In the mid-1900s, a young English college student by the name of Brown Patterson went to Oxford to study English literature. Before classes began, he went out for a walk. There he saw a middle-aged man, wearing  baggy corduroy trousers, “a shapeless tweed jacket over a loosely fitting sweater.” He said: “On his head was an old tweed hat with its brim turned down. I identified him — to myself, of course — as one of the gardeners.”

(Harry Lee Poe, The Completion of C.S. Lewis, p. 55)  Brown was shocked when he later went to class, and discovered that the “gardener” he’d seen out by the Cherwell River, was none other than C.S. Lewis! He just wasn’t who he had expected at all!

That’s very similar to the picture of the Messiah that God gives us here in Isaiah 53. Everyone pictured the Messiah as a great military hero, riding a white horse, leading in victory over their enemies. But Isaiah 53 says the Messiah would actually suffer and die — this was very difficult for those who heard it, to believe. 

That’s why in Matthew 16, when Jesus told Peter and the disciples He was going to suffer and be crucified by the Jewish leaders, Peter took Him aside and rebuked Him, and said, “Lord, this will never happen to You!” He couldn’t believe it. It just didn’t make sense to him, that Jesus, God Himself, would come to earth to suffer and die. He was supposed to come and be this “Glorious King” and lead them to victory!  

But Isaiah 53 shows very clearly, for all who read it, that the Messiah, would indeed be a Suffering Servant. And this message is still hard for people to believe. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 1 that “to Jews (it’s) a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness.” And that’s understandable. Sometimes Christians criticize people for not believing the message of the gospel, but the truth is, it’s a hard message to believe! We need to remember that if God didn’t help us, NONE of us would have believed it at all! 

This morning as we kick off our verse-by-verse study of Isaiah 53, this first verse tells us some very important things about the Message of the “Suffering Servant/Glorious King”:  “Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”

I.  THE CONTENT OF THE MESSAGE 

Verse 1 begins, “Who has believed our message?” The Hebrew word “message” here means “news”, “tidings.” He’s saying, who has believed the message we have. What IS this message? In Romans 10:16 the Apostle Paul writes, “But they did not all believe the gospel; for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who as believed our report?” Paul’s quoting Isaiah 53:1 there, and he says “the gospel” is “the report/message.” So when Isaiah 53:1 says, “Who has believed our message?”, it is speaking of the gospel, God’s message about the Messiah He was sending to save us.

We talked last week about how God created Man to experience joy and pleasure in His presence. Psalm 16:11 says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” We were made to have pleasure and joy in the presence of God. But from the very beginning, Mankind sinned against God. We chose to love and serve other things, instead of Him. This is sin. And our sin has caused us to be separated from God. This is why God sent the Messiah, the Savior, that Isaiah 53 talks about. Verse 6 says “All we like sheep have gone astray; each us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Jesus the Messiah came to take the punishment for our sins upon Himself on the cross. This is the message we will see all through this chapter — and we will look at it in more detail in the weeks ahead. 

But this is the Message: 

— that all Mankind has sinned, and 

— that God has sent a Savior, a Messiah, who paid for our sins in His body on the cross, and 

— whoever believes in Him, will be saved. 

That’s the message of Isaiah 53. That’s what we call “the Gospel.” This message is God’s plan to save us from our sins. 

It is vital that we know that this is the content of God’s message. Because one of the best strategies of the enemy of our souls is to confuse people as to what the message really IS. This is what we see in all the religions of the world. People ask, Why are there so many religions? They are there because the enemy, the devil, has planted them to divide and confuse people. 

In Matthew 13 Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But his enemy came and sowed “tares” (weeds) in the field, which look very similar to wheat! 

This is just what the devil has done. God sent the message of the Gospel, the Messiah, into the world to save us. But the devil is confusing people by sowing these “tares,” these “weeds,” all kinds of false religions, to confuse people. And it has been so effective, hasn’t it? Multiplied millions of people today follow false religions, all of which teach that if they do the right things, say the right prayers, make the right sacrifices, they will be saved.  “Be a good person and do good deeds and you will be saved.” This is the message of the Muslims, and the Mormons, and virtually every world religion. 

And how many more people are there, who DON’T follow these religions, but they look on the religious landscape and just throw up their hands and say, “Wow, there’s just too many religions to choose from; how can we know which one is right?” And so they don’t follow anything at all? The devil has done a masterful job in confusing people as to what the true message really is.

The devil has cunningly tried to make good works the message of Christianity too:  I am reading Boswell’s famous biography of the noted author, Dr. Samuel Johnson. In it Boswell says that Johnson once told him his first thoughts of heaven that he ever had, came to him from his mother when he was a young boy. He said he distinctly remembers as a little child in bed with his mother, her telling him of Heaven, “‘a place to which good people went,’ and hell, ‘a place to which bad people went.’” (James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, p. 11)

 This is what SO many people think the gospel message is: “Be good. Go to church; take communion; put money in the offering; don’t dance, drink, or gamble; and if you do these ‘good Christian things’ you will be saved.” Listen, some of these things are good, but doing these good things does not save us. That is not the message! Trusting what Isaiah 53’s Suffering Servant did on the cross is the message! 

Be very careful; the devil is so sly. He has infused a number of “churches” today with a false gospel. They seem good; they talk about “God” and “Jesus” and the “Bible,” but they really teach a false “gospel” of “health, wealth, and prosperity,” or “word faith,” where YOU say whatever you want, and you will get it, because you are a “little god.” These heresies make YOU the center of the universe; it’s all about YOU having “your best life now,” not surrendering to God’s will in His word. There are huge churches today which are growing because this is such an attractive message. But their focus is NOT really the Gospel of Isaiah 53; that Jesus bore our sins in His body. It is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

Let’s make sure that we know what the true Gospel message is: 

— We have all sinned

— Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross

— We need to trust what HE did, to be saved.

— We need to know it first of all, for ourselves, so that we can be saved.

— Second, we need to know it so we can share it with people we care about, so that THEY can be saved.

I was so grateful when I talked with Linda Findlay from Mrs. Kay’s class, whose husband passed away last week. She told me how she talked to Archie in his last days, about his salvation, and she shared this Gospel message with him, and he received it, and he prayed a “Sinner’s Prayer” and trusted Jesus as his Savior! And the service we had last Sunday was a whole different service than it would have been, because she shared the message of the gospel with her husband!

Let’s share that message: with our spouses, with our kids, and grandkids; with people at work, and in our neighborhoods; on mission at the Port Ministry and the Pregnancy Help Center, in Bulgaria or wherever the Lord calls us to go. Let’s make sure we know what the message IS, first, then let’s share that message with others.  

II.  THE POWER OF THE MESSAGE 

Then :1 goes on to say “and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed.” What is this “arm of the Lord”, what’s that talking about? “The arm of the Lord” refers to the power of God. When you ask a boy — or some men! — to show you their strength, they put up their arm and show you their muscles! In the same way, in the Bible, “the arm of the Lord” refers to the power of God. In scripture when it refers to one’s “arm”, it’s referring to his power:

–God told Moses in Exodus 6:6 that He would bring Israel out of Egypt “with an outstretched arm.” His “arm” represented His power by which He would deliver them. 

-Isaiah 51:9-10, 63:12 both refer to the “arm of the Lord”: how He delivered Israel from Egypt, and other great deeds in the past. Throughout the Book of Isaiah” “the arm of the Lord” is used at least 6 times to represent God’s power. 

Notice also that “our message” and “the arm of the Lord” are parallel expressions here. We have spoken before about how Hebrew poetry doesn’t “rhyme,” but it uses what we call “parallelism”: basically saying the same thing twice, to make their “poems.” This verse is an example of that: “Who has believed our message; and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? The “message” and “the arm of the Lord” are in parallel here. Isaiah is saying that the “message” of the gospel IS “the arm of the Lord.” In other words, the gospel is the power of God! And this just what Romans 1:16 says: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation”!  The Gospel is “the arm of the Lord”; the Gospel is the power of God that will save us. 

It is the gospel that has the power to forgive our sins. It is the gospel that has the power to change your destination from hell to heaven. It is the gospel that has the power to change your life. This gospel of Jesus Christ who died for your sins on the cross, but who rose again, is the power of God which can change your life! This message is His power!

Our church supports AIM (Acts India Mission) in India, which trains local Indian pastors to share the gospel and plant churches there. I have been to India and shared in some of that work. One young man I met there is named Ravi. He shared his testimony with me. He was formerly a member of the RSS (a radical Hindu group which persecutes Christians there). He said the RSS sent him to one of the churches there to “spy” on the Christians and report back to them. But he said as he sat there in that little church, he listened to the message that was shared and God’s word began to touch his heart, and his own life was changed as he listened to that message! Now Ravi himself is a pastor, and we help support him and others like him in India who are being trained share the message. At one point, Ravi was sharing the Gospel at 6 different church plants, 6 days a week! He went from persecuting Christians, to planting churches! His life was changed by the message of the Gospel. 

We need to remember that here in the United States as well. How will your husband or wife be saved? How will our children or grandchildren be saved? How will someone at work or in your neighborhood be saved? The Gospel is God’s power to save.  We need to remember that is what our message is. There is no power in any other message. 

— There is no inherent power in telling people that “First Baptist is a really great church.” 

— There is no life-changing power in saying: “We have some really loving people at First Baptist Church.” 

No, Paul said, “We do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” (II Corinthians 4:5) He said the gospel is “the power of God for salvation, to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16) The message that has the power of God to change lives is the gospel message that we have sinned, but that Jesus died on the cross for us. So let’s make this our theme: ”We preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” That’s the only message that is “the arm of the Lord,” and which has the power to save.

III.  THE RESPONSE TO THE MESSAGE 

When you hear this message about Jesus, how do You respond to it? The Bible tells us here that the way to respond is to “believe.” It says here, “Who has BELIEVED our message?” The power of God brings salvation to your life when you believe, 

This word “believe” here is the same word used in Genesis 15:6, where the Bible says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” The New Testament quotes this verse about Abraham in Romans 4, saying that he was not made right with God by works, but by faith — trusting the promises of God. The verse we mentioned earlier, Rom 1:16, says the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to all who BELIEVE” — NOT for those who work, not for those who give, not for those who try, not for those who serve — but for those who BELIEVE! Like we said before, salvation is by faith, by believing in your heart, not by doing good works. 

God went to great lengths in scripture to reinforce the idea that we are saved by faith, in our hearts, not by any external works or deeds: 

— One place He shows us this is in the story of the thief on the cross. That man had lived a whole life of sin, and he had NO time to do any works or deeds, yet Jesus told him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” That man he was saved the instant he just put His faith in Jesus on the cross. (Luke 23:40-43)

— When Paul & Silas were asked by the Philippian jailer, “What must I do to be saved”, they clearly proclaimed: “BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” (Acts 16:31)

—Acts 10 says that the Roman soldier Cornelius gathered his family and friends, and Peter shared the gospel message with them. When Peter told them, “Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins”, :44 says “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message.” They were instantly saved. But they didn’t DO anything! God’s Spirit didn’t come into their lives when they were baptized, or joined a church – or even walked down to the front during an invitation! All they did was believe in their hearts, and that very moment they were saved! 

That’s how YOU need to respond to the gospel too. Believe!  In your heart, put your trust in Jesus as your Savior. You won’t be saved by walking down an aisle, or by talking to a pastor, or getting baptized, or by going through any religious rites or rituals; You will be saved when you respond to the gospel message by believing in Jesus in your heart. That may be happening for you right this very moment! If so, you are being saved, right now!

When we served in Louisiana, a good friend of ours, a high school teacher there, shared her testimony. She said she grew up in church, and had even “made a decision” once when she was young — but as an adult one day in the service, they were singing the old hymn, “In The Garden.” As she heard the words of that song: “He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own …”, she said she realized she did NOT have that kind of real  relationship with the Lord. She went down at the invitation at the end of the service, and she told the pastor, I couldn’t wait for the invitation to get here, so I could come forward. The pastor at that time said something like, “Vicki, you were already saved before you came down here and took my hand” – and he was right! Salvation doesn’t happen because you go down to the front; salvation happens in your HEART, the moment you believe in Him. Now if you truly believe in Him, you will want to go forward and tell someone about it, like Vicki did; you will want to be baptized; you will want to do a number of other things as you follow Jesus. But the response God wants you to make to the gospel message is just the response of faith. Just believe! Like Acts 16:31 says: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” “Who has believed our message?”!  Believe in the Jesus of Isaiah 53, who bore our sins on the cross, and you will be saved today! 

IV.  THE PREREQUISITE FOR THE MESSAGE 

Finally, I want us to see a very important truth: the prerequisite for receiving God’s message. Before you can really receive this message in faith, God has to speak to your heart. Verse 1 here says: “To whom has the arm of the Lord BEEN REVEALED”. That word “revealed” is a Hebrew Bible word that means to “Uncover, remove”; to pull back a piece of clothing, or a veil, so that you can see a person fully. It was used of Jonathan in I Samuel 14, when he came out of his hiding place and “showed himself” to the Philistines so they could see him and come out and fight him. It’s very similar to the New Testament word “apocalupsis” (“revelation”) — the pulling back of a veil so you can see. 

And the Hebrew verb tense here (Niphal) is passive; it has “BEEN revealed.” In other words, this isn’t something you do for yourself; it is something that is done FOR you. It must “be revealed” to you. You can’t just “discover it” for yourself. God’s Spirit has to reveal the truth of the Gospel to you. Sometimes people talk about how they “found God”, etc. But we need to understand that in the truest sense, you do not “find God”; God finds YOU! He reveals His truth to you. 

God must “reveal” the truth of the Gospel to us. We can’t understand it on our own. I Cor. 2:14 says: “the natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God…”. Jesus said in John 6:44 “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him”. God has to reveal His truth to us. Now, I do not believe that God forces this upon a person with “irresistible grace”; I believe you still have a genuine choice once He touches you, but the truth remains: you can’t just come to Him on your own; God’s Spirit must touch you first for you to understand the truth of Jesus.

When the Ethiopian Treasurer was reading Isaiah 53 on the desert road to Ethiopia, Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian answered, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” We are ALL are that way with the things of God. We cannot rationalize or deduce our way to God; HE must open our eyes and “reveal” His truth to us. Sometimes Christians criticize lost people who don’t believe the message of the gospel; but the truth is, they can’t understand it until God touches them with His Spirit and helps them to see its truth.  

So if you know someone who is lost, your #1 priority should be to PRAY for them. Pray that God’s Holy Spirit would speak to their hearts, and help them understand the Gospel. 

Second, this also tells us tht if you can see the truth of God’s salvation in Christ, this is a great gift. That means that God is working in you! I Peter 1 says that many prophets and others who prophesied of the coming Messiah, ”wanted to know what Person or time” their prophecies were speaking about, but they didn’t know! But if God has allowed YOU to see and hear the truth of Jesus; this is a great gift! 

This also makes your response to the gospel a matter of urgency. So many people think that they’ll just come to God “whenever they’re ready.” This is a foolish attitude. You can’t come to Him unless He is speaking to you; unless He is knocking on your heart’s door. So if He IS knocking, You need to respond, NOW!

The Bible says: “TODAY if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart!” (Psalm 95:7-8)  II Corinthians 6:2 says, “NOW is the acceptable time; NOW is the day of salvation!” If you sense that God is speaking to your heart, you need to respond to Him NOW while He is speaking to you! 

I remember during the first years of my ministry in Louisiana, a man in whom God seemed to really be working. He started coming to church; I could look over and see him in that same place every week. It seemed to me like God was working in his life and speaking to him. For a number of weeks, I thought, “He might come forward today and profess Christ.” But week after week, he never came. Then one Sunday he wasn’t there. And again. And again. And he never came back. A couple of years later, I found out that man had contracted an illness and died. When I heard that, I thought: I am not God. And I don’t know what happened in that man’s heart. But it appeared to me, looking at him from the outside, that he had resisted when God was convicting him, and that perhaps his heart became so calloused that he did not feel that conviction any longer. 

That’s why the Bible says “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart”!  Don’t take it for granted. Don’t just assume that God’s conviction will always be there. If you sense that God is speaking to you today; if He has shown you the truth of Jesus; if He is knocking at the door of your heart right now, you need to realize, this is a great gift!  Do not think that you’ll just come to Him “whenever you are ready.” You need to respond when He’s calling. You need to respond to Him today! 

Isaiah 53:1 says, ”Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Many of us today can say: “Thank God, He revealed the truth of Jesus to ME, and I have committed my life to Him!”  But maybe today you’d say: “He IS speaking to me about Jesus right now — and I am going to confess Jesus as my Savior today!”

INVITATION:

— If you have never done it before, believe in Jesus in your heart right now, and ask Him to save you. Follow through by confessing Christ in baptism, and continue following Him in His word & prayer every day, and by worshiping and serving in a local church.

— Others of us need to thank God for giving us the message, and saving us.

— Would you ask Him to help you share that message with someone you know who needs to be saved?

— Take some time right now and ask God to show Himself to that person on your heart …