For Rebels
One Year Bible (Sep. 27)
Isaiah 51:1-53:12
For Rebels
“He was pierced for our REBELLION, crushed for our sins”.
(Isaiah 53:5)
“OH #*@!” “Oh, my #!*@!”
When people blaspheme, whose name do they use?
Do you hear people casually use the Lord’s name in their daily conversations?
They are missing reverence, and the Bible says that we are NOT to take the Lord’s name in vain… Period. Even if you are from the south and everyone uses that phrase.
When someone faces “a death and life situation” what name do they call out?
That would be the very same name! They cry out for God or Jesus…
Have you ever heard someone yelling for Buddha to help? Friends, he’s at the restaurant and all he’s got for us is little fortune cookies and that’s not going to help much at all…
I have a friend, who is a high school teacher, and she was put in lock-down with all of her students due to a shooter threat. Can you imagine being locked in a room for hours with only that little bucket to use for “physical emergencies”? Teachers and students alike would be lowered to the same level for bathroom needs… a bucket! But, that isn’t the biggest problem at hand, “Where is this person who threatened the safety of all, and when are they coming for us?”
We all know that prayer is no longer allowed in public school, but it was ON THAT DAY!
ON THAT DAY, my friend prayed with a girl who was of Satanic influence.
ON THAT DAY she wasn’t crying out to Buddha, or Satan, or any other false Idol.
Today’s passage asks the people to remember who created them, rescued them, and brings them justice. “Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance-- all who seek the LORD! Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined.” (51:1)
DESPERATE people seek DELIVERANCE!
Listen to what the Sovereign LORD says to his people, “My name is BLASPHEMED all day long.But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.” (52:6)
This entire passage is about “THE WAY OUT” and “THE WAY HOME”.
God will not leave his people in captivity due to their own sin. He will bring them home as a REMNANT of HIS grace, and there will be rejoicing, thanksgiving, and singing. But there will be much more than that… there will be REDEMPTION.
This passage is the very best section in the entire book of Isaiah. You have probably heard parts of it quoted as a prophecy that happened 700 years after this time. God is going to fulfill HIS promise to HIS people.
The RIGHTEOUS SERVANT will step in and take THEIR PLACE. He will BEAR their punishment for sin, and BEAR their SORROW, so they can be SAVED.
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings GOOD NEWS, the GOOD NEWS of PEACE and SALVATION.” (52:7)
Listen to the description of God’s “RIGHTEOUS SERVANT”,
“His face was so disfigured that he seemed hardly human, Kings would be speechless in his presence, despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with the deepest grief, we turned our backs on him, pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins, beaten so we could be whole, whipped so we could be healed, oppressed, treated harshly, speechless, lamb to the slaughter, unjustly condemned.” (Isaiah 53)
Did you know that there are six passages of Scripture that contain seven quotations from Isaiah 53? This passage is the defining moment of the book of Isaiah. It is literally REMARKABLE!
Remember, the theme of the Potter and the Clay?
Why was this Righteous, perfect, holy, sinless man destined to die for the world’s sins?
“But it was the LORD’S GOOD PLAN to CRUSH HIM and cause him grief.” (53:10)
Does this sound like a “GOOD PLAN” to you?
Jesus was the CLAY and Father God was the POTTER. Jesus took on FLESH so that we could be born of the SPIRIT.
Why would Jesus, “The Clay” submit himself to this “GOOD PLAN”?
ON THAT DAY, Jesus called on God’s name also, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
He bore our sins and interceded FOR REBELS… like you and me. (52:12)
