King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Thursday, July 29, 2021
Chapters: Isaiah 49-53
Message: Christ’s Holy Arm
Hello My Friend,
There is way to much in the Scriptures here to try and shorten the message, so, please bear with me. One of the passages that hold dear to me is the fact that the second we receive Jesus as our Saviour, He takes a hold of our hand and nothing can pluck us away from Him. When I use to teach the little kids in Sunday school, they loved it when I would do this illustration, I ask them to take my hand, they would try with all their might to break free from my hand, but could not. I would let them loose, and of course, they would end up falling to the floor. What it taught them was that that while we often trip and fall in our flesh, Jesus with His mighty hand, will never let go of one soul who puts their faith and trust in Him, [John 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one.]
It may sound strange to the world that one could even imagine a God is so powerful that He is able to not only be in heaven, but everywhere at same time, and including in the flesh of Jesus Christ Himself. Well, that is why they will never see Jesus as anyone other than some prophet or preacher man who became a martyr for His God. As we learned when we started reading the Book of Isaiah, it actually mirrors the entire Bible, everything contained within the entire book is found somewhere else in the Scriptures, including the New Testament. The more you read through Isaiah, the more you discover that it is actually Jesus who is speaking through much of it. In these next several chapters, Jesus is the one speaking as He reveals how and why His Father sent Him, and this message was not only addressed to Israel.
[Isaiah 49:1-6 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. 2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; 3 And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God. 5 And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. 6-10 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.]
[The LORD hath called me from the womb;] We must come to understand why God sent Jesus in the flesh through the virgin Mary. It was not because she was perfect because she sinned just as well as we all do, and brought her sacrifices just like all the rest of God’s faithful had done at that time. God had favor upon Mary, who was of the tribe if Judah. God used her to bring forth His only begotten Son for that fact that if He had sent Him through normal conception He would have been the son of Adam and not of God, [Luke 1:30-31 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.]
The Gentiles are anyone who is not of the children of Jacob or heathens, which were pagans. God did not just send Jesus to save Jews, He sent Him for all. Now, as we continue, some of this is actually God Himself speaking, He reveals His Spn’s deity as well as the day that He would bring salvation to believers.
[Isaiah 49:7-10 Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. 8 Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; 9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. 10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.]
[That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth;] Jesus is the only one who can set a soul free from the prison of not only hell, but our sin as well, [John 8:34-36 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.] None of us are worthy, except for Jesus, to serve God and receive His blessings for a job well done because even on a good day, we fail Him. Nevertheless, He made a promise that no one could ever pluck us from His hand, and He holds to that promise. Oh, He will turn His back to us if we are living in sin and taking advantage of His grace because He cannot watch us like that. And it may seem like He is far away sometimes when we are being afflicted, but He has not gone anywhere, in fact, He goes on to tell us that He not only never forgets us, that our very own names are written in the palms of His hands.
[Isaiah 49:13-16,18 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. 14 But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. 15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. 18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.]
[they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.] Another thing that I teach every age, even if we walk away from Jesus and get caught up in a mountain of sin, Jesus never forgets the promise He made to save our soul. As long as we did not believe in Jesus in vain or lose our faith in Him all together, we cannot lose our salvation. Jesus does not save us based on our obedience to Him, He does so purely by grace through our faith in Him because we are trusting in Him alone as our Saviour, [Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.]
And this is why I always say that those whom have put their faith in Christ that are living in sin will get judged well before they will stand before Jesus. We maintain good works as a faithful Christian, not to remain saved, but merely as to give thanks to Him for what He has done for us. Those who continuously live in sin and refuse to repent will suffer so much more than what we will ever suffer from life’s afflictions, and only have themselves to blame as to why God has stepped back and will not intervene until they do repent. Now, in the next chapter Jesus reveals more of what will happen to Him, speaking of the humiliation He will face leading up to His crucifixion, but He also mentions how sinful we are, and that is why we cannot save ourselves.
[Isaiah 50:1,4–6,10 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. 4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. 5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. 6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 10 Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.]
[and for your transgressions is your mother put away.] This is directed to the Jews, when God sent them to Babylon, by whom God here refers to as children to a mother. They turned from God and gave themselves to idols, therefore, God could not stand to look at them and sent them away from seventy years. Due to our own transgressions, we owe a debt that we can never pay for our redemption on our own. Even if we could afford to pay for every sin we ever committed, we still would never be able to pay it off because we never stop sinning. It is no wonder why we need the Saviour. Jesus goes on to explain how His righteousness is saves us forever.
[Isaiah 51:1-2,4-6 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. 2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. 5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.]
[but my salvation shall be for ever,] Animal sacrifices were a way for a person to be atoned for their sins, but it was not permanent, everytime they sinned they would have to bring another offering. What Jesus would do by offering Himself as the sacrifice would not only atone for our sin, it would pay the debt owed, and remove the need for any other sacrifice, [Hebrews 10:4-6,12,14 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.]
Do you see how, by His sinless death, Jesus made salvation permanent? Not for righteousness that we have done, but by His righteousness we are saved. Amen! When we put our faith and trust in Christ alone to save us, then our salvation is forever. And through Isaiah, Jesus goes on to explain this further.
[Isaiah 52:3-7 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. 4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!]
[Ye have sold yourselves for nought;] Through our iniquities we have sold ourselves to the creditor, Satan himself, and for nothing, because all he will do is take us to hell with him. By Jesus sacrificing His sinless body, He paid that debt for us, and we never have to pay it back. Amen! We have been washed clean with His blood, removed of our sin stain filled garments, and put on the new clothes of Christ’s righteousness that He has given us without one single payment. Amen! Now, through Isaiah, we get a little more insight into what Jesus would look like, the live He would live, how man would see Him, His crucifixion, and the amazing purpose behind it.
[Isaiah 52:10-14 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. 12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward. 13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:]
[his visage was so marred more than any man,] We have seen the movies that give us a picture of what Jesus went through during His passion, but they are not even close to what actually happened, his face beaten, beard literally ripped off his face, his body maimed as knife like weapons rip pieces of his skin off his body. Jesus could have ended it all right there, but He endured it all so that we do not have to walk in darkness, so that we could see His Light and trust that He alone would be our means to salvation. Through Isaiah, Jesus also reveals those, including Jews, who would reject Him, and how they despised Him.
[Isaiah 53:1-5 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.]
[and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?] Keep in mind that Jesus only reveals Himself to those who believe in God and salvation is only granted to those whose heart believe that Christ alone saves them. Jesus was beaten up so badly at His judgment that His face and body were unrecognizable. He did not just endure all that pain for the Jews, He did it for all. Through Isaiah we continue to see some amazing prophecies about Jesus, we get a little more insight into His life and crucifixion. It is incredible to read about this and realize that it happened exactly as it is written here.
[Isaiah 53:6-11 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.]
[for the transgression of my people was he stricken.] When Jesus hung on that cross He bore every single sin of every single soul upon his body, it was covered with so much sin that God had to turn His face as to not look at him. His sacrifice, once and for all, satisfied God’s requirement needed to redeem a soul bound for hell permanently because of the debt that could never be paid, even if we gave ourselves as a sacrifice. And this goes all the way back to the first sin committed by Adam and Eve, [1 Peter 2:21-25 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Isaiah 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Isaiah 49:26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. Isaiah 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Isaiah 51:5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, As much as I thank You for saving my soul from death and hell the second I trusted You as my Saviour, I still do not comprehend all that You have done for me. It is so overwhelming that You died for me to save me from something I deserve. Thank You, Jesus. I know there is nothing I can do to repay You, but I love You, and want to give honor to You by giving myself to You. You are my Lord and Saviour, there is no other, and I am glad that there is no other because You are all I need. Lord, Give me Your power, strength, mercy, and grace to endure all the trials, challenges, and afflictions I face as I seek to serve You as a living sacrifice. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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