Happy Palm Sunday Everyone!
Our pastor shared something I had never noticed:
What does the book of Isaiah have in common with the rest of the bible?
The book of Isaiah has 66 chapters. The Bible has 66 books.
The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are about the judgment — the law. The next 27 point towards the good news, God’s comfort.
How many books are in the Old Testament? 39
How many New Testament books? 27
Isn’t that neat?
Isaiah 53 foretold about our wonderful Savior: Jesus
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire Him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.4 Surely He took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered Him punished by God,
stricken by Him, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,
and by His wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all.7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so He did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people He was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in His death,
though He had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in His mouth.10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11 After He has suffered, He will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great,
and He will divide the spoils with the strong,
because He poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For He bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
How amazing that the prophet Isaiah totally explained the coming Messiah yet the scholars of God’s Word didn’t understand.
As our pastor taught us today, some images from the movie The Passion were flashed across the screen. I still can barely look at those pictures. I cannot fathom what Jesus did for me. Can you?
Most of us have felt an unholy yoke on our necks at some point in our lives. We were born with wickedness in our hearts. Each of us have sinned. Jesus was without sin and He had to feel the weight of ALL of our sins. I can’t imagine the spiritual burden He must have felt.
Verse 9-10 stated that Jesus had done no violence and had no deceit in His mouth — yet it was God’s Will for Him to be crushed.
There is no way we can understand.
I am grateful …
How can anyone NOT love Him?
This week, I will remember what He endured for me. For my sin. For my life.
Thank you Beth for sharing that tid bit. Blessings to you and yours during this time of year.
That was a good sermon – I learned several new things as well. Thanks for posting (I was going to and got lazy). Love ya!