Suffering Servant

Isaiah 53:1-6 (NLT)

Who has believed our message?  To whom has the Lord revealed His powerful arm?  My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him.  He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.   We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way.  He was despised, and we did not care.  Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down.  And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins!  But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.  He was beaten so we could be whole.  He was whipped so we could be healed.  All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.  We have left God’s paths to follow our own.  Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.  

Isaiah 53 is known as the Suffering Servant chapter of the Bible.  The Suffering Servant passage actually starts in 52:13 and continues through 53:12.  These words were written over 700 years before Christ was born.  How can Jewish people not believe that this passage refers to Jesus Christ?  They might believe that these words refer to the Messiah or some believe that they refer to the nation Israel, but they do not believe that this is a prophecy concerning Jesus Christ. 

So much of what Isaiah wrote here is referenced in the New Testament--

·  Who has believed our message?  John 12:38

·  He was despised and rejected.  Luke 18:31-33

·  He was despised and we did not care.  John 1:10-11

·  It was our weaknesses He carried.  Matthew 8:17

·  We thought His troubles were a punishment from God.  John 19:7

·  He was pierced for our rebellion.  Hebrews 9:28

·  He was crushed for our sins.  Romans 4:25 and I Corinthians 15:3

·  He was beaten so we could be whole.  Hebrews 5:8

·  He was whipped so we could be healed.  I Peter 2:24-25

There may not be another Old Testament chapter whose verses are more quoted or referred to than Isaiah 53.  Therefore, it is one of the best-loved and most often quoted chapters of the Bible.  For example, the famous example of Philip witnessing to the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8---what was the eunuch reading that caused him to ask Philip questions?  Isaiah 53 (see Acts 8:27-33). 

This is the only passage of Scripture where Jesus Christ is described physically.  He was not beautiful or majestic or attractive.  He did not look like artists’ portraits or the actors (e.g. Jeffrey Hunter, Max Von Sydow, Jim Caviezel, etc.) who have played Him in movies. 

Isaiah 53:6 is a well-known memory verse.  All human beings are like sheep who have strayed away.  All human beings, because of original sin, naturally will abandon God to follow our own pride-filled ways.  It was God the Father Himself who chose to have all our sins to be cast upon His Son, Jesus Christ.  He became the sacrificial lamb for us.  Isaiah prophesied this hundreds of years before all this took place.  Amazing.

Reflect on all that God through Jesus Christ has done for you if you are a believer.  Think carefully about how much God loves you to allow His Son to be beaten, scourged, cut, nailed, and pierced so that you can be saved from your sins and be re-connected to God and be part of His kingdom forever.  And, if you are not a believer, a passage like this either will impress upon you the need to be saved or further turn you off from the gospel.  Where do you stand?  Your life forever depends on your decision.

The role of belief in prayer

Mark 11:24 (NASB)

Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you. 

Jesus uttered these words two days after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem that today we celebrate as Palm Sunday.  Obviously He had little time left with His disciples before He would be led away to be crucified.  One of his final teachings to them was the vital importance and role of faith in their prayer lives.  It is important to be bold in your prayer life (Acts 2:42, 4:24, 12:5, 28:28-31). 

You see most pro golfers standing behind the ball in stillness before addressing and hitting the ball.  What are they doing?  They are imagining the shot that they are about to hit.  It’s the power of the mind over matter.  It is getting the mind and the emotion into the game as much as the body.  Imagination is a very powerful tool.  Have you ever been to Disney’s Epcot theme park in Orlando and visited the Imagination! Pavilion?  The emphasis is to allow your imagination to be free and enable your mind to be as creative as possible.  The more you imagine/envision something happening, the more likely that it actually will.  But, you need the discipline of imagination and the will to follow up on your visions.

Faith to believe that whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive requires imagination.  Just like the imagination of a child who believes that anything can happen, that is the kind of faith Jesus was telling His disciples then and telling you right now that you should have.  In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 18:3 that you need to convert and become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven.   

Think about it, faith requires imagination although imagination is not faith.  Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).  To have faith that God answers prayer, that you are destined to live forever in heaven, that God loves and cares for you, does that faith not require your imagination.  You cannot see these things of faith, but you can imagine them.

Some days you will have strong imagination to believe; other days your imagination might be weaker, but that does is not the same as having strong or weak faith.  Ron Rolheisser (http://www.jknirp.com/acrisis.htm) wrote about J. R. Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings, being a key person to help C.S. Lewis accept Christianity. After listening to Lewis object to certain aspects of the faith, Tolkien suggested to him that his resistance was not so much a question of belief as it was of imagination: "Your inability to understand stems from a failure of imagination on your part."

You cannot “out-imagine” what God can do when you pray within His will.  Just read Ephesians 3:20 where the word for “think” can be translated as “imagine”.  You cannot put boundaries on God so you cannot falsely think that God is incapable of answering any prayer you ask.  You simply must believe that He can answer and He will although often we do not understand His answer if the answer is not what you were hoping for.

What are you praying and asking about right now?  Do you truly believe that you will receive what you are asking for?  Be sure that your prayers have the right motives (James 4:3).  Be sure that you have asked for your sins to be forgiven and that you harbor no wickedness in your heart (Psalm 66:18).  If you are a married man, be sure that you are treating your wife with honor (I Peter 3:7).  Imagine your prayers being answered.  Even pray for the Lord to strengthen your faith to believe (Mark 9:24) in this promise of Jesus that He will answer your prayers. 

“Don't think God is listening to your prayers? Indeed He is. But He may have higher plans. -- Max Lucado

“I asked God for strength that I might achieve. I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy. I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among all men, most richly blessed.” — Unknown

Rewards in heaven

Luke 6:23, 35 (NASB)

“Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven……."But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great”

I have been re-reading the Erwin Lutzer book Your Eternal Reward (Moody Publications, 1998).  It is powerful reading.  Even though I have taught and written on the Judgment Seat of Christ (II Corinthians 5:10), I was especially struck this time by the following words on page 17 of this book:  “Christ often and unapologetically motivated the disciples with the prospect of rewards.  He often promised them that if they were sacrificially obedient, their reward will be great” (and quoted Luke 6:35, Luke 6:23, and Hebrews 10:35).   When each Christian is judged individually by Christ for everything done on earth, he/she will receive rewards for all the good you have done, but also great loss for all the evil you have done.  Yes, because of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross and your accepting by faith his sacrifice for you, your confessed sins are forgiven, BUT God still judges you for those sins that have been confessed and forgiven.  As Lutzer points out, “judicial forgiveness is one thing, but the discipline the Father inflicts on His wayward children is quite another.  We should not conclude that every Christian will do well at the judgment seat of Christ.  We can suffer serious loss; many Christians will stand in shame before Christ as we see our lives pass before us.  What happens at the judgment seat can have permanent consequences.  There are degrees of reward in heaven.”

You really need to read the entire book and all the Scripture that Dr. Lutzer uses to teach about the judgment seat of Christ.  What I took away from this reading is the following:

·  I had misconceptions about sin in my life after conversion.  While my sin is always forgiven when I confess it, I will still be judged for that sin on Judgment Day.  My sins will not kick me out of heaven, but they will affect what I will be doing in heaven forever.

·  Likewise, the more good I do while on earth, the more rewards I will receive compared to losses.  The exact nature of reward vs. loss is not clear to me, but I know that I want to receive more reward than loss, whatever they are, and the only way for this to happen is to minimize sin and maximize obedience.

·  The fact that Christ Himself emphasized rewards in heaven, as Luke 6:23 and 35 (and elsewhere) proclaim, strikes me more significantly that in the past when I’ve studied these verses before.  We should not take lightly His emphasis on rewards and should orient our Christian lives better to seek these rewards in eternity.

When Jesus is talking about rewards in heaven, it is always in the context of sacrificially doing something good for someone else.  As you show love “to the least of these” you show love to Jesus and are reaping rewards.  As you are being persecuted for taking a stand for Christ, you are reaping rewards.  As you are love others, especially those who you know don’t love you, and giving of your time and money to help others, you are reaping rewards.  Conversely, if you are doing the opposite, putting your needs first, not helping or loving others, hoarding your riches for yourself without giving to help others, and anything else that shows selfish behavior, you will experience loss on judgment day.

Examine your life as it stands right now and determine what you are doing that will reap rewards in heaven and what you are doing that will reap loss in heaven.  Basically evaluate how you are using the three basic forces of your life---your time, your energy, and your money.  At the Judgment Seat of Christ someday, each of us, individually, in front of witnesses, will face the Lord and be judged for how we used our time, energy and money.  Think carefully about this and make necessary changes if necessary.   

Encumbrance--entangle--endurance

Hebrews 12:1 (NASB)

………..let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. 

Whenever I see Hebrews 12:1-2 or hear it preached, I’m reminded of this story.  Years ago, I was teaching at Mt. Auburn when Pastor Joel Hunter was senior pastor.  I enjoyed a growing adult class with new faces appearing every Sunday.  One of the new faces was a very nice middle-aged woman who attended alone but after a few weeks she brought her husband.  Since he never said a word and didn’t smile, I stereotyped him as a reluctant husband in attendance because his wife made him.  You can imagine my shock (and helped to teach me not to judge others) when one Sunday while the class was discussing a certain subject this quiet, reserved man suddenly spoke up and quoted several verses from the book of Deuteronomy!  It turned out that this man was Dr. Bill Coker who had been a professor of theology at Asbury Seminary (where our pastor graduated) and had taken a new high level position with One Mission Society (OMS).  A few weeks later, Dr. Coker led a men’s weekend retreat where he taught from Hebrews 12:1-2, absolutely remarkable teaching, his notes of which I still have recorded in my Bible. 

Among Dr. Coker’s main points about Hebrews 12:1-2 was that we all struggle with conflicts about our purpose and priorities in life.  To lay aside every encumbrance is to ask

·  What hinders you?

·  What do you cling to?

·  What are you uneasy about?

·  What do you argue with yourself about?

·  What do you seek advice about?

To lay aside sin which entangles is to ask, “what sin is that?  Is there a life-dominating sin in your life?

Is envy or jealousy in your life among the answers to some of these questions?

To run with endurance the race set before us means several things.  The word “race” in the Greek is “agon” where the word “agony” comes from.  So the race of life (the Living Bible says “the particular race that God has set before us”) is meant to be an agonizing experience, not easy at all.  That’s why the Scripture adds the phrase ‘with endurance” (or patience) that definitely suggests that your life will be like an endurance run.  It takes great endurance to live a life of commitment to Christ.  Dr. Coker said that the lack of commitment to Christ is the greatest problem in the church.  Yet, God’s plan for you is to fulfill His purpose for your life.  You are fulfilling His purpose by daily being obedient to Him.  You fulfill the prophecy from Psalm 139:15—“You saw me before I was born and scheduled every day of my life before I began to breathe.” 

The race set before you…….what God has scheduled for you every day of your life…..may not be close to what you would have chosen.  Perhaps you would not choose the people God has placed around you or the location or circumstances you find yourself in, but always remember that you are His servant.  As a servant following in the footsteps of Christ, you must present your body and your life as a “living and holy sacrifice” (Romans 12:1) with the attitude “Here I am---I have come to do Your will” (Isaiah 6:8).  Stay focused on God’s plan and purpose for you, “fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith…….” (Hebrews 12:2). 

What has really challenged you from the study and reflection on these devotionals?  How would you describe your personal “running your race with endurance”?  What is your personal race teaching you?  Have much have you grown spiritually because of your personal race?  Offer praise for how God is using you and ask for His help in enabling you to finish your race with Him declaring “Well done, good and faithful servant”.