day? Would we have been cowering in an upper room, somewhere? Would we have been celebrating, with our fellow conspirators, for having averted a crisis? Would we have stood in the street yelling crucify Him? Would we have nailed the nails into His hands and feet? Would we have turned away and hung our heads in shame? Would have kneeled at His feet, and stayed with Him to the end, and then begged for His body, so that we could bury Him?
Jesus was a man of sorrows, but they weren't His sorrows. He didn't deserve them-----they were ours. In a way, that we don't understand, Jesus became our substitute. God shifted our blame onto Jesus. And Jesus willingly received it. Guilt has to be paid for. It can't be swept under the rug. We know that, just from our own life experiences. When we, or our property, are injured, even in a fender bender, someone has to answer for it, either us, or the other person. The damage and the cost don't just go away. If its going to be put right, then someone has to pay for it. That's the way it is with God------there is no way that He can turn a blind eye to the evil that is damaging His world. God confronted man's wickedness, by paying our debt Himself. He knew what it would take, to satisfy it and He did what it took. He charged the infinite weight of our debt to Jesus, and Jesus willingly, embraced it. (I have a friend who grew up with a preacher, for a daddy, who was a very wise man. When she was a little girl, probably about 5, she misbehaved in church. When the service was over and the family got into the car, her daddy told her, that she was going to get a spanking when she got home. Sure enough, when they got inside the house, he told her to follow him to the back bedroom. The whole way down the hall, she was begging him not to be spanked, "Please daddy, please daddy, no." When they got to the bedroom, he took his belt off-------and handed it to her and said, "I'm not going to spank you for your misbehavior, you're going to spank me, I'm going to take your place." This broke the little girl's heart as she said, "daddy, I can't"---- and then----- he told her the story, about another Father and His child and their love for each other and their love, for each one of us.")
The blood of Jesus, is flowing out to sinners of all kinds------taking from them, their guilt, their shame, their loss, their tears and their despair-------and He is giving them (us) a whole new life. Jesus is saying to each of us, right now, "I don't want you to bear your burden one minute longer------I want my bruising to give you peace-------I want my stripes to heal you." Sin is serious--we're all like dumb sheep, who wander away from our shepherd, through our own self-centered and self-righteous excuses. Isaiah calls it transgressions, which means rebellion against God, which is daring to cross the line that God has drawn. He also calls it iniquity, which refers to our sinful nature. In other words, we are sinners by choice and by nature. Like sheep, we are born with a nature, that prompts us to go astray and like sheep, we foolishly decide to go our own way. This means that by nature, we are born children, of sin and by choice, we become children, of disobedience. But we can take hope, because John 10:1-18 tells us that "under the law of Moses, the sheep died for the shepherd, but that under grace, the good shepherd died for the sheep." It reminds me of the song, "Amazing love, how can it be, that thou my God, wouldst die for me…"
III. The Silent Servant 53:7-9
Jesus never complained and He never asked for mercy. Not did He threaten His tormentors or seek to escape. One of the most difficult things for us to bear, is false accusation. The desire to defend ourselves and to lash out at the accuser, is intense. We read in Matt. 26, that the chief priests, used false witnesses to accuse Jesus, but Jesus didn't justify their accusations, by engaging in rebuttals with them. He didn't' have anything to prove to the men who hated Him, and God already had a perfect knowledge of His innocence. The death of Jesus was a miscarriage of human justice, but it was also, our Lord's, clearheaded, choice. He wasn't caught in a web of events, beyond His control. He willingly laid His life down. Isaiah compared Jesus to a lamb being led to the slaughter, who is silent in front of its shearers. Jesus' death, didn't mean that He yielded to weakness, it meant that He exercised deliberate control. He was not overpowered; He chose not to fight back. Whatever came His way, from men or God; He received it, without any protest. In both His actions and His words, He died entirely in innocence, and the final indignity, was, that He was buried, not alongside martyrs and saints, but with the wicked rich.
He was illegally tried and condemned to death. In today's courts, a person can be found guilty of terrible crimes, but if it can be proven that something in the trial, was illegal, the case has to be tried again. Everything about Jesus' trial, from start to finish, was illegal, but Jesus don't get a 2nd trial. Since Jesus was crucified with criminals, as a criminal, it would have been logical for His dead body to be left unburied. That was the usual way of things, but in the Jesus' case, God had other plans. The burial of Jesus Christ is as much a part of the Gospel as His death and resurrection. His burial, is proof that He actually died. The Roman authorities would never have released His body to Nicodemas and Joseph of Arimathea, if Jesus hadn't been dead.
Jesus had done no violence and there was no question of any deceit in Him. He was perfect and totally beyond reproach. But because God so loved the world, He was pleased to bruise Jesus, for the world. God wasn't pleased, in the sense, that offering up Jesus, gave Him pleasure. It just means that it pleased Him, because it was in accordance, with His will, for Jesus' sufferings, to provide the way of salvation, for a guilty world. (Charles Swindoll says that,
"If our greatest need had been information; God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology; God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money; God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure; God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness; so God sent us a Savior."
IV. The Satisfied Servant 53:10-12
Jesus conquered sin and was satisfied because He had done His job well. He wasn't embittered by it, because He knew it was God's will and that it was the only way. He didn't hang from His cross, screaming curses at His jailers, and He didn't blaspheme God, the way other victims did. This is the mystery of the cross. Not only did He offer His body for sacrifice, but even ,more importantly, he offered His soul. All the animal sacrifices in the OT, had pointed forward to this one moment, when Jesus would sacrifice Himself, body, mind and spirit, once and for all, in my place, in your place and in the place, of every person, who has ever been born.
The cross was God's greatest victory ------Jesus achieved God's ancient purpose-------with His work, on the cross, Jesus has made the way for man to be at peace with God. The judge took the place of the criminal and fulfilled, the just demand, of His own Holy law. And He is satisfied. And Isaiah says that the result for Him, is that "He will see His seed". We are His seed, in the sense, that we have been born again into God's family." To the Jews, to die childless caused great grief and shame------but Jesus didn't die childless---------because of His anguish, on the cross-----He has given birth to a spiritual family that can't be counted. His offspring is beyond manmade measurement. Isaiah 12 uses a military metaphor to describe this------he says that Jesus will divide the spoils of His victory with us, as His "strong partners, in God's saving plan." The world perceives the followers of Jesus as little more than a band of fugitive, losers-------it's sad, that the world can't see, that with Jesus, as our redeemer, that we aren't losers, that we are rich beyond measure---and that we possess, already, all the wonderful things of God, that are worth possessing.
According to Isaiah, Jesus will stand back, and look at His accomplished work and the result of God's saving plan and He will compare it to the price that He had to pay for it's success----and He will be satisfied.
(Hours behind the runner in front of him, the last marathoner finally entered the Olympic stadium. By that time, the drama of the day's events was almost over and most of the spectators had gone home. The athlete's story, however was still being played out.
Limping into the arena, the Tanzanian runner grimaced with every step, his knee bleeding and bandaged from an earlier fall. His ragged appearance immediately caught the attention of the remaining crowd, who cheered him on to the finish line.'
Why did he stay in the race? What made him endure his injuries to the end.? When asked the questions later, He replied, "My country did not send me 7000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7000 miles to finish the race. And I am satisfied."(Quote Magazine, July 1991)
Right now, today, all over the world, Jesus is enjoying the satisfaction, the sheer pleasure, of bringing many lost and ungodly people into righteousness. He is actively, saving guilty people and He is treating transgressors, like they are His friends and He is sharing His victory, with His former enemies. He is making intercession, with the Father, for the very ones, who nailed Him to the cross. And He is satisfied!
The Servant 2
Isaiah 52:13- 53:12
I The Shocking Servant 52: 13-15
II The Sorrowing and Smitten Servant 53: 1-6
III The Silent Servant 53: 7-9
IV The Satisfied Servant 53: 10-12
(Ernest Gordon tells a story, in the book, Miracle on the River Kwai, about Scottish soldiers, who were forced by their Japanese captors, to labor, on a jungle railroad. Under the strain of captivity, they had degenerated into hateful, even barbaric, behavior, toward each other, and then, one afternoon, something happened, that changed everything.
At the end of the day, it was the job of the Japanese officer, in charge, to count all the pieces of equipment, to cut down on any ideas of mutiny. That day, his count showed that a shovel was missing. He became enraged and demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill every one of the prisoners, on the spot. It was very obvious that the officer meant what he said! As fear and anger, swirled in the air, around them, one man finally stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them, to do a 2nd tool check. That time, they discovered that no shovel was missing----there had been a miscount, the first time.
The word spread, like wildfire, through the whole camp. An innocent man, had been willing to give up his own life, so that no one else would have to. He was willing to sacrifice himself, in order to save, all of the others. The incident had a profound effect…..the men in the camp, began to treat each other like they were brothers.
When the victorious allies swept in, the survivors, who were, by that time, walking skeletons, lined up in front of their captors and instead of attacking them or even lashing out at them------they looked at them, with pity and compassion, and forgave them. Then they turned and walked away, with their rescuers, into the rest of their lives.)
Jesus took it upon Himself, to be the suffering servant, and He went all the way to the cross, to save the life, of any person who would believe in Him and the power of His sacrifice. By the time that He got to the cross, Isaiah tells us, that He was so scarred and ugly that His appearance was beyond appalling. And Isaiah also tells us, that in the end, Jesus will be exalted above all people and that every knee will bend and every tongue will confess His glory!
To the Roman authorities and to the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus was an insignificant and rejected rabble-rouser. To us, on this side of the cross, He is our, ever-present, Risen Savior and Lord. As the Suffering Servant, He knew human sorrow and physical pain. But His suffering had a purpose, because He bore the punishment for our sins, so that He could be the peacemaker between God and us. Every one of us has strayed from our shepherd, like sheep tend to do----but God has placed the punishment for our straying, on Jesus, and He endured it all, without any complaint. He accepted and yielded Himself, to the death penalty, even though He was totally innocent. Everything that Jesus went through, was all a part of the fulfillment of God's plan, to restore us to Himself, as His children.
The death of Jesus, as the substitute, for us, exhibits the love of the cross, more richly and more fully, more gloriously and more glowingly, than any other account of it. Martin Luther saw this and gloried in it. He wrote this to a friend, "Learn to know Christ and Him crucified. Learn to sing to Him and say, "Lord Jesus, You are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours.You become what you are not, so that I might become what I was not."
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is one of the best known and most loved Messianic passages in the Bible and, it is the climax, of the Book of Isaiah. It is a call for all believers, to be a testimony, to the wonderful love, of the Lord Jesus and to the mind-boggling, generosity and power of God. It is a God-ordained challenge, to the Jews 1st, and then to the church, to proclaim the marvelous good news of the death, burial and resurrection of our Savior. And at the same time, it boldly invites all believers, to take up the cross of Jesus, in the world that we live in, and to be the suffering servant's representative, ready to sacrifice, whatever He calls us to, for the salvation of our generation.
I. The Shocking Servant: 52: 13-15
We know that in this passage of scripture that Isaiah is describing Jesus and we know that His mission into the world succeeded. We know that Jesus is highly exalted, because He was commissioned and qualified by God. Jesus knew just what to do, to achieve His purpose, and it worked. He did rise from the dead and and He was lifted up to the right hand of the Father and He does reign on high, with all power and authority, and He is coming again to dwell with us forever. Jesus, as the suffering servant is not to be pitied, He is to be worshiped. But the truth is, worship isn't generally, people's first reaction, to the cross. (when mary Kathryn and Griff were little. I think they were probably 4 and 5. It was Easter time and we were coming home from church talking about Jesus hanging on the cross. Griff said, "Mama, I would love to have seen Jesus hanging on that cross." and Mary Kathryn said, with all of her 5 year old wisdom, "Oh honey, you wouldn't have, it would have been so sad."----Griff was curious and drawn to it and Mary Kathryn was sad and uncomfortable with it.)
When we read this passage, about what theologians call, the Passion of Christ, the 1st thing that we notice about it, is the sheer horror of it. Jesus was beaten so badly and His body was abused, so beyond brutality, that people, seeing Him, would not have asked, "Is this the Promised Messiah?" they would have asked, "Is this even a human being?" But Isaiah want us to understand, with our hearts and our minds, that there was a direct correlation between the depth of Jesus' physical repulsiveness and the depth of His effectiveness, to purify us. His extreme power to cleanse us was measured by His extreme suffering.
The Holy Spirit prompted Isaiah to write with such graphic detail, about Jesus' visible, physical abuse, that it had to be an accurate account----- and Psalm 22 says "that people were so appalled at His appearance, that they turned their faces away." and Matt. Mark, Luke and John all indicate, that most of Jesus injuries, were inflicted on Him, by the priests and the scribes. They all say, that He was slapped and spit on and beaten around the face before, He was flogged, by the Roman soldiers and crowned with the crown of thorns. All of His legal and His human rights were taken away from Him, by the religious authorities, the very people, who should have recognized Him, for who He was.
It's unbelievable to think, that men who were appointed, to lead the people in worship and to teach them about God, would stoop to such barbaric cruelty, against any human being, much less the Son of God. The scripture says, that the Lord's injuries were so grave that He was physically marred, beyond recognition. One thing is certain, by the time that Jesus was nailed to the cross, He was in an unspeakable physical condition. This fact, emphasizes the miracle, of His resurrection. Any human being, subjected to such physical abuse, crucified, drained of blood and then laid, in an unheated tomb for 3 days, would not have been fit to stand, much less walk around and take command of situations, like Jesus did, after His resurrection.
The word "sprinkle" in this passage, is taken from a Hebrew word which means "to astonish." So this actually means, "As ,many as were astonished by Him, so shall He astonish many nations." This is a hard concept to understand, but theologians believe that Isaiah is referring to the rite of purification, under the Mosaic Law. The priests would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the altar and on the sacred vessels, as a symbol of sanctification. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat, which symbolized, that Israel's sins, as a nation, had been forgiven and they were fit, for the presence of God, for the next year. Even the priests, themselves, had to be sprinkled with the "water of purification." And on an individual level, if a person had been cured of leprosy, a priest would sprinkle blood on Him, to show that His disease was washed away and that he was healthy and fit, to be accepted back into the community. That's what Jesus has done-----He has sprinkled His blood on multitudes, of moral lepers and made them fit to be accepted, into the presence of God, and into His family. Jesus is both our sacrifice and our High Priest-------He didn't need to be cleansed--------His blood was already pure enough and lavish enough, to atone for the sin of the world, once and for all.
Isaiah prophesied, that there would come a day, when salvation would be established forever, and when the kings and the religious authorities, of this world, who have led and who will lead, the assault against Jesus, will have their mouths shut, forever.
Sometimes when I read certain books and when I watch creative movies, I can't help but marvel, at the intellect of a person's mind and their imagination. But human imagination, as wonderful as it is, could never have come up with the solution that God did, to take away our guilt. That Jesus would judge our wicked hearts, by bearing our our sin Himself, is beyond comprehension. Even we, who love the Gospel, struggle, to grasp an understanding, of the reality of it. It is a mystery to us, that this was part of the "joy set before Him", that He wanted to cleanse the very ones, who dehumanized Him and caused Him, so much anguish and pain. His suffering is our blessing! That kind of love, fills us with speechless wonder.
Many people have been tortured and killed in inhumane ways, and knowing about their suffering, arouses our sympathy and moves us to compassion------but just knowing about their suffering, doesn't change our hearts and make us new people. But Jesus' suffering and death, was a moment in time, that changed the hearts of mankind, for all eternity. The gospel message is not just "Christ lived and then He died"-----that would only be an historical fact, like "George Washington lived and he died". The Gospel message is , "Christ lived, to show us the way and then He died for our sins, so that we could walk the way." You and I are as guilty of Jesus' death as Annas and Caiphas and Herod Antipas and Pilate. We plucked out Jesus beard and slapped His face and spit on Him and beat Him on the head and flogged and ridiculed Him and nailed Him to that cross,every bit as much, as they did. People are astonished when they finally understand the message of the Gospel and the beauty of the ugly brokenness of Jesus's body-----but the truth is, we can't rejoice in the good news of salvation, unless we first face, the bad news, of condemnation. Jesus didn't suffer and die because He was guilty, He suffered and died because we were guilty. ( I will never forget when I visited Rome and walked into St. Peter's Basilica, in Vatican City and burst into tears, when I saw Michalangelos's Pieta-------the sculpture of Jesus after He was taken down off the cross and was being held all broken and pitiful, in His mother's arms and Nicodemas was standing behind them. I remember being so moved by the sorrow, in the eyes of Nicodemas, and then, I remember that I almost couldn't breathe, when I realized that the face of Nicodemas was Michalangelo's own self-portrait------it made me sob. Dale cried too; we couldn't help it. There is no doubt, in my mind, that Michalangelo knew that His sin, had beaten Jesus' body and placed Him on the cross, and it brought me face to face, with the fact, that mine had too.)
II. The Sorrowing and Smitten Servant 53:1-6
The nations respond to the Suffering Servant with silence. There are no words, in the human language, that can express the depth of what we feel, when the Gospel becomes real to us. Even the people closest to Jesus had no words. They walked and talked with Him; they knew Him personally, they shared food and shelter and tears and laughter and many long conversations and still there were no words. There were a lot of people, who knew Him, as the man in their neighborhood, who made His living as a carpenter, but was, a gifted teacher of the scripture and could even perform incredible, miraculous healings. He grew up, in the full light of God's glory, but He was a mystery to those around Him.
Knowing about Him, though, didn't make belief in Him, as God's son, the Messiah, a reality. We can't really understand the enormity of it-----we just have to accept it and believe it. It took faith to see the glory of God in Jesus, of Nazareth. It still does!
"The arm of the Lord" is a phrase that carries a double meaning. It refers to God's sovereign power and it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, because He came to the earth, specifically, to carry out the Father's will.
1.) God's sovereign power----God's arm of power flies in low, under, the defensive radar,of our human prejudices and self-glory, and stirs our hearts. It wakes them up and gives us, a true glimmer, of the glory of Jesus. We can't believe the truth of the Gospel, without God's help. Because, we are so much more shallow and superficial, than we believe ourselves to be, we look on the surface of things. We, unfortunately, judge by appearances, and God, thank goodness, looks under the surface, at our hearts. He, with His strong arm of power, through the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit, prompts us to believe with our hearts, what, we could never believe with our eyes.
2.) The Lord Jesus Christ----In sending Jesus, God was stretching out His arm of power, to give us salvation. Jesus grew up before the Father, like a tender plant----He was like a root coming up, out of dry ground. From the moment of His birth, Jesus walked in the full gaze of the Father. God watched Him grow through childhood into manhood and He liked, so much, what He saw, that when Jesus began His earthly ministry------the heavens opened up, and everybody at His baptism, heard the voice of God say, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." God was so absolutely sure, of the Lord's perfect progress and ultimate victory, in His mission, that the words, that He had Isaiah speak, concerning Jesus, were in the past and the present tense, even though 7 centuries still remained till His birth.
As a child, the Lord Jesus was as tender as any baby is. He was dependent on His mother for everything. At her knee, He learned how to crawl and walk and to feed Himself. From both of His parents, He learned about life, and behavior, and manners and God. He played with His brothers and sisters----- and because He was their oldest----- I am sure, that there were times, when He had to babysit.
He was also like a root, springing up from a dry, infertile ground, because He came from such an unlikely location. He was born into poverty. He was descended from a line of royal people who had lost their royal status many years before. The whole area was a conquered jurisdiction, under Roman rule. Nobody would have expected the Savior of the world, to spring from a peasant family, from Nazareth. And Nazareth, itself, didn't have a good reputation. It was a post for Roman soldiers, with all the problems that would be associated with military towns. But God knew who Jesus was-----He knew that He was the root of Jesse---the descendant of King David and He knew that Jesus would be a tender plant, of blessing and beauty, and grace; and that He would grow up, out of the dry ground, of complacent and disbelieving Israel, specifically, and of wicked humanity, in general. To God, the Father, Jesus was precious beyond words--------but to unbelieving people, He had no form, no comeliness and no beauty. And, it didn't have a lot to do with the way He physically looked-----it had everything to do with His character.
For the most part, people couldn't see His moral beauty---because they didn't want to. We still don't want to. We don't like it, when people show us the error of our ways, by their moral behavior or by their pointing it out to us, in scripture----it makes us uncomfortable----so we do everything we can, to make ourselves feel better, by tearing them down. (A typical American family was driving home from church. Dad was fussing about the sermon being too long and sort of boring. Mom said she thought the organist played a little too loud during the second hymn that we sang. Sis, who was a music major, in college, said that the soloist sang about half a note off key during most of the song. Grandma said that she couldn't hear very well-----they were sitting in a bad place. Little Willie listened to all of this and started to fuss about the lady in the big hat who had sat in front of him, keeping him from seeing anything-------but intend, he leaned up and nudged his dad in the back of the neck and said, "But Dad, you gotta admit, it sure was a good show-----and you only had to give em a nickel.")
The Bible is silent, about what Jesus actually, looked like. But from what it does say about Him, I don't think He was physically ugly, at all. We know that He was a carpenter-----so He must have broad shoulders and fairly large muscles, because of all the lifting and heavy labor that He would have done. Luke 2:52 says that, "He grew in stature with God and man." And, we know that when He started His ministry, that crowds flocked to Him, to hear His sermons and to see and experience His miracles. So, there must have been something, physically attractive about Him, because, people are shallow and they are rarely drawn to ugly people.
But, people of lowly birth tend to be invisible to the ruling classes. So it wouldn't have really mattered what He looked like.
Great leaders are frequently affluent and blessed with useful connections. There is a usually a certain amount of pomp and flair associated with their rise to public notice. Jesus didn't have anything, of material worth, to recommend Him and He didn't know anybody of note, who could sponsor Him.
He grew up in obscurity, and it wasn't until He began to heal the sick and to speak our publicly, that anybody even really noticed Him.
Men looked at Jesus with scorn and distain, because His teaching interfered, with the lives that they loved to live. That's when men began to turn away from Him. (Isaiah 53:3) says, "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not." It got to the point ,that it didn't matter how many miracles He could perform or how many gracious words that He could speak--------people only treated Him with derision and rejection. And because He was suffering in our place, He endured it all patiently. The Jewish leaders, as a whole, just could not acknowledge, that a man of such humble origin, could really support the claims, that He made about Himself-----they must have thought and discussed among themselves, "God's son, yeah right!" They ignored, the clear evidence in the scripture, of His identity, and they let prejudice overcome their logic.
It's normal for us to think that Jesus was smitten by men-------because------it was men who beat Him and spat at Him and plucked out His beard. It was men who nailed Him to the cross and mocked Him while He hung there--but the reality is, that it was actually God who did the smiting. God always knew, that the penalty for sin would only be able to be paid for, in the way that it was. He always knew that Jesus had been born, so that He could die, in our place.
Often, the physical agony of crucifixion is stressed. I could give you detailed, medical explanations, of what took place inside the Lord's body---- and it was terrible, horrific even---------but His physical suffering was nothing, compared to the spiritual suffering, that He endured. The Lord's physical suffering is not what redeemed us------we were redeemed, when God laid the sins of the world on Jesus and Jesus accepted them, in our place. The spiritual sacrifice that He made for us, was far more costly, than any physical pain, could ever be. The cup, that Jesus dreaded in the Garden of Gethsemane, was the indescribable cup, of substitution. For a few brief moments, Jesus became pure and unadulterated sin-----and when that happened, God, who cannot be where sin is, left Him. They had never been apart-----God had always been with Jesus, every moment of every day------so the agony, of being separated from His heavenly Father, was almost more than He could bear and He cried out, "My God, MY God, why have you forsaken me!" (Matt. 27:46) But God never gives us more than we can stand, and it was in that moment, that the cup was drained to the dregs, and the sacrifice was complete. It was entirely for us that Jesus suffered. We were guilty, but He took our place. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And His stripes, are what have purchased our healing.
Isaiah writes like we were at the cross, because we were. It was our guilt that required Jesus' death. (Rembrandt, like Michalangelo, knew who had taken His place on the cross------in his painting, "The Raising of the Cross", Rembrandt painted himself into the picture as one of the men, crucifying Jesus.) Isaiah did the same thing with a pen and piece of paper. He didn't just tell the story of Jesus, He told our story too. Where would we have been, that day? Would we have been cowering in an upper room, somewhere? Would we have been celebrating, with our fellow conspirators, for having averted a crisis? Would we have stood in the street yelling crucify Him? Would we have nailed the nails into His hands and feet? Would we have turned away and hung our heads in shame? Would have kneeled at His feet, and stayed with Him to the end, and then begged for His body, so that we could bury Him?
Jesus was a man of sorrows, but they weren't His sorrows. He didn't deserve them-----they were ours. In a way, that we don't understand, Jesus became our substitute. God shifted our blame onto Jesus. And Jesus willingly received it. Guilt has to be paid for. It can't be swept under the rug. We know that, just from our own life experiences. When we, or our property, are injured, even in a fender bender, someone has to answer for it, either us, or the other person. The damage and the cost don't just go away. If its going to be put right, then someone has to pay for it. That's the way it is with God------there is no way that He can turn a blind eye to the evil that is damaging His world. God confronted man's wickedness, by paying our debt Himself. He knew what it would take, to satisfy it and He did what it took. He charged the infinite weight of our debt to Jesus, and Jesus willingly, embraced it. (I have a friend who grew up with a preacher, for a daddy, who was a very wise man. When she was a little girl, probably about 5, she misbehaved in church. When the service was over and the family got into the car, her daddy told her, that she was going to get a spanking when she got home. Sure enough, when they got inside the house, he told her to follow him to the back bedroom. The whole way down the hall, she was begging him not to be spanked, "Please daddy, please daddy, no." When they got to the bedroom, he took his belt off-------and handed it to her and said, "I'm not going to spank you for your misbehavior, you're going to spank me, I'm going to take your place." This broke the little girl's heart as she said, "daddy, I can't"---- and then----- he told her the story, about another Father and His child and their love for each other and their love, for each one of us.")
The blood of Jesus, is flowing out to sinners of all kinds------taking from them, their guilt, their shame, their loss, their tears and their despair-------and He is giving them (us) a whole new life. Jesus is saying to each of us, right now, "I don't want you to bear your burden one minute longer------I want my bruising to give you peace-------I want my stripes to heal you." Sin is serious--we're all like dumb sheep, who wander away from our shepherd, through our own self-centered and self-righteous excuses. Isaiah calls it transgressions, which means rebellion against God, which is daring to cross the line that God has drawn. He also calls it iniquity, which refers to our sinful nature. In other words, we are sinners by choice and by nature. Like sheep, we are born with a nature, that prompts us to go astray and like sheep, we foolishly decide to go our own way. This means that by nature, we are born children, of sin and by choice, we become children, of disobedience. But we can take hope, because John 10:1-18 tells us that "under the law of Moses, the sheep died for the shepherd, but that under grace, the good shepherd died for the sheep." It reminds me of the song, "Amazing love, how can it be, that thou my God, wouldst die for me…"
III. The Silent Servant 53:7-9
Jesus never complained and He never asked for mercy. Not did He threaten His tormentors or seek to escape. One of the most difficult things for us to bear, is false accusation. The desire to defend ourselves and to lash out at the accuser, is intense. We read in Matt. 26, that the chief priests, used false witnesses to accuse Jesus, but Jesus didn't justify their accusations, by engaging in rebuttals with them. He didn't' have anything to prove to the men who hated Him, and God already had a perfect knowledge of His innocence. The death of Jesus was a miscarriage of human justice, but it was also, our Lord's, clearheaded, choice. He wasn't caught in a web of events, beyond His control. He willingly laid His life down. Isaiah compared Jesus to a lamb being led to the slaughter, who is silent in front of its shearers. Jesus' death, didn't mean that He yielded to weakness, it meant that He exercised deliberate control. He was not overpowered; He chose not to fight back. Whatever came His way, from men or God; He received it, without any protest. In both His actions and His words, He died entirely in innocence, and the final indignity, was, that He was buried, not alongside martyrs and saints, but with the wicked rich.
He was illegally tried and condemned to death. In today's courts, a person can be found guilty of terrible crimes, but if it can be proven that something in the trial, was illegal, the case has to be tried again. Everything about Jesus' trial, from start to finish, was illegal, but Jesus don't get a 2nd trial. Since Jesus was crucified with criminals, as a criminal, it would have been logical for His dead body to be left unburied. That was the usual way of things, but in the Jesus' case, God had other plans. The burial of Jesus Christ is as much a part of the Gospel as His death and resurrection. His burial, is proof that He actually died. The Roman authorities would never have released His body to Nicodemas and Joseph of Arimathea, if Jesus hadn't been dead.
Jesus had done no violence and there was no question of any deceit in Him. He was perfect and totally beyond reproach. But because God so loved the world, He was pleased to bruise Jesus, for the world. God wasn't pleased, in the sense, that offering up Jesus, gave Him pleasure. It just means that it pleased Him, because it was in accordance, with His will, for Jesus' sufferings, to provide the way of salvation, for a guilty world. (Charles Swindoll says that,
"If our greatest need had been information; God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology; God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money; God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure; God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness; so God sent us a Savior."
IV. The Satisfied Servant 53:10-12
Jesus conquered sin and was satisfied because He had done His job well. He wasn't embittered by it, because He knew it was God's will and that it was the only way. He didn't hang from His cross, screaming curses at His jailers, and He didn't blaspheme God, the way other victims did. This is the mystery of the cross. Not only did He offer His body for sacrifice, but even ,more importantly, he offered His soul. All the animal sacrifices in the OT, had pointed forward to this one moment, when Jesus would sacrifice Himself, body, mind and spirit, once and for all, in my place, in your place and in the place, of every person, who has ever been born.
The cross was God's greatest victory ------Jesus achieved God's ancient purpose-------with His work, on the cross, Jesus has made the way for man to be at peace with God. The judge took the place of the criminal and fulfilled, the just demand, of His own Holy law. And He is satisfied. And Isaiah says that the result for Him, is that "He will see His seed". We are His seed, in the sense, that we have been born again into God's family." To the Jews, to die childless caused great grief and shame------but Jesus didn't die childless---------because of His anguish, on the cross-----He has given birth to a spiritual family that can't be counted. His offspring is beyond manmade measurement. Isaiah 12 uses a military metaphor to describe this------he says that Jesus will divide the spoils of His victory with us, as His "strong partners, in God's saving plan." The world perceives the followers of Jesus as little more than a band of fugitive, losers-------it's sad, that the world can't see, that with Jesus, as our redeemer, that we aren't losers, that we are rich beyond measure---and that we possess, already, all the wonderful things of God, that are worth possessing.
According to Isaiah, Jesus will stand back, and look at His accomplished work and the result of God's saving plan and He will compare it to the price that He had to pay for it's success----and He will be satisfied.
(Hours behind the runner in front of him, the last marathoner finally entered the Olympic stadium. By that time, the drama of the day's events was almost over and most of the spectators had gone home. The athlete's story, however was still being played out.
Limping into the arena, the Tanzanian runner grimaced with every step, his knee bleeding and bandaged from an earlier fall. His ragged appearance immediately caught the attention of the remaining crowd, who cheered him on to the finish line.'
Why did he stay in the race? What made him endure his injuries to the end.? When asked the questions later, He replied, "My country did not send me 7000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7000 miles to finish the race. And I am satisfied."(Quote Magazine, July 1991)
Right now, today, all over the world, Jesus is enjoying the satisfaction, the sheer pleasure, of bringing many lost and ungodly people into righteousness. He is actively, saving guilty people and He is treating transgressors, like they are His friends and He is sharing His victory, with His former enemies. He is making intercession, with the Father, for the very ones, who nailed Him to the cross. And He is satisfied!
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