These words were spoken to Isaiah, the son of Amoz in a vision. Therein, he saw things concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. "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 ..." (Isaiah 1:1-2)
By now, the Lord was already questioning the sacrifices of old, when He asked, "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me, the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; [it is] iniquity even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth; they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear [them]." (Isaiah 1:11-14)
Had this been the start and stop of God's love for His creation, there would have been no salvation. There would not have been hope and joy and peace that passeth all understanding. But God had a plan, right from the beginning. That is, God Himself would offer Himself -- as a gift of love -- so that we might have eternal life. (John 1:1-18)
"Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto [His] brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things [pertaining] to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." (Hebrews 2:17)
It is for this reason that we no longer live under the bondage of old covenant law. Instead, when we believe in Jesus by faith, we are set free. (John 8:32) The law which was a schoolmaster to bring us to the point of repentance was fulfilled once and for all when our Lord God and Saviour Jesus the Christ shed His blood on the cross for us.
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." (Galatians 3:24-25)
And, as a consequence, we have been loosed from the bands of captivity. "Shake thyself from the dust." saith the Lord, "Ye have sold yourselves for nought, and ye shall be redeemed without money." (Isaiah 52:1-3) Even then, the Lord was saying to come out from among them, and break forth into joy, and sing together -- because the King of kings and Lord of lords -- the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, was about to willingly become as one of us, in the likeness of man so that we could be redeemed. (John 1:1-18; I Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 9:6)
Isaiah continued, writing what he saw, saying, "Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 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. 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.
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted ... but He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He]was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:1-5)
Yes, we all (like sheep) have gone astray. (Isaiah 53:6) We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgement, and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of My people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither [was any] deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put [Him] to grief -- when Thou shalt 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. He shall see of the travail of His soul [and] shall be satisfied, by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many -- for He shall bear their iniquities.
"Therefore, will I divide Him [a portion] with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hat poured out His soul unto death; and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12)
The transgressors are you and I. We were all born into sin, but because of the sacrifice made by God Himself on a cross, we can now become the sons of God. When the first 3,000 pricked in their hearts asked Peter, standing with the apostles, "What shall we do?" Peter said unto them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2:37-38)
And when we repent and are baptized in Jesus' name, we become a new creature in Christ. We begin to understand how God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.
"Therefore, if any man be in Christ [he is] a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new, and all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath give to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation." (II Corinthians 5:17-19)
And His own blood sacrifice was laid down on the cross for our sins. He paid the price once and for all.
"For which we have not an high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are], [yet] without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:15-16)
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech [you] by us -- we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God -- for He hath made Him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin -- that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (II Corinthians 5:20-21)
Be blessed! Stand in the offering plate.
No comments:
Post a Comment