Most Read Bible Verses---#23---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---#24---I Peter 3:15-16

I Peter 3:15-16 (NLT)

And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle  and respectful way.

Have you ever been asked, perhaps challenged by someone trying to embarrass you or refute your belief, to explain why you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior (your Christian hope)?  Maybe some of you have been confronted many times.     I have been asked to explain my faith only a few times.  However, whether many times or just a few, each of us must be prepared to give an answer in a convincing manner why we believe what we believe.

Have you ever seen the movie “Inherit the Wind”?  It tells the story of the Scopes “Monkey Trial”, one of the most famous battles in history between evolution and creationism. In 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, public schoolteacher John Scopes was taken to court for teaching evolution, which had earlier been banned by the state of Tennessee. The ensuing court battle pitted two famous men at the time as defense and prosecutor lawyers.  The defense lawyer was William Jennings Bryan, a former Democratic presidential candidate.  The prosecuting lawyer was Clarence Darrow.  The movie depicts Bryan as a fundamentalist Christian with blind faith who cannot answer basic questions logically about his faith.  The movie puts Christianity in a bad light because of the bumbling failures of Mr. Bryan to defend adequately why he believed what he believed.  Sadly, Bryan’s failures depict the status of the majority of Christians today who also cannot defend why they believe what they believe.  

How can you be prepared to respond to someone who asks you why you believe in Jesus as your Savior, especially when that someone is challenging why you believe?  Sooner or later, if you are being a faithful witness about your faith (others in your life know clearly that you are a Christian), you will be strongly challenged to defend why you are a Christian, why you believe the way you do.  Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior typically have these characteristics:

·  Do not believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

·  Do not believe that Christ died a substitutionary death for the sins of mankind.

·  Do not believe that mankind is morally corrupt and sinful.

·  Do not believe that God is sovereign

·  View God in some false way, not the way God is taught in the Bible

So you need to be prepared to respond to questions related to these characteristics of the non-believer. 

Did you know that if you are a Christian, it is your duty to be an apologist? The term “apologist” or “apologetics” refers to the reasoned defense of the Christian faith.  This is what I Peter 3:15 is saying.  In fact, the word “explain” (or other translations use the phrase “make a defense”) comes from the Greek word “apologia”.  The Word here is saying that you need to be ready to defend your faith, to give rational and reasoned explanations to doubters about why you believe they way you do and why you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.

You need not only to be ready to defend your faith, but also you need to know what you are defending and be comfortable with your position.  Examples of how Paul did this are found in Acts 14, 17, and 19.  Note that he reasoned with doubters and critics because he knew his Bible (the Old Testament).  For you today, the main key in defending your faith is that you must know your Bible, at least to some extent.  You must have solid knowledge of the faith you profess.  It’s also a good idea to have some knowledge about other religions.  For example have you ever interacted with a Mormon or a Jew or someone of another religion who not only could clear articulate what their beliefs were, but also knew the basics of Christianity?  You can be made to look really bad if you are not equally prepared.

The best way to be prepared to defend your faith, especially against someone who thinks that you’ve been ‘brainwashed’ or you are not being intellectual or you are being a ‘prude’, is to declare that you simply believe that you were a sinner, but Christ died for your sins, you believe that this is true and that His Spirit lives in you because you confessed your sinful nature and gave your life over to His authority.  Your basic defense is the gospel and your story in describing what the gospel has done to change your life.  A few basic Bible verses memorized—the famous ones like John 3:16 and John 14:6 go a long way in helping you defend your faith. 

In your defense of your beliefs, I Peter 3:16 also says that you should be gentle and respectful.  You do not need to get into a shouting match.  You should not put down others for what they believe or don’t believe.  You should be calm, cool, and collected in your demeanor where it is obvious that your faith is strong and deep and allow others to see that your actions back up your words.  Perhaps our church and all other churches of those reading this devotional should periodically teach their flocks how to defend the basics of their faith. 

Most Read Bible Verses---#25---II Timothy 3:16

II Timothy 3:16 (CEV)

Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word.  All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live.

There are several symbols used in Scripture to describe the Bible:

1.   Sword—Hebrews 4:12—it both hurts and heals (read also Ephesians 6:17)

2.   Hammer—Jeremiah 23:29—it reproves (read also II Corinthians 10:4-5)

3.   Seed—I Peter 1:23—it plants eternal truths (read also Luke 8:5-15)

4.   Mirror—James 1:23-25—it tells us who we really are (read also I Corinthians 13:12)

5.   Fire—Jeremiah 20:9—it can consume our lives (read also Luke 24:32)

6.   Lamp—Psalm 119:105—it is a guidebook, not a rulebook (read also Proverbs 6:23)

7.   Food—I Peter 2:2—it provides wisdom and knowledge for eternal life (read also                     I Corinthians 3:2 and Hebrews 5:14)

As the above verse states, the Bible is useful (the original Greek word means “profitable” or “advantageous”) to accomplish four goals—teaching, helping (actually convicting or reproving), correcting and showing us how to live.

Are you giving the Bible a chance to teach, reprove, correct, and train you to enable you to be adequate and equipped for every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17)? 

Too many Christians are spiritually anorexic.  Too many Christians are not spending time in the Word and, therefore, not receiving what the Bible claims it can give to enable Christians not only to serve others, but to make the best and right decisions in their own lives.  Too many decisions and beliefs based on our culture, the media, and our own feelings, not based on the Word of God.  Examples might include job and career decisions, how we use our resources, what we do with our time, and how we react to life’s challenges. 

“The need for knowledge of the Scriptures is obvious.  There are so many well-meaning Christians who are long on zeal, but short on facts……lots of enthusiasm and motivation, but foggy when it comes to scriptural truth.  They have a deep and genuine desire to be used by God, to reach the lost, serve in the church, invest their energies in the Kingdom of God, but their doctrinal foundation is shifting sand rather than solid rock.  They are at the mercy of their emotions, flying high one day, scraping the bottom the next.  To avoid being exposed to their vulnerability, most retreat into the background scenery of passivity because their ignorance of basic Scripture caused them embarrassment”—Charles Swindoll, Growing Deep in the Christian Life, 1986, page 9.

How well do you know your Bible?  How well are you living what you know?