Part I:
- Isaiah 53:1 (NKJV) Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
-This is a very powerful statement. The arm of the Lord is the manifest
power of God. This is one of the great mysteries hidden from the eyes of the
world. Many don’t believe because they don’t see. God says believe and you
will see. In other words the arm of the Lord is revealed to those that believe
the report. Faith is the key to seeing the manifest power of God. Romans
1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38 all declare “the just shall live by
faith”. Before in the old life we needed to see before we believed, now we
believe and then we see.
- Mark 4:24 (NKJV) Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.
– How is it that you can have two people sitting in the same room hearing
the same message and one is listening intently and the other board out of
their mind? How we hear is extremely important. This is not talking in terms
of volume; this is referring to how we receive the message. Do we value it
and esteem it or do we think it’s a waste of time? If we esteem the message
it will be measured
- 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NKJV)For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
- John 12:37-41 (NKJV) 37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” 41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
-Preaching the gospel must be a directive from the Holy Spirit.
- Romans 10:13-17New King James Version (NKJV) 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?”17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
-Paul was not sent by his parents or a school or a committee but under the
directive of the Holy Spirit. Everything we do pertaining to the gospel must
be conducted in this manner including the preaching or we can get off and
start preaching everything except what the Holy Spirit needs us to preach. It
is not the preaching of politics, news, personal opinion etc. that set’s men
free but the preaching of the gospel.
- Isaiah 53:2New King James Version (NKJV) 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.
-If you were to have met Jesus just walking down the street you would have
thought nothing of him other than he was just an ordinary man. There was
no glow about him or a halo. He appeared natural and ordinary to everyone.
- Isaiah 53:3-4 (NKJV) 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. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
-Death by crucifixion was for the worst criminals. When Jesus died on the
cross it was not a noble scene. Only the scum of society died on the cross, it
was a shame for your family if you died that way. The Pharisees mocked
him. Mostly everyone around the cross thought God had judged Him. The
cross was not a place of honor.
- Isaiah 53:5(NKJV) 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.
-Jesus is the Great Substitution. What they saw happening on the cross to
Jesus was the punishment that was reserved for us.
- Isaiah 53:6(NKJV) 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
- Isaiah 53:7-9 (NKJV) 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
- Isaiah 53:10-12 (NKJV) 12 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
- Isaiah 52:13-14 (NKJV) 13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. 14 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;
-Isaiah is seeing in the spirit. While many gathered around the cross and
watched they saw the physical sickness and wounds but in the spirit it was
much worse. God was pouring out the punishment for our sins. The spiritual
consequences of sin manifested as physical sickness and pain.
- Isaiah 53:4 (NKJV) 4 Surely He has borne our grief’s and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
- The same word for grief’s here in Isaiah 53:4 is also translated 20 different times in the KVJ as sickness. The same word for sorrows in Isaiah 53:4 is also translated as pain in other parts of the bible.
-We are seeing Jesus here take on the sins of the world, and as the
punishment for sin comes it is manifesting as sickness, sorrow, pain and
separation from God.
o Isaiah 53:4 Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) 4 Surely our
sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains — he hath carried them,
And we — we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and
afflicted.
o Isaiah 53:4 New English Translation (NET) 4 But he lifted up
our illnesses,he carried our pain; even though we thought he
was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for
something he had done.
-Start confessing and meditating on Isaiah 53:4, your faith will grow and the
arm of the Lord will be revealed to you. Refuse to be a carrier of what Jesus
has already carried for us.