Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 53:7-12 It Pleased the Lord to Bruise Him – He Has Put Him to Grief

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Isa 53:7-12 It Pleased the Lord to Bruise Him – He Has Put Him to Grief

[Study Aired February 2, 2020]

Isa 53:7  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. 
Isa 53:8  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. 
Isa 53:9  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. 
Isa 53:10  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. 
Isa 53:11  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. 
Isa 53:12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. 

We have laid to rest the Jewish doctrine that chapters 52-54 are speaking of the Gentiles afflicting and persecuting the Jews. This 54th chapter of Isaiah makes clear it is the Lord’s own people who reject their own Savior. It simply cannot be asserted that ‘My people have done no violence neither was any deceit found in their mouth’ and also assert that ‘My people were cut off out of the land of the living for the transgressions of My people’. A most basic doctrine to the law of Moses is that the sacrifice must be without spot or blemish, and no nation on earth can make that claim. It is in the first chapter of this prophet that Jerusalem is called “a harlot” and is accused of murdering her own Savior:

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

To hate or murder anyone is to hate and murder Christ Himself:

Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

We are all guilty of the blood of Christ, but until we acknowledge it and actually give an accounting of our part in His death, we have not yet eaten His flesh nor drank of His blood.

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him” confirms to us the principle that God creates evil, and that evil, pain, tribulations and torment are all integral to what the Lord is doing in making us into His image.

Because the Truth is such a revolutionary concept, I will begin this study with the same reminder with which we began our last study: Here is that reminder. Pay close attention to every word:

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Being given the ability to confess before Christ Himself that I am the one who killed Him, works toward making me obedient to Him. Confessing before Him my complicity in His death, gives me boldness as I am being judged, and I am brought to rejoice in being found worthy to fill up in my body what is yet lacking of His afflictions (Col 1:24).

If we are given to accept the Biblical depth of those words, then these three chapters of Isaiah, chapters 52-54, will become an instruction manual to each of us for how we are to lead our own lives. If we are granted to walk in His footsteps and follow the pattern He has left us, then it will explain why we suffer as we do, and we will be given to praise Him for His fiery work in our lives.

Let’s continue listening to our instructor concerning how we must conduct our own lives to ‘be as He is in this world’:

Isa 53:7 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. 

Unlike us, Christ had not been given His Father’s spirit “by measure”:

Joh 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

It was through His Father’s spirit that Christ was capable of not opening His mouth in His own defense. He “gave no answer” in His own defense because He knew He had to fulfill His Father’s will and pay the price for the sins of the whole world. 

Christ could ever so easily have convinced Pilate to spare His life because we are told:

Joh 19:6  When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. 
Joh 19:7  The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 
Joh 19:8  When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; 
Joh 19:9  And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 
Joh 19:10  Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 
Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. 
Joh 19:12  And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

Christ could not defend Himself because He had to live up to all the prophecies concerning Himself:

Luk 22:37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. 

“The things concerning Christ have an end” in our lives if we are “as He is”.

Luk 24:44  And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

Everything “written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning Christ, are all about His being rejected by His people from the Garden of Eden, in Genesis, to the “great city wherein our Lord was crucified” by His own people in the book of Revelation:

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

The spirit required of Christ to say… “O my Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me…” to demonstrate that His flesh was as weak as ours. Because He had been given His Father’s spirit “without measure” in the very same breath, knowing He was about to die, He adds, “nevertheless not as I will, but as you will”.

Mat 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

The natural thing for any man to do would be to defend himself. We struggle against that pull of our flesh every day. Instead of saying ‘Not my will but thine be done’ when the Lord sends someone to give us a trial, we question why we need to suffer at all, and we dare to ask, “Why is that person, or why are those persons treating me this way?” When someone cuts us off in traffic we naturally and automatically accuse that person of being an idiot. We all do it. Do you really believe that God is working “all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11) for your good” (Rom 8:28)? We all say we do, and yet we struggle to treat our enemies as Joseph treated His brothers who sold him into slavery. The Truth of every situation and every trial in our lives is that the Lord is “working all things after the counsel of His own will… for our good”. While it is natural for us to turn the Lord’s grace into lasciviousness, that ‘lasciviousness’ is just as much a part of “all things after the counsel of His own will” as the sins and tribulations the Lord sends to us at the hands of other wicked men. It is all being caused and worked and made to happen by the Lord Himself:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 
Eze 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

Do we really believe “the Lord has deceived that prophet” who is withstanding every word you and I speak? I really do believe that is true, and yet my own flesh still asks, “How is it possible for a brother who was once enlightened, had tasted of the heavenly gift, was a partaker of the holy spirit, had tasted of the good Word of God, and the powers of the age to come… How is it possible for that brother to be so easily deceived as to now deny that there is a coming age in which we as the Lord’s firstfruit elect will be given to rule the nations of this world?” 

Do not think that such a thing is impossible for God to work within each of us. It happened to Judas, and we are warned that it will happen again:

Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear
Rom 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 
Heb 6:7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: 
Heb 6:8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

I myself struggle to remember the Truth… “If the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet…”  

The Lord Himself warned us it would happen:

 Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 
Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

He repeated this warning in His Matthew 24 in answer to the question, “What will be the sign of Your coming and the end of this age?” The answer seems unrelated to the question if you do not know the meaning of the phrase “the words I speak to you are spirit…” (Joh 6:63):

 Mat 24:3  And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 

Christ had just informed them “Not one stone would be left upon another” in the temple:

Mat 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 
Mat 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Spiritually speaking, stones are the doctrines of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone of His doctrines:

Eph 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

This is the meaning of that statement:

Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 
Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many
Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 
Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 
Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows. 
Mat 24:9  Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake
Mat 24:10  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 
Mat 24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many
Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 
Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

The first temple, like the first Adam, is the figure of the true temple of God… not made with hands:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, [into us] now to appear in the presence of God for us:

“He that shall endure to the end” certainly has an inward application.  However, “The end is not yet” does not say, “There is no end of the age.” The very fact that “times eonian” have a physical outward beginning, (Gen 1:1; Joh 1:1; 2Ti 1:9 and Tit 1:2) demonstrates that ‘times eonian’ must also have a physical, outward end or else death could never be destroyed (1Co 15:26), and God could never be “all in all”.

1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, [at the beginning of times eonian] by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,[Greek: agonies, ‘before times eonian’]

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; [Greek: aionios, ‘before times eonian’]

We most often fail to appreciate the depth of the fact that “as He is so are we in this world” (1Jo 4:17). We find it hard to believe that prophecies like Isaiah 53 have any personal application, when in fact nothing could be farther from the Truth. The way we walk is a narrow way (Mat 7:14). Therefore, we must also be very careful that we never forget that even the statement, “As He is so are we…” has its limits and that we simply have not been given the Lord’s spirit without ‘measure’ (Joh 3:34). We will never, of ourselves, have “the power of His throne” (Gen 41:40), and it will never be said of us we “knew no sin” (2Co 5:21). All those things can be said only of our spotless, sinless Head, Christ. 

In the same way, those in the lake of fire, with whom we have so much in common, will never be given rulership over the physical nations of this world (Rev 20:1-6) and will never be part of the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:7) and will never be given the power of the age to come (Heb 6: 5) and will never be in the “first… resurrection to life” (Joh 5:28-29; Rev 20:6).

Christ was “the son of man”, and in that sense He was “made… sin [and yet He] knew no sin”:

2Co 5:21 For the man who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. (ACV)

And yet:

Isa 53:8 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. 

We are all familiar with the story of how this was all accomplished through the betrayal by one of the Lord’s very elect apostles:

Luk 22:47  And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. 
Luk 22:48  But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?

King David prophesied of this very event when he tells us of how his own chief counselor, Ahithophel, sided with his own son Absalom to kill his own father. Ahithophel was spiritually living with his father’s wife, just as Absalom was in literally taking his father’s wives:

2Sa 16:22 So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
2Sa 16:23 And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

While spiritually killing Christ, we “leave not one stone upon another”, and those who do the same to  us, and leave us in the streets of that great city where our Lord was crucified, are in themselves leaving not one stone left on another of the Lord’s temple in which they had at one time been enlightened and had tasted the heavenly gift and had once known the power of the age to come and had once tasted of the holy spirit:

Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 
Heb 6:7  For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: 
Heb 6:8  But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

“Thorns and briers” are Biblical symbols for false and lying doctrines. “Every man’s works are tried by fire” (1Co 3:13-14), and the fire will devour anything within any man’s works that is spiritually combustible, spiritual “wood, hay, and stubble”. But the phrase “whose end is to be burned” in this context, is speaking specifically of those who are not granted repentance in this age and who “fall away [after] having been once enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift and being made partakers of the holy spirit and having tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age of come.” The ‘burning’ of Hebrews 6:8 is speaking specifically of that ‘burning’ which takes place in the lake of fire, which is the second group to die to the carnal mind. It is those who are not promised to be kept from being “hurt of the second death” (Rev 2:10-11).

“Who shall declare His generation?” John the Baptist and everyone who is “in Christ” are until this very day declaring the 42nd generation, the generation of Christ:

Mat 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. [14 X 3 = 42 generations from Abraham to the Christ]

Rotherham’s includes that article:

Mat 1:17 So then, all the generations from Abraham unto David, are, fourteen, generations, and, from David unto the removal to Babylon, fourteen, generations; and, from the removal to Babylon unto the Christ, fourteen, generations.

The apostle Paul also declared the generation of Christ:

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Isaiah himself declared Christ’s generation when He calls Him “the everlasting Father” in:

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 
Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

“As He is, so are we” (1Jo 4:17), and “I appoint you a kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto me.”

Luk 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

Paul plainly tells us:

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours
1Co 3:23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Those words are “a two-edged sword including both “life or death… all are [ours]”. 

This verse is also ours because “as He is, so are we”:

Isa 53:9 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.

“Making his grave with the wicked” is spiritually the same as being made sin… yet without knowing any sin (2Co 5:21). It is all a necessary part of the plan which the Father gave Christ to fulfill “before the world began”.

This next verse is also for both Christ and for His Christ:

Isa 53:10  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. 

The reason it “pleases the Lord to bruise Him” is because His Father knows that it is but “for a moment”, and then He will be raised up to great glory and immortality:

Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Lord willing, Isaiah 54:8 will be the last verse of next week’s study. The Father forsook the flesh of Christ knowing that corruption could not inherit the kingdom of God:

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

The Father also knew that by bruising and hiding His face from Christ “for a little moment” that He was delivering all of mankind from all the   monstrous, false and lying doctrines which accompany the false doctrine of mankind being given a will that is free from the Father’s own influence. It is upon that false doctrine that the justification of eternal torment rests, by placing all the blame upon the Lord’s “poor, weak corruptible” creatures who, they assure us, chose of their own free will to burn in hell for all eternity rather than submit to God. What a monstrous lie and false doctrine of men!

I had a man write and tell me, “I would burn in hell forever before I would ever worship the God you worship, who does not give mankind a free choice of whether he wants to worship Him.” The Lord will not even break a sweat before that person will be trembling with astonishment and saying, ‘Lord what will you have me to do’.

Act 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

The scriptures teach the sins of all men are paid for and borne upon the “Lord’s goat” and upon “the scapegoat”, typifying our filling up of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake which is the church:

Lev 16:9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. [Christ]
Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him [with “the Lord’s goat”], and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. [The “living sacrifice” of Rom 12:1; Gal 2:20 and Col 1:24]

Lev 16:21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 
Lev 16:22 And the [scape] goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: [the scapegoat]

The offenses of Israel were placed upon Christ, and the offenses of Christ have fallen upon His body, the church, the scapegoat. Just one more example of “As He is, so are we in this world” (1Jo 4:17).

The New Testament tells us these words in Psalms 69 refer to Christ:

Psa 69:7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. 
Psa 69:8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children
Psa 69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

Joh 2:16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. 
Joh 2:17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Nothing has changed in 2,000 years. If we insist that the Lord’s house be kept pure of being monetized and defiled with false doctrines, then we, too, as the Lord’s scapegoat, will “fill up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ, for His body’s sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24), and we will suffer the reproaches of the religious leaders of today just exactly as Christ did in His day.

However, the things concerning Christ all have an end:

Luk 22:37  For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.

This is the product of the sacrifice of Christ. This is the “end [of] the things concerning [Him]”:

Isa 53:11 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. 

There it is in very plain language. Christ’s Father sent Him into the world to “bear their iniquities” and “that the world through Him might be saved”:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

“By [that] knowledge shall [we]… justify many” and “all… shall… be made alive” (1Co 15:22). This is what we are told about our natural condition:

Hos 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

“God sent… His Son into the world… that the world [through Him, through His priests], might be saved”. That is what the Lord wants, and this is what we know about the things the Lord desires:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

It is how the Lord is going about accomplishing the work His Father gave Him to accomplish which should catch our undivided attention. Yet it is something very few have noticed, and those who have noticed simply are not given to understand just how far reaching are the words “as He is, so are we in this world” (1Jo 4: 17). 

Here is how the Lord is doing the things He Father gave Him to do:

Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you
Joh 20:22  And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

The same story about the events of this same evening, the first evening after His resurrection, is repeated in Luke in these words:

Luk 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 
Luk 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

Christ has given His disciples the exact same commission His Father gave to Him, and then “He… opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures”.

Because of what happened that night, John was able to tell all of us:

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Also, because Christ gave us of His Father’s spirit and His own mind, Paul tells all of us this about what “As He is so are we in this world” means:

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Does “As He is, so are we” mean that we, too, are the saviors of this world? If you are given to accept it, this is the answer:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

This little 21-verse book of Obadiah is a prophecy concerning the destruction of Edom, which is just another name for Esau, the rejected twin brother of Jacob. ‘Esau’ and ‘Edom’ are Old Testament types of the religions within us all which bear rule over “the kings of this world” within all men. These 21 verses are succinctly summarized by this last verse which informs us that the Lord’s elect will rule the kingdoms of this world. This is the New Testament version of Obadiah 21:

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years
Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 
Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

These first six verses of Revelation 20 explain the meaning of our last verse for today:

Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. [Rev 20:4] 

We may or we may not be forced to “pour out [our] soul unto death”. Whether that physically occurs or not, it is already happening spiritually in everyone who has been granted to “understand the scriptures” and be “as He is in this world”. We are indeed called to “die daily” and “be crucified with Him [while] nevertheless… living”. If we are granted to “endure to the end” then “the sufferings of this present time will not be worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”:

Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. [That would be us, if we are as He is in this world]

Here now are our verses for next week’s study, which will go even deeper into what it means to be like Christ in this age:

Isa 54:1  Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 
Isa 54:2  Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 
Isa 54:3  For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 
Isa 54:4  Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 
Isa 54:5  For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 
Isa 54:6  For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 
Isa 54:7  For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8  In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

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