Most Read Bible Verses---#49---Isaiah 53:1-6

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.

Most Read Bible Verses---#50---Acts 2:42

Acts 2:42 (NLT)

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

Right after Pentecost, verse 41 states that “about three thousand souls” were saved and added to the number of believers in Jesus Christ.  And what then?  All of them devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.  Not some of them or a few of them, but ALL of them.  They also devoted themselves to fellowship, eating together including taking communion together, and praying together.  These were the essential four ingredients of this very dynamic first century church.   It must be remembered that these ingredients are still essential for a dynamic 21^st century church.  Indeed, these are the essential ingredients for building the kingdom of God.   

The key action verb in this passage is “devoted”.  To be devoted means to be constantly diligent, to adhere closely, to persevere.  That was the mindset and intent of the first Christians as it should be all Christians today.  They were constantly diligent and adhered closely to the apostles’ teaching.  What were they teaching?  Well, the Bible does not specify this, but the word “teaching” in the Bible always means “didache” or “doctrine”; that is, the basic beliefs of the faith.  They were diligent to the doctrine being taught by the apostles and closely adhered to those basic beliefs being taught.   

They were devoted not only to teaching, but also to fellowship and eating and praying together.  Fellowship (“koinonia”) is best described by Hebrews 10:24-25 that using two key action verbs that all Christians should be doing to one another—stimulating and encouraging.  We are to stimulate one another to be more loving/forgiving/caring and to do good deeds for one another; and we are to encourage one another to keep growing in our Christlikeness.  My deceased friend, Matt Lemmons, gave all of us a great example of how this should/must be done.  One great way to do all this is simply to use the spiritual gift(s) that the Lord has given you to help one another grow, to bring in new believers, and build up the kingdom of God.  Do you know how the Lord has gifted you?  What do you really enjoy doing in the church?  Are you responding to an inner calling to get more involved in a certain ministry? 

Don’t forget the importance of prayer.  Not only individual/private prayer, but also praying with and for one another (James 5:16).  As someone once said, “Daily prayer is the gymnasium of the soul”.  Are you exercising your spirit through being daily devoted to prayer?      

Most Read Bible Verses---#51---Ephesians 3:20-21

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NCV)

With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine.  To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.

These two verses conclude a prayer of Paul’s that started in Ephesians 3:14.  This prayer teaches so much about daily spiritual experiences.  One daily spiritual experience is the truth that God can do so much in your life that you cannot possibly ask or imagine.  The big question, however, is this---are you allowing His power to work in you?  You are trying to do something great in your life, e.g. be an excellent student, athlete, parent, employee, achieve some professional accomplishment, rise as a Christian servant, whatever.  Are you making most/all of your effort on your own strength and abilities or are you asking and relying on God’s power working in and through you?

In previous verses (16-19) Paul asked that God grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in you so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith and that because you are rooted and grounded in love, you will be able to comprehend anything and everything and to know the love of Christ and be filled with all the fullness of God.  Whew, that’s a lot to think about and realize, isn’t it?  But, the bottom line is that God is willing to work in and through you to accomplish His will and purpose for your life if you simply yield to Him.  You need to think long and hard about this.  Most Christians do not take to time to meditate and think deeply for a long time over many days about such truths.  And, as a result, so much potential power and accomplishment is lost. 

Think about your life with respect to God’s power to do much, much more than anything you could dream of asking or imagining.  Do you have a story to tell?  If not, why not start today claiming these verses for your life?  The Bible says that you cannot even imagine what He can do with your life.  The key is letting God’s power work in you and the only way that can happen is for you to resolve to follow His ways through faith and obedience.

Think also of what God's power working in us collectively can do with our church.  The church (Christian people) glorifies God.  By all of us allowing God’s power to work in and through us, we cannot imagine what He can do.  Do you think that the originators of famous churches like Willow Creek or Saddleback or other well-known churches (like my Phoenix church, Christ Church of the Valley) imagined where they would be now?  God is always willing to do the same and more for any person or group of people committed to Him.  He can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine.  To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever.  Amen.