December 1, 2010

  • Isaiah 53 by Pastor Don Moore

    Friday Bible study from 10/1/10

    This prophesy was 600 to 700 years before the Messiah came.

    God wants to use you to do something, but He doesn’t always tell you what it’s really about or why you are where you are.  

    Pastor Don told us that often God gives us direction through the still small voice.  We get direction, and it often comes like a suggestion out of time.  You may be thinking one thing, and God drops a totally unrelated thought in your mind.  God can negate our internal conversation and drop a thought in our minds to move us. We need discernment though, because just like God can drop a thought in our mind, so can the devil.

    The spirit realm vibrates our thought patterns to communicate to our mind.  There is a transference of thought that makes an impression on our mind, and those thoughts need to be digested and translated.  This is how the prophets heard from God.

    We need to think about what we are thinking about. God is not bound by time.  He does get His will, and when He speaks and wants you to act, it is not always at your convenience.

    Spiritual people are seldom talkative, but rather quiet because they don’t want to clog up the airwaves.  If you are always talking you are less likely to be receptive and hear from God.  If we run past what God is saying, He will get what He wants done through another person.

    Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

    If God has to speak to you other than in the still small voice, for example a billboard sign or a telegram, you are in error.  satan uses a different voice to masquerade as an angel of light, to try and imitate God.

    We should treat people with an automatic level of respect, not vary our treatment by our perceived conception of their level of spirituality or their level of finances.  God can speak to us through any person.

    Isaiah 53 comes on the footsteps of the announcement at the end of Chapter 52.  Remember, in the scrolls there were no chapter or verse markings. Those were added later to help us find passages. Often we need to read the verses from a previous chapter to lay the groundwork for understanding the current chapter.

    Isaiah 52:13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. 

    This servant is Jesus, to the coming Messiah.

    Isaiah 52:14-15  Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; so shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. 

    The Messiah will be wise, exalted and entitled, but at the same time he will be beaten, and given to death for our sins.  The kings of the nations and the political arena are not stupid. They have the attitude, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”  Human wisdom does not help us to know God. God is looking for faith.  The sin of the Garden of Eden was that we wanted to know, but God grades us by faith.

    The Jewish people have a problem with Isaiah 53.  The Scriptures clearly speak of a suffering Messiah and a reigning King.  The Jews were looking for the King, not the Suffering Messiah, so they deny that Jesus is the one prophesied in Isaiah 53.  Christians recognize Jesus as the one prophesied in this passage.  The Jews think of Jesus as Christian.  The problem is also that Christians forget that Jesus was Jewish.

    Martin Luther was an anti-Semite.

    Antisemitism is of the devil.  Hitler also hated the Jews.  Early Christians persecuted and rejected the Jews. The Popes did not lift a finger to help save the Jews.

    The Jews had a built in alarm system of tradition.  They may not know all about Judaism, but they do know that Christianity is not the Judaism they know.

    The truth is that the Gentiles are grafted in to Judaism.  We need to remember that Jesus and the disciples were Jewish.

    The Gentiles must never forget that they are grafted in to the root of Judaism.  At some point in the future the Jews will be re-grafted in, and will know the power of the Presence of the Glory of God.

    Jesus died, the veil was split so that all had the ability to access God without an intermediary.  This threatened the authority of the priesthood, and ultimately the Gentiles also wanted to re-establish the priesthood to gain authority over the people.  The priests created traditions that made it necessary for the people to approach God through the priest as an intermediary, in effect reintroducing the veil.  That kept the power in the hands of the rich and powerful.  Each denomination further divided the people and claimed that no other church but their church was the one true church.

    Isaiah 53 poses a threat to the established order if people accept that Jesus is the Suffering Messiah. First of all, the position of getting to God is established by the Suffering Messiah – that Jesus was crucified for our sins, died, and rose again, according to the Scriptures.

    The Jews rejected Jesus, saying that Isaiah 53 is not talking about a person, but rather the nation of Israel.  But a close look at the passage does not make sense if you think it is the nation of Israel.

    Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 

    This is a report of the actual history, and also the prophetic.  This report is included in Isaiah Chapters 50-52.  

    The “arm of the Lord” speaks of God’s ability and the testing that God is carrying out.  This speaks of Israel being seen as a land 3,500 years ago, and coming together through the ages of ages.  We are seeing this prophesy beginning to be fulfilled because Israel has returned as a nation. No other nation that died, has returned, and reestablished the language.  No one speaks Hittite, Jebusite, etc.

    Isaiah 53:2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 

    Who is He?  It can’t be the nation of Israel.  God (Jesus) grew up right before you, as a root out of the dry ground. The Temple had fallen away.  There was sin without and within.  The Jews were unable to govern themselves, the Romans were in charge.  Jesus was descended from the tribe of Judah, and both Joseph and Mary were descended from the tribe of Judah. 

    The standard image of Jesus is nothing like He would have looked like. This scripture states that he had no form or comeliness – He did not stand out in a crowd.  He was not a tall, blond, handsome man. He would have probably been about 5’3″, dark or olive complected, with short dark hair with the sides of his hair and beard untrimmed.  He probably would have looked like the Bedouins.  There was nothing physical to cause a charismatic response to him.  He would not be an icon or an idol.  

    Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 

    This is an emotional response to verse 2.  He was rejected.  Jesus did good, but when He did not meet their expectations, they turned against Him.  Jesus was not trying to win a popularity contest.  Jesus preached happiness and joy, but He also preached the hard truths that we would rather ignore.  The Jews tried to kill Him three times, to stone Him, push Him off a cliff and, at the Feast of Tabernacles kill Him again.

    Jesus learned Joseph’s family business, carpentry.  But it was hard to find wood to work with because the Assyrians and Babylonians cut down the trees when they took the Israelites into captivity. There was not a lot of wood. Maybe they worked with wood and stone.  

    When the Israelites thought of the Messiah, they thought He would be king material, they never dreamed that the journey of the Messiah would end at the Cross.

    It says, “we hid our faces from Him,” for we could not look at His Glory.  Speculating, when we look at Him, we will remember His eyes, not His physical description.  His eyes will show compassion, love, and have deep flowing pools.   When Jesus looked at people, they would want to repent.  His purity and love would be so overwhelming, but they did not esteem Him, did not put Him up on a pedestal. 

    Isaiah 53:4-5  Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 

    This passage cannot be the nation of Israel.  By His stripes we are healed, the chastisement of his peace is not on Israel. It only makes sense if this passage talks about a person.

    1 Peter 2:21-24 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

    Peter this revelation and understanding sitting with Jesus.  We need to fall back on our faith and trust that God takes care of us. He bore sin in His body, the sin of death and disease, so that we could live in righteousness and be healed.

    1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 

    Where did Paul get this idea from?  Not from the disciples, but by his time with the Lord.  He was tutored by Jesus, and received His revelation from the Lord, faith and obedience.

    When Thomas doubted Jesus and insisted on touching His wounds, Jesus said:  John 20:29  Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

    Paul received the Truth and was able to be delivered, so God gave him prophesy about what would happen so he could help people come to Christ.  If you have Jesus in your life, you have eternal life.

    Peter verified Paul’s words.

    1 Peter 2:24-27 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

    1 Corinthians 11:25-29  In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”   For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.  Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

    What is an unworthy manner?  If it is because we’ve sinned, we don’t have a shot for we all sin.  So it is not that that is an unworthy manner

    2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

    We are to examine ourselves to see if we are in faith. For without faith it is impossible to please God.

    With sin, we have to confess 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

    And we are forgiven for our sins, but to be forgiven we have to, in faith believe, that He will forgive us our sins.  We get disqualified by not resting in Him for our salvation. Jesus did not ask the disciples to confess their sins before taking communion.

    The 1 Corinthians passage (see above) speaks about not discerning the Lord’s body.  We bring ourselves under judgment by not being in faith, faith is the criterion.  

    1 Corinthians 11:30-32 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 

    The word “sleep” is speaking of premature death..  We can fall into sin, but we don’t stay there.  Jesus is our savior.

    I pray this teaching helps you.

    Heather