Good morning Brothers and Sisters, Today we will focus on:
Isaiah 53 World English Bible (WEB)
First segment:
53 Who has believed our message?
To whom has Yahweh’s arm been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no good looks or majesty.
When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised
and rejected by men,
a man of suffering
and acquainted with disease.
He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;
and we didn’t respect him.
Healing and Discipleship 
Good morning all. A beautiful sunny day. I am thankful for the sun and new life of Spring.
It is interesting in this version in vs 3 it says “He was acquainted with disease” which at first glance could give you the impression that He had experienced disease, but in the amplified version it says “acquainted with grief”. Just an interesting thought that just stood out to me for some reason.
Wendy
Haha if it was yesterday, I would say the computer is playing an April fools joke on us by saying Thursday March 4th,
Wendy
Good morning all!
This passage of scripture has come into my thoughts a few times of late in that there was nothing physically attractive about Yeshua in His manifestation on earth. People were either drawn of repelled by Him because of what He was in spirit . Quite different from all the artists renditions we have seen of Him. I remember that my spiritual father talked about refusing to have crosses ar pictures of someone’s imagination of ‘Jesus ‘in his home because we were never to relate to him in the flesh.KC
This reminds me to put value on the same things God does and not the outward appearance of man at all.
Lovely day today. Planning to get lots of seeds planted. There is nothing about these verses that doesn’t pop to me. vs 1 “Who has believed God’s report?” …. Help me with my unbelief of Lord. Taken scripture as gospel, as the truth and banking it is absolutely essential from what I understand. Luke 18:6-8 World English Bible (WEB)
6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. 7 Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
that word translated as grief or disease means both in the original…. from blueletter bible ” חֳלִי chŏlîy, khol-ee’; from H2470; malady, anxiety, calamity:—disease, grief, (is) sick(-ness).”
Yes that is a sobering thought. “Will He find faith on the earth?”
Wendy
and sorrow also from Strongs via blueletter Bible “מַכְאֹב makʼôb, mak-obe’; sometimes מַכְאוֹב makʼôwb; also (feminine Isaiah 53:3) מַכְאֹבָה makʼôbâh; from H3510; anguish or (figuratively) affliction:—grief, pain, sorrow.”
It also brings to mind the reaction of people when they saw Moses after being in the presence of God. “ as one from whom men hide their faces “..only they insisted Moses hide his face. KC
In the Passion Translation it says, vs8 God will give swift justice to those who don’t give up. So be ever praying, ever expecting, just like the widow was with the judge, Yet when the Son of Man comes back, will he find this kind of persistent faithfulness in his people?” That to me puts a bit of a different spin on it. I know that there are different tenses in the Hebrew and we have been taught with this story that it is the tense that says “continually praying” which is what it seems to be in this translation. Our persistent and expectant prayers and our persistent faithfulness, which doesn’t waver even in the face of difficult circumstances like we are now facing or have faced or will face in the future.
Wendy
Wow! Yes, totally different spin. Very positive. We were praying through Psalm 64 last night which is talking about the Lord taking down those who have been shooting at the righteous from a position of ambush. L
Amplified – vs 3 He was despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief;
And like One from whom men hide their faces
He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.
Even though He and the Father were One and all things were created thru Him He
still was “acquainted” with what we encounter. He was not a slave to the ruler of this world though.
He served only the Father.
Rob
Amen. Romans 6:12-18 World English Bible (WEB) “12 Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be! 16 Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. 18 Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.” He has paid the price and we are also now free to do as He did.
4
But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,
And He has carried our sorrows and pains;
Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,
Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him].
5
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing];
The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him,
And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.
He did all this willingly.Phil 2 amplified
6 who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; 7 but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man]. 8 After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time],
Rob
I cannot even begin to imagine how the CREATOR of all things to come not only as a man (I am personally presently convinced that Jesus could not perform any miracles until He has baptized by John and the Holy Spirit came). He left a heavenly court where He was perpetually in the presence of angelic praise and worship to come to earth to be despised and completely misunderstood, abused, neglected, hated and mercilessly tortured and killed.
Yes its a wonder God didn’t wipe us all out at that point. How long suffering and faithful to us He is. It just boggles my mind, His love for us and continual grace (unmerited favour) that He has shown and continues to show us. That alone is a reason to fall on our faces and worship and repent.
Wendy
“Therefore don’t LET sin reign’ and ……”you BECAME obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered” ……..”you BECAME bondservants of righteousness” is what stood out for me in this passage By His sacrifice and paying the price He opened the door for us to BECOME a new creation !
KC
Amen!
Isn’t it something to consider how poorly He was treated, how little respect and love He was shown and yet all that He did expressed love, value, mercy, grace and respect to all people.
SO much so!
KC
“Surely he has borne our sickness
and carried our suffering;
yet we considered him plagued,
struck by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray.
Everyone has turned to his own way;
and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” WEB ISAIAH 53
This whole passage is mind blowing. I don’t have a lot to say except to just absorb it and let it go deep in me. It is impossible with our human minds to really get to the depths of what He did for us. But I am so thankful that I heard the call and answered it.
Wendy
vs 4 amazes me. Man judged God. Man is still judging God really. Very telling how quickly we can lose sight of the ministry we have been given, that of reconciliation and forgiveness, and fall instead into the ministry of judgement and condemnation that came in with the Law. Basically they thought He was receiving what He deserved and failing to perceive and understand that He was receiving what they/we deserve. That is absolutely cause of eternal praise and thanksgiving.
Amen. WR
vs 6. Not one, not one single one can stand before God in His own merit outside of Christ. All have gone astray, every one. has turned to His own way. This is very comforting in a way… AND YET the Father laid on Him the iniquity of ALL… Every person who rejects Him, murdered Him, despises Him, uses HIs name in vain, curses Him, rails against Him, plots against HIm… He took the rebuke, the penalty, the sentence, the pain, the suffering, the isolation, the shame of us all. TOO TOO GREAT TO truly understand.
Amen again. WR
“SURELY” …. wow!!! as in truly, verily… this is a biblical fact.
Yes our human minds influenced by the father of lies and that mindset repeatedly make it a thing of Jesus must have been sinful and therefore afflicted and punished by an angry God intent on ‘striking ‘Him ! Our minds really do grapple with GRACE and unmerited favour… but all I can do is praise Him for how He’s enabled me to ‘SEE’! It really is beyond what I can understand but I also know HE has put within me the desire for ALL to see and perceive His incredible unreasonable LOVE towards us and the value He places upon us! KC
Astonishing.. and even now the enemy is working over time to try to convince us that we need to by our capacity earn the right to this freely given love gift. If we could “deserve” it based on our own ability and merit, Jesus would not have had to come in the flesh and suffer all that He suffered.
When I look at the price He paid…. I am motivated to receive all that He paid for. He took all of my sicknesses, weaknesses (physical and mental), all of my physical and mental and psychological pain, he took my shame, my condemnation, he took my sin, somewhere in this passage each and everything that entered in via the fall is named and called paid for. Such a powerful summary of the NT Covenant. IT shouts REDEEMED, RESTORED!!!!
I think it was Dan Moehler that I was listening to and he talked about how Jesus when He was crucified did not even look human, not even because of the beatings by the Romans but also because of all that had been placed on Him that He took on for us. That is actually changed His physical appearance so that He was unrecognizable. That paints more of a graphic picture of what He must have suffered for us. Yes I am motivated to receive ALL that He paid the price for. Amen REDEEMED, RESTORED.
Wendy
next portion “He was oppressed,
yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth.
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment.
As for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living
and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9 They made his grave with the wicked,
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.”
Isn’t it something? We saw in Job that God never defended Himself against the accusation of man. And we see that repeat here too. To utterly submit to the Lord and Judge and Defender… I know in my heart of hearts that we are called to follow His example. Humanly speaking though, it is just so hard to not get baited and defensive. And He was tempted in every way we are. Amazing!!!
WOW! ‘Yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth”….He didn’t respond with any sense of defensiveness. This understanding that when we are in Christ we too can walk this way without taking offence from anybody is huge and a good gauge as to where we are in our thinking and understanding of what we have been set free from. KC
All of this because He Loves so deeply and wants an eternal relationship with us.
Rob
RIGHT? SO SO SO faithful. And patient. LONG suffering. My Lord My God… Worthy of all our praise
We probably all are doing this but I find it very helpful to go back after our session has ended and taking note of the times afterwards for the responses that were written and read them in that order to get a better sense of the flow of our conversation as I know I type slowly and think more slowly and some of my responses show up after we’ve moved on to another scripture. KC
Yes, I go up and down and through all of the comments several times… Don’t want to miss anything.
What we are doing here I feel gods so beyond understanding and head knowledge of these scriptures . As we read and let these truths soak into our being and speak (or write) out of the understanding ,worship and acknowledging His greatness and power we are actually participating in being co -creators in the spirit realm with Him and opening up a way for others to also begin to perceive and ‘become’ as a result of all He has done.
KC
Yes, Wendy
VS8… Personally I feel like meditating on passages like this one, really really letting the truth of His love and sacrifice, this huge substitutionary role that He has played in all of our lives is so often treated so lightly and so briefly. For me it takes, imagining it, sometimes replaying it mentally over and over again in my minds eye for the fullness of what He did to begin to sink in.
Have a beautiful day. We are going to get out in the sun and thank Him for His wonderful creation, while we are out in it. Love you all. See you tomorrow
Blessings friends, Enjoy the sunshine and another day of walking with our Creator.
Yes! Enjoy!
KC