September 26
Isaiah 48:12-50:11 | PS 69:1-18 | Prov 24:5-6 | Eph 4:17-32
Our moral self-righteousness often blinds us to reality. We blame others, be it individuals, or entities like corporations or governments for our predicaments. We struggle to see God, though He has never moved, when all we can see is ourselves. Concerning Israel, we read in Isaiah 50:1-2, "This says the Lord: "Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce, Whom I have put away? Of which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away. Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called was there no answer? Is My hand shortened at all that I cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness...". Israel moved; God never did. God had worked in them and through them in the past, performing miracles, and He was more than able to do so again, but they chose not to listen. We will see the extent to how much God loved them, and us.
Within the Book of Isaiah, often called the fifth Gospel, are four Servant Songs, or portions of Scripture depicting Jesus' first coming. These are pictures of Jesus as our Suffering Servant which are in sharp contrast to the many pictures of His second coming as the conquering King. These four passages are in Isaiah 42:1-9, 49:1-13, 50:4-11, and 52:13-53:12. Our iniquities had pulled us away, had blinded us, had hindered us from a right relationship. We could not do it. We were sinners, are sinners, and sadly, continue to be sinners. So, God sent His Son to do that which we could not do. We read in Isaiah 50:5-6, "The Lord God has opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away. I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting." We see this picture of Jesus' treatment, of His being beaten, etc. in Matthew 26:67, and 27:26-30. Having His ear opened is a picture of the bondservant in Deuteronomy 15:12-18, and is seen vividly when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane as we read in Matthew 26:39, when He said to the cup of wrath He was to drink, "O My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."
So, Jesus came for the children of Israel, as their Messiah, though the majority disregarded Him and failed to accept that which He did for them. The beautiful thing is that He not only came for them, but for Gentiles also, as we read in Isaiah 49:6, "Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth." Though the people of Israel were hopeless on their own, though the pagan Gentiles were hopeless on their own, Messiah Jesus came for both and offered us hope. He is our living Hope. He paid for the sins of mankind. He has the ability to restore relationship. He alone has the ability to take us by the hand and usher us into heaven. He alone, because He stood all alone on that cross and did that which none of us could do. He paid for our sins and renders us clean. He is righteous and puts that righteousness onto us if only we are willing to repent of our sins, submit to Him and simply accept that which He has already accomplished.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: