Suffering Servant Song V-Part 5-Rewarding Results

"Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he was put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offering; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:10-12, ESV) [Read Isaiah 52:13- 53:12]

Today we conclude the Suffering Servant Songs from the prophecy of Isaiah. Why did I begin this series? Say it was from my intense interest in studying the Word of God and seeing how one portion explains another, how the whole is tied together in one great and marvelous story of redemtpion of mankind. Recently, my pastor has been preaching through The Revelation in his Sunday morning sermons. As hard as that book of the Bible is to interpret and understand, his deligence in preaching-teaching has made clear that Scripture (even the visions of John on the Island of Patmos) is relevant today and exceedingly important. Any my pastor's plea that we be serious in our own personal Bible study led not only to my examination of these important Suffering Servant Songs in Isaiah, but also to all the studies that have gone into these devotionals back to January 1, 2010 when I began them. Pardon this personal testimony about the importance and benefits of studying the Word of God. As I study, rich avenues open up, and the Spirit reveals truths of which I have been hitherto unaware. I pray that something I have written will make you want to study more deeply the riches of God's Word and find and apply its relevance to your lfie.

In the verses for today, we see how the Messiah's life was a sin offering for our guilt. As a result, we are His spiritual offspring. Let us never forget that truth! We learn here that God was pleased that the Savior's death paid the price; it was not some happenstance but was predetermined with much purpose and forethought. This sacrifice, God's love for us, and His plans to establish a worldwide kingdom began with the removal of guilt and proceeded with the restitution. Many will be justified-that is, will choose to belive that the Messiah came and became the propitiation for guilt and the ent4ance way to the Kingdom of God.

"His days will be prolonged." This result, as I interpret it, means the resurrection from the dead of the Suffering Servant Himself and of His followers. The Suffering Servant is satisfied about His suffering and himiliation. "It is finished!" He said on the cross (John 19:30). After three days He rose from the dead. At His ascension, He gave us a commission which is still intact until His second return: "Go, tell, baptize, teach.." (Matthew 28:18-20). And for all the faithful, and those who "confess with thy mouth...and believe in thine heart" (Romans 110:9-10) that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, we will have a portion with Him, not only in work and sometimes suffering here, but in results and rewards of faithfulness. The John, in giving us his visions of Heaven, gave a foretaste of what is yet to come for the redeemed. Here is one of his glimpses: "And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever." (Revelation 22:5, ESV) Selah!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Unity in the Christian Fellowship

“And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way” (NIV Ephesians 1:22-23. Read Ephesians 1:15-23).

“Unity in the Christian fellowship”—the church: how do we gain it, how do we maintain it? This has been a deep question ever since Christ established the church and commissioned his disciples to “go into all the world…teaching, preaching, baptisting, teaching them to observe all things” (Mt. 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8). One aim Paul had in writing Ephesians was to warn the church about forces that would undermine unity: false doctrine, enticements of worldliness, internal bickering, and forgetting to make Christ Lord of all. Do these seem relevant to our present day as we consider our own church? If we are honest, we would admit that these and other forces are at work to undermine the effectiveness of a local Christian fellowship.

We need to recognize, first and foremost, that God has chosen believers to be His children. We are part of the family of God. A family is bound by ties of love. The ideal is to quell petty jealousies and for “each to esteem the other better than himself.” This ideal is hard to reach in a family setting, and it is also hard to attain in a church family. We have our “pet agenda” and often vie for it at great expense to the fellowship. We are prone to blame, slow to forgive. All of this, unfortunately, occurs within the confines of the fellowship founded by the Lord Christ Himself.

One of the best ways to ensure unity in the fellowship is demonstrated within Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This, which is believed to be a general letter to the churches (and hence to us) not just to the Christians at Ephesus, Paul does not pinpoint one particular problem and dwell upon it. Instead, he emphasized who they were in Christ Jesus, all that was available to them through Christ, and the importance of oneness within the body of Christ. He knew they would be facing persecution, scattering, divisions and grave opposition. He wanted them to be strong in the faith that would give them confidence and boldness. He was praying for their wisdom and revelation (v. 17) and that “the eyes of your heart be enlightened” (v. 18). In this way they (and we) can come to know “the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance…and His incomparably great power for us who believe” (v. 19). These are the keys to unity in the fellowship of believers. It takes much prayer and putting the Lord first.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Monday, June 14, 2010

Paul Encouraged by the Lord

“The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks. The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, ‘Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.’ “ –Acts 23: 10-11 (NIV. Read Acts 23: 1-11).

Being a Christian and called of God to do a special work in His Kingdom is not always easy. God does not promise us a way of ease. But He promises to be with us always, in whatever circumstance we face. The account of Paul’s trials given in Acts reads like high drama, which it is. He was brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin. He gave his story. He had once been a devout Jew and when the Christian movement began after the ascension of Jesus, Paul was one of the most devout of the persecutors. But God changed direction for Paul on the road to Damascus. At this point in the drama revealed in Acts, Paul has been arrested in Jerusalem and is giving testimony before the Jewish Sanhedrin. He tells passionately and clearly what the Lord has done in his life to turn him around and make him a messenger of the good news to the Gentiles.

And right in the midst of Paul’s testimony, the Sanhedrin divides according to their beliefs.. The Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection form one faction and the Sadducees who are anti-resurrection are the other faction. Their attention temporarily was focused more on their own quarrel than on their prisoner, Paul. The commander of the Roman garrison, whom we learn later from the letter he wrote to Governor Felix on behalf of Paul (Acts 23:26-30) sent soldiers to rescue Paul again from the Jewish mob and secured him in the barracks.

That night, in the quietness of his cell, the Lord appeared and spoke to Paul, giving him encouragement and purpose: “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts. 23:11). Sometimes in our darkest nights, as with Paul, God appears to us to say, “Take courage!” He reminds us of His presence and His purpose. “And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b, NIV). God let Paul know that He had a larger purpose for his life and it would be fulfilled. That same power is present with the sincere believer today, regardless of circumstances, however dark. “Take courage!” the Lord says. And He is ever present with us to give that courage. Praise be to God!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Saturday, May 8, 2010

Jesus Gives the Great Commission

“Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen. –Matthew 28:18-20.

Jesus’ final post-resurrection appearance to His disciples occurred ‘on a mountain’ outside Bethany. It was what we might term a ‘mountain-top’ experience. Jesus gave His followers this final assignment, their ‘marching orders’ for how they were to conduct their lives and ministry until his Second Coming. Read Luke’s account of this major event and commissioning in Acts 1:1-14, with Acts 1:8 specifically stating what we have come to call our “Great Commission.”

This was, first of all, to reassure the disciples. The kingdom was not to be political but spiritual, and He was to be the head of it. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth,” Jesus said. He had been absolutely victorious in what He came to earth to do. Now all authority was His to bestow on those who followed His commission. He was leaving them for awhile and they had a job to do.

The parameters of the Great Commission were to all nations—no one excluded because of nationality, race or location. Go…everywhere and make disciples. How do we accomplish this going? By telling forth the Good News of Jesus Christ to everyone. He has given us the partnership of proclaiming! What a privilege! How do we respond to this challenge daily? “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things!” So wrote Paul in Romans 10: 15, quoting Isaiah 52:7. This is not to say that everyone is to become an ordained minister, a preacher of the Word. But every Christian should and does have a message to proclaim, to share. In our own way, we can reach those “as we are going about anyway,” according to the “Cottonpatch Gospel” interpretation the Great Commission.

Those who become disciples are to be baptized, an act of obedience and identification, saying that each believer is dead to sins and resurrected to new life in Christ.

Next occurs the “teaching to observe all things.” This is the “feeding the sheep” that Jesus told Peter to do. It is the next sequential part of the Great Commission. New believers, all believers, need to be taught the things of God.

If we love the Word of God and are consistent about both living and teaching its precepts, its truth, we are fulfilling the Great Commission. How is my life an example? How is my teaching? Are each in line with what Jesus Christ has commissioned me to do?

Because many have been faithful to Christ’s command in the Great Commission, we today are Christians. We reach our hands back in faith to them who paved the way for us to meet Christ personally. We stand at a pivotal point. We reach our hands of faith out to others who need to know the message. As someone has aptly said, ‘We may be the only Bible the careless world will read.”

The Great Commission is mine to obey, mine to live out, my marching orders for sharing Christ with others. And His promise is as true today as it was on the mountain of ascension centuries ago: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Thursday, April 8, 2010