Grow With Pastor Joe

People say that hindsight is 20-20. It is interesting that many times we see things clearly only long after something has transpired. I’m sure this has happened to you as often as it has happened to me. We think, “How did I not see that coming? Why was I so blind?” All of us would like to say that we are wise and can see the reality of things when others cannot. Many times, we have probably ignored the truth or warnings from others who could see a particular situation more clearly than ourselves. Although this process of seeing the truth long after something has occurred in our life is frustrating, we must humbly confess that we are limited in our knowledge and foresight. I believe that the best foresight is hindsight. History repeats itself. Things are much more cyclical than linear in history and life. The way that we can best look forward is by looking behind and what has already happened or been revealed to us. As we look backward, hindsight becomes 20-20. We can learn from what we have lived.

            Continuing in our study of the fourth and most famous “Servant Songs” of Isaiah, we see this very concept. Isa. 52:13-53:12 serves as a monumental passage of scripture that prophecies, proclaims, and praises the Lord Jesus Christ. This is being written 700 years prior to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Isaiah’s ministry also takes place before the Jews (Judah and Israel) experience captivity as a judgment of God for their continual unbelief and unrepentant life. The perspective of this particular passage is interesting and critical to understand to rightly interpret and apply the truths found. All throughout the passage, the usage of the past tense is seen. How could a prophecy be written in the past tense? The perspective of this is not just giving us a detailed prophecy of the life, sufferings, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Christ. This acts as a future profession of faith from the remaining remnant upon the second coming of Christ. Isa. 52:13-53:12 is a song of lament that is looking back at the Messiah-King, God’s Servant, the Lord Jesus Christ upon the national repentance of Israel. Later in Israel’s history and Isaiah’s ministry, Zechariah steps on the scene. This “minor” prophet gives a major prophecy regarding the relationship of national Israel and God. Zech. 12-14 describes in great detail the coming judgment against Israel as the world turns against them. During the coming great and terrible Tribulation Period (literal seven-year period of God’s judgment upon the world – “Day of the Lord” “Time of Jacob’s Trouble”), Israel will be surrounded by invading armies of the world (likely many Muslim nations). Just as these armies are about to annihilate the remaining Jews, the Lord Jesus Christ will return with the redeemed and He will “defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem…and it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” (Zech. 12:8-9). Then, the remaining Jewish remnant will profess faith in Christ through deep repentance and lament which is described in Isa. 53. Zech. 12:10 describes this saying, “¹⁰ And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” Then, Zechariah continues to prophecy the graciousness of Christ receiving the repentant remnant (Note: two-thirds of the Jews will be killed during the Tribulation and only one-third will be left alive and believe – See Zech. 13:7-9) in Zech. 13:1 which says, “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” When will all of this take place? When “his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives” (Zech. 14:4). Whose feet are spoken of? This is of course, without a doubt, the Lord Jesus Christ upon His literal second coming (or advent) to the world to judge the nations and set up His Kingdom (See Acts 1:1-14).

            Now, like Marty McFly, we must go back to the future. Today’s passage of focus is Isa. 53:1-3 which says, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? ² For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. ³ He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Within the entire chapter, we can see four sets of three verses or stanzas within this song. The three opening verses that we will see today transport us into the future as the believing Jewish remnant will lament, repent, and believe on Christ. Our focus today will be on the “Arm of the Lord” who is the Lord Jesus Christ. While the whole chapter certainly proclaims and predicts the life, sufferings, and death of Christ, we also see that there is a theme of His person and work. Interestingly, throughout detailed prophecy, proclamation, praise, and profession of Christ we see the remembrance and lamentation upon the sufferings of the Suffering Servant who suffered unimaginably to redeem His people by His life, death, and resurrection. He has the scars to prove His sufferings. In the opening verses we will see Jesus, the Arm of the Lord revealed, rejected, and then we will remember that He too is received, though not in this passage.

            First, let’s see the Arm of the Lord revealed in Isa. 53:1 which says, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Now, in our introduction we have already covered who is asking these questions and when. This is the repentant remnant at the return of Christ, the Reigning Redeemer. Some critical verses in the New Testament that also quote this passage and proclaim the same truth are found in Romans 9-11. However, I would suggest for the moment highlighting or making note of Rom. 9:1-5; 10:14-21; 11:1-6. In these passages we see that the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ came to Israel, but they didn’t believe. John’s gospel is filled with this, and we’ll cover this more later. Furthermore, we see that Jesus acknowledged His rejection from Israel as He rode into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday where He fulfills Zech. 9. He weeps in lament over their unbelief and throughout the gospel is astonished by their unbelief (See Lk. 19:28-44). Now, who or what is the Arm of the Lord? This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Servant-King. This phrase is a metonymy (a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is a part, as “scepter” for “sovereignty,” or “the bottle” for “strong drink,” or “count heads (or noses))” for “count people.”- https://www.dictionary.com/browse/metonymy”). Isaiah uses this phrase in Isa. 57:9-10; 52:10; 63:12. The idea of the Arm of the Lord gives us a picture of His strength, power, or might. To put it another way, when this phrase is used, we see God’s authority, ability, and activity in the world. It is especially important regarding the redeeming activity of God as seen in the above references. So, the Arm of the Lord is the revealing of the majesty and might of God. This is how God executes His eternal will. Jesus is the Arm of the Lord, for in Christ, the God-Man, we see the infinite majesty and might of God incarnate. All of God’s authority, ability, and activity can be seen clearly and fully in the person and work of the eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (See 1 Tim. 3:16). The Arm of the Lord has been revealed. The word “revealed” is the word “galah” which means the uncovering of something which was previously hidden. In the person and work of Christ, God reveals His arm, His might and majesty to the world. This is seen through the words, works, and person of Christ (See Col. 1:14-20; 2:9). The Man, Christ Jesus, God in the flesh, reveals to us “the arm of the Lord” through His messages, ministry, and miracles. All that Jesus is, says, and does in the incarnation reveals to us God’s word, work, and will. Heb. 1:1-4 captures this well saying, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ² Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; ³ Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: ⁴ Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” In other words, God speaks through His Son, and we see the truth of the revelation of Jesus Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit (See 1 Cor. 2). The majesty and might of God were revealed in the birth of Jesus, a baby born in Bethlehem. There, the Arm of the Lord was held in Mary’s arms. This revelation came to the Jews as Paul reiterates in Rom. 9:1-5. Although the revelation of Jesus being the Arm of the Lord was clear, He was rejected by Israel.

            Second, let’s see the Arm of the Lord rejected in Isa. 53:2-3 which says, “² For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. ³ He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Much of the greater passage of our study covers the utter rejection of Jesus and His terrible sufferings for our salvation. This song of lament that will be professed in repentance by the future remnant of Israel acknowledges in mournful regret their previous rejection of their Redeemer-King at His first coming. The reality is that Israel had rejected the words, works, and person of God throughout their history. Isa. 1:2-4 says, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. ³ The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. ⁴ Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.” Then, Jesus stepped onto the scene nearly 700 years later. Israel was under Roman occupation and had never recovered from their previous judgments for their disobedience. They were living under the blindness of their own self-righteousness and reliance. John 1:10-18 records Jesus coming to His own and His own receiving Him not. He was not received by the nation at His birth, during His ministry, or at His death. He is still rejected to this day, nationally speaking. In Isa. 6:9-12 God tells Isaiah of the coming judgment upon the people. They will have fat hearts, heavy ears, and shut eyes in unbelief. The fulfillment of this is seen in John 12:37-50 where John quotes Isa. 6 and 53. Many, including rulers, did believe, but they did so secretly. Nationally, Jesus was totally rejected, but individually He was accepted by many. Such is the case today. Jesus was viewed as an unlikely candidate for being the Messiah. He was “a tender plant” which is an agricultural description of a sucker branch that shoots out that is not cultivated or expected; therefore, it is not wanted and it is pruned or cut off entirely. If there would have been job interviews held by the Pharisees, scribes, and rulers of Israel in Jesus’ day, they would have passed Him up, which they did and still do. Their preconceived notion of a Messiah did not match the description of Jesus. They viewed Him as a nobody from nowhere Nazareth which was common in the day (John 1:45-46). Jesus was born to poor working-class individuals who had no wealth, power, prestige, or position of any importance. His followers were mostly rag-tag fishermen sprinkled with other unwanted or even unruly individuals. Not only was Jesus viewed as unlikely, but also as unattractive. He was “a root out of a dry ground.” This phrase is a reminder of the physical and spiritual climate of Israel in Jesus’ day. All the water had been sucked up and evaporated leaving behind a brown, dry, and cumbersome useless root. Then, the next phrase continues to show us the unattractiveness of Jesus saying, “he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” There was no splendor about Him. He didn’t come to the earth or live as a King, but instead He became poor, lived poor, and died poor for us. Man only sees the outside and there was nothing attractive about Him that shouted, “This is the Messiah-King!” In reality, there was infinite evidence in His words, works, and person; however, Jesus was totally rejected. Even today, many preachers attempt to make Jesus attractive to the world, but when He is preached as revealed in the scriptures, the world responds in the same appalling, shocking, astonishment that the nations will have at His second coming (Isa. 52:13-15). Many say that we need to make the gospel attractive. I ask, to whom? The gospel of Jesus Christ is not attractional to the lost world, but what is perhaps even more saddening is that the person and work of Christ is not attractive to those who profess Christ. As the second stanza of “The Old Rugged Cross” says, “O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.” Not only was Jesus unlikely and unattractive to the Jewish people, but He was also totally unwanted. Jesus was undesired more than a criminal named Barabbas as the crowds chanted for Jesus’ death over the violent insurrectionist sinner to be delivered safely to them (See Lk. 23:1-25). The Arm of the Lord, Jesus, is rejected. Notice that He was “despised” which is the word “bazah” which means to be viewed as garbage or little worth. The Messianic Psalm 22 says in verse 6, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” He is also “rejected of men.” Jesus was rejected and abandoned by countless people including friends, followers, and family. His life was surrounded by people and crowds, yet He was alone. He is a “Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” These phrases describe the soul of Jesus that was filled with sorrow over sin and the awful price which He would pay for sinners. This grief is not one of sadness, but of suffering in affliction and anguish. The curse of sin brought sorrow and separation between God and man. Jesus, the Arm of the Lord, came to reconcile sinners to God by bearing their curse of sin and sorrow. The Arm of the Lord was rejected of men so that we can be totally accepted by God through His merit and mercy offered by His substitutionary satisfactory sacrifice. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

            Third, let’s see the Arm of the Lord received. We must remember that although this chapter of Isaiah is a future song of lament it is one of repentance and reception of Christ at His second coming. At His first coming, Jesus was unrecognized and unreceived; however, at His second coming He will be recognized and received. Jesus was rejected so that those who receive Him, God then receives giving them everlasting life in Christ. John 1:10-18 says, “¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. ¹¹ He came unto his own, and his own received him not. ¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. ¹⁶ And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Jesus later tells Nicodemus in John 3:16-17 that “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” According to Rom. 9-11, Israel’s rejection of Jesus has opened up the mercy of God for Gentiles to receive salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. Our salvation in Christ now is to provoke Israel to jealousy so that upon the day of His return they will repent, receive Him whom they once rejected. Although today, He is still nationally rejected by the Jewish people, there is coming a day when they will receive Him in repentance. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

            As we see the Arm of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ in this passage, we see that He has revealed the majesty and might of God that now offers us mercy through the merit of Jesus Christ. Everyone in the world falls into one of two categories. Those who have received Him and those who have rejected Him. Jesus has revealed Himself throughout the Bible, but so plainly here in Isa. 52:13-53:12. Have you received Jesus, the Arm of the Lord, the Messiah-King, the Redeemer? Are you yet still blinded by your unbelief? Do not continue to reject the one who was rejected by man so that you could be received by God. He will receive all who come to Him by His mercy and merit, but you must come in faith alone. Don’t bring offerings of religion, good works, ceremonial actions. There is only one way that you may come, and it is by way of the cross. It is only through Christ alone. The Arm of the Lord has reached down to snatch you from your sins, the broad road of destruction, and the horrors of Hell. Don’t despise and reject Him. Receive Him now! If you do know Christ, the Arm of the Lord, are you resting in His majesty, might, and merits? Do you delight in Him? Are you rejoicing still that the Arm of the Lord saved you? The Arm of the Lord has come to save and satisfy. Hallelujah, what a Savior!