#20 Book of Isaiah (53) by Chuck Missler

tonight we're going to enter what some scholars like to call the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament you know the Book of Isaiah is is regarded by many scholars as the high ground of the Old Testament in terms of his vocabulary his articulation and of course the incredible diversity and intensity and expression of his message but the high ground of Isaiah is unquestionably chapter 53 chapter 53 is so provocative so dramatic so specific that there has been a conspiracy among some of the rabbis to expurgate it from the Tanakh from the Old Testament if you find Bibles Jewish Bibles that have an Ashkenazi tradition you'll discover Isaiah 53 seems to be missing that doesn't quite work because the Sephardic Jews did keep it they have a hard time explaining that one but all of this even gets more provocative in 1947 when they discover the Dead Sea Scrolls that major event in Archaea archaeology and among the finds perhaps the most treasured of the finds was a complete copy of the Book of Isaiah from the first century or earlier and what makes that if when you visit Israel and I'm assuming all of you whether you go with us or whoever you should pray about making that a commitment to go to Israel because somehow the Bible and all of those things take a whole new perspective when you've actually walked those roads and see those places but when you do go to Israel I say when not if when you go to Israel right across the street from the Knesset essentially is the Israeli museum attached to which is a very specific building called the shrine of the book very beautifully designed building designed specifically to house the Dead Sea Scrolls and you will want to go there it's a lot to say and it's worth doing but as you go in there you will see of course the actual scroll of the Book of Isaiah and right in the middle of guess what chapter 53 so it's kind of interesting issue it's provocative that they recognize its significance in their attempts to tuck it away someplace Isaiah 53 is also provocative in that it is mentioned specifically all through the New Testament it's mentioned in all four Gospels it's mentioned in the book of Acts that's mentioned in the book of Romans and it's mentioned in 1st Peter chapter 2 in some detail so we find the the chapter 53 widely commented on in all four Gospels Matthew 8 mark 15 Luke 22 John 12 John 12 is my favorite places alluded to because as you make just by way of review you know that in John 12 in verse 38 there is a quote from Isaiah 53 and it quotes the first verse of chapter 53 verse 38 verse 40 quotes a passage that turns out to be from Isaiah chapter 6 on the occasion when Isaiah saw the throne of God and in fact says so in John 12 but the verse I love the best is the verse between those two quotations we have a quote from Isaiah 53 and a quote from Isaiah 6 and right between them is verse 39 where it says that same isaiah said again in other words it authenticates the fact that whoever wrote Isaiah 53 also wrote Isaiah 6 it totally destroys the so-called deutero Isaiah theory so if you believe in the New Testament if you believe in Jesus Christ you've got no problem as to who wrote Isaiah if you don't believe in Jesus Christ you got of course much bigger problems than the authorship of Isaiah before we get into Isaiah 53 though and I think it would be fruitful for us do we remind ourselves of a companion passage there are two chapters in the Old Testament prophetically speaking that are probably without equal in the Bible in Isaiah 53 of course is one of them but there's a companion passage that we benefit by having in our minds as we go forward and that of course is one of the faint most famous Psalms Psalm 22 and we might start our little excursion tonight by refreshing our memory on that very very provocative passage there as a trilogy of Psalms some 22 23 and 24 all of which are very well known Psalm 22 is the one will focus on 23 of course is the famous shepherd of Psalm as we sometimes call it and Psalm 24 the the psalm of the king of glory the tree seemed to go together in the number of ways but Psalm 22 is particularly provocative written by David and totally baffles me as to what the real occasion was or how David was moved to put these words to paper but clearly a psalm of David and yet the language reads as if it was the first person singular of our Lord Himself as he hung on the cross the first words and the last words of this song correspond to the first words and the last words of our Lord as he hung on the cross it was written call of eighth centuries before Christ was born staggering in its implications but let's read it it opens up with that incredible declaration my God my God why hast thou forsaken me and that of course echoes in our ears my God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far helping me and from the words of my roaring oh my god I cry in the daytime but thou hearest not and in the night season and I'm not silent but thou art holy o thou who inhabited the praises of Israel our fathers trusted in me they trusted now tits deliver them they cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted me and were not confounded but I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised by the people despised by people going to talk more about that very characteristic not just an incident very characteristic of the mission he was on but verse 7 and they particularly fascinate me because they're so graphic all they who see me laughed me to scorn they shoot up the lips say and they shake the head saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him and how that echoes in our ears as they mocked him on the cross he was going to come down who's going to you know destroy the temple I'll raise in three days well let him you know just making fun and here in the first person singular we hear him quote all virtually the taunts and the jibes of the crowd but thou art he who took me out of the wound this make me hope upon my mother's breasts I was cast upon me from the womb thou art my God for my mother's body be not far from me for trouble is near there's none to help many Bulls have compass to me the strong Bulls of Bashan have beset me around they gaped upon me with their mouths like a ravening and a roaring lion now we start getting the medical aspects of this i am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint my heart is like a wax it is melted within me my strength is dried up like a potsherd my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou has brought me into the dust of death for the Gentiles have compass me the Assembly of the wicked have inclosed me and then that interesting interesting line they pierced my hands and my feet we read that and were startled because here's such a vivid description of of the events on that hill in Judea almost 2,000 years ago and yet what really makes it dramatic is when you do a little homework and discover that when this was written it would be some 700 years before crucifixion was invented if you were a Jewish prophet predicting the death of someone convicted of a crop Atal capital crime or whatever you knew that the official form of punishment or death or capital execution by Israel was stoning how would you have been moved to predict that he would have his hands in his feet pierced that bizarre form of slow torturous death was invented by the Romans about essentially before Christ was born it gives rise to the word in our vocabulary called excruciating what is the word excruciating mean or more specifically where does the word come from what does it literally mean from the crucifixion strange form of death and I've I don't plan to get into all the medical aspects of it we've got a heavy enough evening come evening coming anyway but the whole concept one was one of slow painful death suffocation the vector analysis of the body hanging from the arms would crush the breathing cavity so the only way you could breathe would be to relieve the pressure by pushing up on the nails through the feet for moments scattered moments of extension the crucifiction invented by the Romans about essentially for crisis born yet described here by David eight centuries before Christ was born they pierced my hands and my feet I'm going to pause here some impulse you might turn to zechariah 12 zechariah 12 describes an event that's yet future the opening verses of zechariah 12 it talks about jerusalem is going to be a burdensome stone for all peoples verse 3 and that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples what a strange prediction that is here's a city with no natural resources no harbour no River no reason to be significant and yet not only is it significant it is the bone in the throat of every major world government today the Islamic nations of course have their agenda but the rest of the nations find themselves one way or the other burdened by Jerusalem if they're late lights on at the State Department or the military headquarters of virtually every nation in the world probability is high they're discussing and what they're going to do relative to Jerusalem that's exactly what Sakurai predicts in verse 3 we'll get down to verse 10 we discover that this burden is going to be interrupted by a visitor verse 10 and I will pour upon the house of David upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication and they shall look upon me God says whom they have pierced what an interesting identity phrase defined in zechariah what five six centuries before Christ was born interesting back to Psalm 22 I may count all my bones verse 17 they look and stare upon me they part my garments among them they cast lots upon my vesture how interesting as he looks down from the cross he sees them part his personal goods but there's that seamless robe they don't dare tear that up so what do you do for that what's only fair will cast lots for it how interesting at that particular detail stands out by the one who is the principal participant in this event first person singular they part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture and it goes on you can read it on your own but that's the spirit of Psalm 22 now in this spirit let's take a look at what Isaiah talks about when he deals with what in effect is the same material same subject same event Isaiah is going to do much more for us than simply describe the agony and the event he's going to put it in doctrinal perspective for us you'll discover it you can read all of Paul's epistles and not have much clearer a picture of what it's all about that you get from Isaiah's summary here in this chapter but we're going to do something else I want to remind you as you read the Bible you know that these chapter divisions are man's convenience introduced about the 14th century 15th century that right here so they in general probably didn't do too bad a job but remember they're man's contrived answers and they're often not quite where they ought to be every time you read a key especially a key chapter in the Bible connect it with a couple of verses before to see if the chapter division is really where it belongs many many places first Corinthians 13 notes are lots of places you can get a benefit by recognizes chapter divisions are simply reference points not necessarily a proper parsing of the message in this case most scholars I think recognize that this stream of consciousness starts in verse 13 of chapter 52 that's why we stopped a little short last time because I really regard chapter 53 is beginning in effect and verse 13 of chapter 52 behold my servant that starts it off behold my servant shall deal prudently he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high but can mean lots of things what does the word extolled mean it means to be raised up and Jesus himself comments on what this means strangely enough you could say he's exalted in many ways we exalt him in our praises but that's not I don't believe what he's talking about I believe he explained this word to Nicodemus in John chapter 3 let's pop over to John 3 we all know John 3 it's the famous passage that leads to the cliche that's a phrase has really become tragically a cliche to be born again Nicodemus one of the major rulers teachers comes to Jesus and they have an interesting discussion and we obviously won't digress in all of that but in the middle of that verse 14 Jesus says to Nicodemus a strange thing he says and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so even so must the Son of Man be lifted up now that's a strange phrase you have to remind yourself what happened back in numbers chapter 21 the people were murmuring they sinned God sent a pestilence in the form of serpents with a deadly bite and these serpents would bite people they died the people recognized that this was a response to their sin and they went to Moses and said do something we confess we repent and all that so Moses prays and God says okay take a brass Serpent put it on a pole and put it up on the hill and everybody that looks to that serpent will be healed now if you're honest with yourself you sort of sit back and say that's weird you know I mean if God wants to heal them you'd think there would be more direct ways of doing God is doing something else here isn't he and I'm sure if you were Moses or some of his friends at that time you're grateful that you had a remedy for the Serpent's but I would imagine and conjecturing you're probably puzzled as to why that particular mechanic weird idea everyone that looked to that brazen serpent was healed and of course you know the story the brass serpent that holds that whole episode gets reboot gets carried to Alexandria and becomes the basis of some Greek legends it's the background for Aesculapius the Greek god of healing and which of course is symbolized by a serpent on a pole the pole of course being a cross interesting Lee enough I'm always amused by that because you'll often find that on a license plate with two serpents wrapped around a pole see the guy that designed the symbol for the US Army Medical Corps didn't do his homework he knew about Escalade pious and the serpent on the pole but he thought to make it symmetrical output to not knowing that that's not the symbol of escalade pious the god the god of medicine that's the symbol of Hermes the God of Commerce and every time I see that on a license plate I chuckled to myself at the candor of it all you heard about the doctor told the guy I only had six months to live the guy says I can't pay her bill he says no problem I'll give you another six months to live it's interesting that that brazen serpent of course becomes a fetish and hundreds of years later Hezekiah asked to destroy it because it's still around the people and their worshipping it should remember that where's the Shroud of Turin or some splinters from Noah's Ark or whatever those things are dangerous even if they're valid the brazen serpent was Allen but became a fetish it's interesting that God doesn't use symbols in that sense Satan does wear their swastikas or crescent moons or whatever okay back to the subject Jesus says in John three as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even social the Son of Man be lifted up this is what we're talking about in Isaiah being lifted up how like the serpent everyone that looked to the serpent of Moses was given life didn't die from the Serpent's Jesus says here in verse 15 that he'll be son of man lift up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life aha I would begin to understand why God had Moses do that peculiar approach to healing the people because it served another purpose yes it was practical to them at the time but it also serves as an instruction for us you say Jack that's a strange symbol though a brass serpent why brass brass was the metal that Levitical ii speaks of judgment because brass was the metal it could sustain fire so brazen altars brass spoke of fire of judgment the serpent of course speaks of the curse entrance of sin Genesis 3 you know the story you mean to tell me that a symbol of Jesus Christ is a brass serpent yes that's strange to our understanding until we read 2nd current in Chapter five let's just take a look at that to get that in our focus because my main conjecture tonight is that no matter how much you study the cross it's my personal conviction that you'll never fully understand it we'll talk about the cross physically we'll talk about the cross and several other dimensions but the more you learn it the more you will learn that you probably can't learn at all first Corinthians chapter excuse me second Corinthians chapter 5 in verse 21 it says that God hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us you see it strange we think of a brazen serpent a symbol of Jesus Christ but you see at the cross that's exactly what he was the innocent perfect pure unblemished Christ was it made sin for us and I submit to you that there's no way we can comprehend that statement you and I have just a glimpse of what sin really is the small glimpse we have terrifies as if you understand and yet we also have but a superficial in size what what is righteous what is it perfect righteous Christ how can you make him send it that it's it's the two ultimate extremes and yet that's what was happening on that hill in Judea 2,000 years ago as Moses lifted up the serpent the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life have eternal life that's the issue tonight my friends nothing you can do can add to it Jesus Christ has completed on your behalf what's your work what's your job what's your commitment to believe it the claimant God has prepared a destiny for you that's so fantastic that there's no way you can earn it there's no way you can be eligible for it the only one eligible for it is Jesus Christ personally and he's gone to some rather bizarre extremes to allow his eligibility to be available to you but for the asking that's what Isaiah 53 gonna lay out for us so let's get back to Isaiah 53 behold my servant shall deal prudently shall be exalted and extolled and be very high but then we get to verse 14 and this is an interesting verse you know the King James translators were probably among the most faithful team that's ever been put together for such a task they did an incredible job all things considered we may we may get discouraged in some of the Old English and some of those problems fine but they certainly were devoted but there are a couple of places and this is the best-known one where they apparently deliberately softened the text because they didn't think you could handle the literal translation verse 14 always strikes me like double-talk as many were astounded at the his village was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of man - then he goes on what does that mean not sure but let's find out and most of your study Bibles will have some equivalent footnote as the following that the literal rendering of the Hebrew puts it right between the eyes so marred from the form of man was his aspect that his appearance was not that of a son of a man what does it mean he was so beaten so abused so torn up that he was unrecognizable and of course just by way of remembrance it's interesting that as we study his post resurrection appearances we can't help but notice some strange things on the Emmaus Road those two guys who were so upset that he was what happened the last three days that when he joins them they don't recognize these aren't strangers these are disciples and yet they don't recognize him he gives him a Bible study speaks of himself from the third person I always love that they don't recognize them until when they're sitting down to eat Jesus breaks bread our conjecture just a conjecture where our conjectures that they saw the nail prints and realized who was among them and that evening again he appears among his disciples these aren't strangers now disciples are astonished that's understandable they're terrified why it's the Lord even if it's a spirit why should they be frightened of course he's not a spirit just handled me in sea and by the way got anything to eat and yet they're frightened Mary Magdalene where have they taken him where have they taken my lord and she thinks he's the gardener until he says Mary and she recognizes his voice here's one who worshiped him and yet didn't recognize him and of course the most interesting part perhaps is by the seashore in John 21 they fish all night don't find anything he from the from the sources put your net on the other side and of course they do it it fills with fish and John realizes hey that's the Lord so Peter dives in for them not to recognize him from the boat when he's assured that's understandable but then when they get to shore in the bringing of fish assurance over what has he done he's baked some bread he's cooked some fish for breakfast and there's that strange verse in John 21 verse 14 none of us dared ask him before we knew it was him what does that mean John's giving us a hint there's something about him that makes him unrecognizable I his closest friends verse 14 is probably the key to it as a 52 first fourteen and many were astounded at thee his visit was so marred more than any man has formed more than the sons of men or putting it more precisely so marred from the form of man was his aspect that his appearance was not that of a son of a man Isaiah chapter 50 verse 6 I gave my back to the smiter and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair I read that that they apparently ripped off his beard why is all this so relevant because we know from his resurrection evidences that he still bears the nail prints in his hands and the wound in the signed what we don't have recorded and but we infer is that his face and his body also still bears the marks of his humiliation as we globally call it boy what an understatement that is but let's go on and find out why what's the result of all this gruesome detail verse 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations the word sprinkle actually comes from the same root as Marvel or aesthetic the Septuagint marks it as has marveled because it comes from the same root as being astonished however the word itself is used in Leviticus 14 seven and four six and eight eleven to mean ritual sprinkling that's done by one who is pure and innocent it's a term from the Levitical offerings yes he shall sprinkle but the sprinkler the one is doing his sprinkling by a Levitical definition has to be pure and innocent was Jesus Christ pure and innocent absolutely and we could bore you with verse after verse after verse to prove that the one that I always prefer is the words of Satan himself when he incarnated Judas but then blurts out behold I have betrayed innocent blood that's one of the few times I'll take Satan's word for it so shall he sprinkle many nations the King shall shut their mouths at them and that which had not been told him they shall see and that which had they had not heard shall they consider I always think about that you know it's interesting as you and I go about our business even our condescending friends will sort of smile at us that we're so preoccupied with a Bible and things of the Lord and while they're busily collecting the receivables generate new business whatever you know and they smile at us thinking even in those patronizing way at least that okay at least where we're in you know what harmony cause you know how interesting it's going to be when they really get the perspective and to realize that everything else in the world that we spend our time on is wood hay stubble I think about that a lot you know I've spent my career 30 years trying to fix it companies and invent things and sell things and build things and and I've had my successes and failures but as I look back it's interesting how incredibly unimportant that all is you know I've had I've had some interesting times we saved a company provide a lot employment and bended some products and yet you look back and what's really relevant are the people who come up with tears in their eyes because they've grown and graced the knowledge of a Lord and Savior boy do you get different perspective and I always think of that here the kings you know she'll shut their mouths and for that which had not been told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider boy is the world a leadership going to be in shock as they realize that Jesus Christ really was who he said he was or is I should say I put in the subjunctive not the past then it continues chapter 53 verse 1 who hath believed our report to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed John tells us he came into his own and his own received him not centuries of special disclosure through the prophets and what have you paving the way and yet when he shows up they don't recognize him he presents himself as King to Jerusalem on the very day 5 centuries earlier Gabriel told Daniel it would happen on that very day and it does and it happened the day and they blow it and Jesus says for this reason for that very reason Jerusalem will be destroyed and 70 idea was because they did not recognize the day of your visitation Luke tells us in chapter 19 verse 44 who hath believed our report the human is the arm of the Lord revealed for he now let me pause for a minute this passage there are many passages in Isaiah that are sort of poetically like double references there's a sense in which they can apply to the nation Israel because it's the nation's sometimes spoken of as a person there other places of course those references refer specifically to the Messiah Messiah in some of the passage it is candidly possible to bend it either way and that's exactly what some of the rabbi's try to do with chapter 53 except we'll discover as we studied carefully the language is far too specific far too crisp to be limited to some kind of allegorical model victory is divided in the stanzas and each stanza starts with a personal pronoun he he shall grow up he hath borne our griefs he hath carried our sorrows and so on you'll see it as we go for he shall grow up before him like a tender plant and like a root out of a dry ground the word tender it actually means a fresh sprout it's a strange word in the Hebrew you and you've encountered it once before but didn't recognize it in Genesis chapter 22 God tells Abraham to do a strange thing offer your son Isaac on a mountain that I'll show you take thy son thine only son we find that phrase in Genesis 22 we stumble over it because we know Abraham alone Isaac but for the purpose that passage God is focusing on the son of the promise Isaac take thine only son why does he say that well we realize course that Abraham is acting out prophecy Abraham knew that they go up on the hill at the last minute God substitutes a ram and named Abraham names the place Jehovah Jireh in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen it's a prophetic name he knew it was prophetic somehow how much he news subject to conjecture he knew that Isaac have to be resurrected God promised that he'd have children no way to kill him fine you got a problem God or Abraham had learned a lot by the time he gets to chapter 22 and of course we recognize now that 2,000 years later on that very spot another father offered his only son as an offering for you and I but what's interesting that this word tender here is the same word word only in the Hebrew in Genesis 22 verse whatever was and like a root out of a dry ground the idea of root was mentioned to us in the tenth verse of chapter 11 of Isaiah as a title of Jesus Christ the root of David title is picked up in Revelation chapter 5 verse 5 the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David root in the sense of it's a root but it's the root of a family tree you see he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him it's interesting that to my knowledge is the only physical description of Jesus Christ in the Bible it's interesting that of all the things we know about him that we don't have a physical description we don't know what color his eyes were how tall he was or all that's conjecture what do we have about him physically well that he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him now I have no idea if that's referring to his natural state prior to the crucifixion it certainly seems to from other evidences to describe the aspect after his resurrection it's interesting that that was prophesied also in another way one of the studies that you need to undertake and again I won't take the time to go in detail here I'll just summarize it is to study the tabernacle in Exodus and study it with the insights from the New Testament when Charlton Heston comes down from outside we just want to see if you're listening okay I'll speak more softly so don't wake some under one arm II should have the two tables of stone I've always conjectured that he really in the other arm should have a set of engineering blueprints because God gave him gave Moses in addition to the tent the law the Ten Commandments he also gave him some very explicit detailed engineering specifications for a portable sanctuary that God wanted Moses to build said he he God could dwell among his people and we have this strange structure called the tabernacle and we study it it's very important to study first of all so you really understand both the tabernacle and the subsequent temples but also it's interesting because it is so detailed and when that's detailed you know it's replete with symbolism portable structure a courtyard so to speak circumscribed by a linen fence above eye-level white linen with posts and set on brass sockets posts and you know placed up so that the it would form an effect defense you go through the one door one opening the gate go through that first he encounters the brazen altar the altar of sacrifice we're all living offerings were of course offered next a brass Laver where they were priests washed now the symbolism of those pretty obvious brazen altar brazen altar being the altar of sacrifice speaking of the cross ultimately the brazen Laver or where the priests wash is analogous to the Word of God how do we know it from Ephesians 4 now you're cleaning through the washing of the water by the word which I have spoken unto you the priests wash in it we wash what with the word everyday you're washed twice you're washed once and for all judicious judicially in the blood Christ but you washed every day in the word when you've offered the offerings and you washed prepared yourself then you confront the tabernacle proper before I get into that what's inside of course is you enter the door on the left is the menorah the seven-branched lamp stand on the right table of showbread with twelve loaves one for each of the twelve tribes changed every Shabbat and just in front of associated with but just in front of the Holy of Holies is this golden altar three foot high altar of incense offered instance offered every morning and evening and of course through the veil on the other side was the Ark of the Covenant and of course it slid as we would call but the solid gold did call the mercy seat it's kind of interesting to consider the tabernacle proper this building is portable building made of vertical planks planks apparently made of acacia wood the thorn bush of the desert the same material that was the burning bush Moses wrapped in gold planks wrapped in gold speaking of his humanity in his deity these planks were set vertically with hole with the ring so that horizontal poles could make it a rigid structure and they enclosed a space of roughly fifteen feet wide about thirty feet deep for the first room and then a 15-foot cubical space behind the Holy of Holies roughly 45 feet by 50 to give you a feeling rough idea without quarreling about what exactly how long a cubit was the point that's interesting though is these these these planks as I would call them were wrapped in gold must have made an incredibly beautiful structure solid gold building solid gold I mean is wrapped in wood I mean it's gold you go inside you've got everything inside the Tabernacles gold everything outsides brass tabernacle itself rests on silver sockets and that's interesting because Levitical II we discover that silver represents blood the temple redemptive coin with silver Jesus has betrayed for 30 pieces of silver Judas tries to undo the bargain throwing the the silver thirty piece of silver on the temple Torrance's behold I betrayed innocent blood see the silver blood is always linked Levitical II from Leviticus all we threw well one of the tabal tabernacle rest on silver sockets or resting on one Christ but every detail of the tabernacle speaks of Jesus Christ he makes claim to everything make all the major issues there's one gate one door I am the door anyone comes in other than by me as a thief and a robber brazen altar of course he's the ultimate sacrifice the Laver I am the living water yet inside I am the light of the world we consider the architecture of the menorah I am the vine ye are the branches the number of six of man with one makes the seven of completion turn to the right there's a children I am the bread of life altar of incense that's his role today in the intercessor the prayers of the saints now read them getting in all of this is if you're in the tabernacle and you look what did they cover this thing with well the first thing that can add four covers first covering was linen embroidered with gold scarlet blue and purple and even today scientists are casting the world for the right marine snails to get the right blue and the right purple for the Levitical garments because that dye comes from marine snails but this tapestry with the cherubim embroidered and golden all that must have been gorgeous right so if you're inside the tabernacle looking up you'd see it as the ceiling because it was covering it right but they didn't leave it at that they then covered that with goats hair I don't go here looks like but doesn't sound too attractive does it why goat here because of Leviticus 16 the scapegoat was one of his roles wasn't it you can study Leviticus 16 in front of other scapegoat which was a in one of the ways that they dealt with the sins of people on top of the goat here they put Rams skins dyed in red why I believe is the RAM that was speaks of Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve had their fig leaves replaced by coats of skins by God Himself teaching them that by the shedding of innocent blood they'd be covered not by their own works that same RAM was substituted in Genesis 22 in lieu of Isaac so we can see the symbolism the RAM skins but then the last covering the linen the goats hair then the RAM skin then the last covering is porpoise skins it says badger skins in the Old English most scholars believe it was purposes that were brought from Egypt not on what they look like but I suspect they weren't very attractive compared to the gold linen ELISA why porpoise what do we know about porpoise skins well it's kind of interesting we find in Exodus 16 that that's what their shoes were made of during the wilderness wanderings and one of the miracles is mentioned in Deuteronomy 8 and 29 and Nehemiah 9 mueng other places is the interesting thing about those shoes is that for 40 years they didn't wear out and we also can study you can take it in court and study shoes when you get to Book of Ruth you discover the shoe was to one person a symbol of disgrace but to the one who received it it was both a marriage license to take a Gentile bride and it was the means by which Naomi was redeemed to her land we find in Ruth portrayed the role of the kinsman redeemer Boas is the kins of the go L the kinsman redeemer we're taking a Gentile bride and redeeming the land to Naomi as type of Israel an interesting study you won't understand revelation 5 and so on unless you understand the Book of Ruth but stand back now let's go outside our mind's eye to this tabernacle and see what you see when you come up to it you walk up to it you see nothing but a white linen that's it up up Tai level all you see is his righteousness but there's one door one gate it's interesting there was only one Ark in Noah's day only one Ark lots of sincere theologians outside beating on the door when the rain started one ark one door to the ark tabernacle one gate but as you go through with the sacrifice the washing you then can behold the tabernacle what did you see it had no form nor comeliness that you should desire it had no natural beauty until you entered in and then you'd behold the gold and and so on he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him now that now we're getting down to it that's that's just warmup Isiah now he's getting at it verse three he is despised and rejected of men this is the Messiah we're talking about he is despised 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 why does that go on today esteemed him he's mocked and ridiculed through the sacrilege in our society but I want you to notice the very specific theology that Isaiah lays out as to what this is really all about up till now we have a person who's badly abused and rejected fulfilling some role why what for Isaiah it rises to that occasion verse four it surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted 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 wow that lays it right out and I suggest you can go all through the book of Romans or some of Paul's other epistles and not having any clearer than what I say I just laid out in a couple of verses he hath borne our griefs and carried ourselves you know it's interesting that you can look at the world and their beliefs and divided some simple categories there are those of course their antagonist ik to Jesus Christ in all kinds of shapes and sizes now of course the spooky occult Satan worshippers in various guises I applaud the clarity they don't give me a prophet all because we know where they stand the secular humanists we're now beginning to realize that we look at society that secular humanism is bankrupt even secular humanists are admitting it Alan bloom and others been very articulate and making that point and then of course you got the most insulting theologians of all those that ascribe everything to randomness far more insulting than bail or Moloch or some of the ancient idols but there's another group and they're the ones to be careful of they're the ones that pretend to be Christian they go under Christian banners they were the insignias they they say the right words and they have all kinds of packaging you name it it's there they have one thing in common they deny isaiah 4 and 5 they say christ was a great teacher oh really you got to be kidding he was either a lunatic a liar if he isn't lord he said he was god if he thought he was God and wasn't he's a lunatic can't call him a great teacher a little weird really claim to be God maybe he knew he wasn't God and claimed to be then he's a liar see those out of three possibilities two of those of course are pretty self definitive unless he really was who he said he was he's not a great teacher he's something far more than that these various groups will find a way to deny his deity or some even sort of acknowledge that but what they really focus on is the denial that he died in your place if you find some group and you're trying to examine it don't get hung up with a but what some people call the peripheral theology what's the central or do they recognize acknowledge embrace the idea that Jesus Christ was only a God he was man and more than that he died in your place the vicarious suffering death of Jesus Christ that's the core of the gospel and one thing that all the cults as we call it have in common is some mechanism to deny that the Joe of his witnesses have their way the Mormons on the inside of their theology have their way you can go through all the various groups on an amazing number of groups and when you get inside and look carefully what they really teach you discover they deny the central issue that he was God who became flesh brought among us and then died in our place that we might live he hath borne our griefs he carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with His stripes we are healed now if you really want one verse out of this whole ensemble to really master I do recommend for those of you inclined to to go ahead and memorize the chapters worth it but if you going to pick one verse pick verse 6 it says it all it starts with the word all and it ends with the word all and it says it clearly describes both our predicament and what the solution is all we you and I all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way but the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all boy there it is crisp undeniable Isaiah uses a rifle not a shotgun it's right there all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way but the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all there's the gospel in the Old Testament as clear and resident as you'll find anywhere oh seven now it goes back to the physics of it the the narrative part of it he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth what an amazing thing that is as we read the accounts in the Gospels how fascinating is he doesn't defend himself the only time he speaks to the Sanhedrin is when the law required him to he was silent before him until a high priest says I adjure thee by the Living God tell us who you are you the Christ and under oath he says you said it I sure AM in effect he was oppressed afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he has brought as v lamb to the slaughter does not an explicit definite article but the the Hebrew grammar requires the implicit definite article he was brought to the land actually he was brought as D lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her Shearer's is dumb that is silent so he opened not his mouth make no defense on this part no why because that was his destiny that was his mission assigned to him by the father before the foundation of the world Ephesians 1:4 tells us all of this was settled before Adams created God was not surprised when Adam fell God knew what kind of a mess we'd find ourselves in but he anticipated it all all our needs and provided for it he was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation for his cut off out of the land of the living well that's an interesting phrase he fined Daniel and effectively fight it here that the Messiah is going to be killed what a strange idea right here in the Old Testament he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death no that's a pretty interesting thing because he what it actually says is they assigned him his grave it's impersonal passive voice and the word wicked is in the plural we'll find in verse 12 that he's going to be numbered among the transgressors and of course we know he was among between two thieves right but he says it's passive voice impersonal for the first phrase they assigned him his grave with with the wicked plural but then it shifts to the active voice he was with the rich after his death well you know how this is fulfilled we all know the story Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate and begs the body of Jesus Christ now we learn a lot from that passage because first of all we know from a number of evidences that Joseph's apparent is one of the richest men in the area the fact that he had direct access to the Roman governor of Judea tells you a great deal tells you two things for sure one is the head ranked Joseph of Arimathea obviously had swag you don't go approach the Roman governor of Judea especially in these tense times unless you had access but you also know something else if you were familiar with Roman law he had to be next of kin so he apparently this is conjecture and there's all kinds of scholastic conjectures he may have been an uncle or what-have-you you may have been related to Joseph who may have passed away by then who knows we did these are all conjectures but he had some kind of relationship or Pilate would not have granted the body and Chuck Smith has shared with me an unrecorded conversation of course you may know about where pilot of course is amazed that this rich man says Joe you've got this new tomb for your family and you're going to give it to this criminal and Joe says Oy just for the weekend I steal my best stuff from Chuck I'm that great conversion with the rich in his death because he had done no violence either was any deceit in his mouth yes it pleased the Lord to bruise him oh come on what do you mean it pleased the Lord to bruise him what does that mean the Father loves his son it pleased the Lord to bruise him why certainly not because he enjoyed bruising him that's obviously not the context but because of the benefit it would accrue to you and I that God loves you so much that he endured if I can use my phrase this for what it would be a benefit it accrues to you it pleased the Lord to bruise him for our benefit not certainly not his yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his body and offering for sin is that what it says another word there when thou shalt make his soul and offering for sin ouch wait a minute all this foregoing discussion the nails the wound all the physical abuse probably far more painful far deeper in many respects than you and I is without a medical background can fully appreciate and yet that's not the point that's what I might call the packaging what's really going on here it goes at least three levels probably a lot more first level is the bodily form we looked at that we feel anyone in this room can feel the pain and yet here it says he may make his soul an offering for sin something deeper going on something deeper going on of course when we read Psalm 22 and he roars out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me we begin to realize there is something even deeper going on 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 speaking of course of the resurrection because how can he be killed and have all his happened prolong his days I thought he was killed ride it's called the resurrection celebrating the feasts of Moses by the feast of firstfruits when is the feast of firstfruits celebrated on the morning after Shabbat after passover when was Christ crucified on Passover he's in the tomb three days in the morning after Shabbat we call that Sunday morning he's resurrected as predicted in the feast of Moses and fulfilling many passages in one of them and the pleasure Lord shall prosper in his hand he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied very key idea you are not pardoned from your sin through leniency leniency isn't righteousness isn't really just as it may seem merciful to the recipient the good news is you are pardoned because it's been paid in full the righteous judge has arranged for your full burden to have been paid off it's not by leniency or some loophole or some misguided laxity that we have escaped our destiny but because that destiny has been fully paid and provided for he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied this whole episode was to satisfy a righteous God who cannot compromise his righteousness and yet loves you so much that he went to such incredible extremes to have that provided for he shall see the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many how are you justified before the throne of grace by Christ's righteousness not yours if you really understand that you can take comfort and confidence in Christ's faithfulness not yours he did the whole job and you can appropriate it to yourself for eternity by simply accepting it by simply receiving it if you're in prison and there's a full pardon for you full pardon for you there's one thing you've got to do you got accepted there are people that serve their sentences having a full pardon who refuse to accept it so the sentence was executed a pardon had to be accepted even in our clumsy laws that's the procedure their case is unread where that happens you have a destiny but a grim destiny without the partner and that pardon is there for the acceptance of it paid for God is satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities the son of the judge so to speak has paid the whole fine for he shall bear their iniquities there again is the vicarious substitution of the substitution of Jesus Christ on our behalf verse 11 therefore will I divide him a portion to 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 fascinating detail clearly demonstrate just let's just deal with the the descriptive detail all described in advance eight centuries in advance the whole method of crucifixion the the episodes the dividing of the garments the his refusal to defend himself executed among the wicked and yet with the rich in the grave all the details again item after item after item well Isaiah didn't really write as a it doesn't matter this was all translated the Tanakh the old test was translating to Greek three centuries before Christ was born Psalm 22 in Isaiah 53 and lots of others how many others 300 prophecies have been detailed that were fulfilled in his ministry 19 centuries ago 300 of these things be big lists over 300 numbered with the transgressors he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors he prayed for them Father forgive them for they know not what they do he prayed for the criminal next to him yes this day will you be in paradise but that's only he give me a session for the transgressors there are lot of transgressors there know lots of aspects to this he said Father forgive them for they know not what they do question for you a technicality but it may have value for us was it first or second degree murder he says Father forgive them for they know not what they do so on that premise I'm going to argue rhetorically speaking that this sounds to me like manslaughter doesn't it right in what's premeditated but on whose part Peter tells us the book of Acts that was a predetermined in foreknowledge of God right so this is God's plan that the son would go through this for you and I but there is a sense at least I could argue that it's manslaughter why do I make that point because we find in the Old Testament a quaint custom instituted in the laws of Moses in the Torah when the Israel is to enter the promised land they were to set out six cities threes to the Jordan three what's the Jordan called the cities of refuge and we read that and the whole idea the city of refuge was if you killed somebody accidentally or inadvertently something other than premeditated murder what we would call an our vernacular manslaughter you had a problem because the next of kin was going to come after you the Avenger of blood so what you did is you were to run fast and try to make it to one of these six cities obviously picked the closest one in all out for it when you got there if you could convince the city fathers that in fact you were guilty of manslaughter not first-degree murder you were granted sanctuary in that city the Avenger of blood was not allowed to take his vengeance in the city now if you left town and he caught you you've had it that was his mission and that was your vulnerability and that's the way it was the the next if that was the way they dealt with it and you stayed in the city of refuge until an event occurred this whole situation thus was stabilized now you're in the city you're safe the Avenger of blood is presumably outside you could stay there until an event occurred that the high priest died back in Jerusalem some day maybe the high priest would pass away and that triggered in the event which said you as a a one fleeing to you were free to leave the city of refuge and the Avenger of blood couldn't touch you you follow me you had protection permanent I'll bring this up for several reasons one is when you read these quaint things in the Old Testament I'm going to suggest a chuck Missler hypothesis may not be true I'm just going to throw it out for your own consideration and exploration I believe that there's nothing trivial in the scripture that everything is there by design every detail that's you've heard me say that I believe every number every place name everything in the scripture is there by supranational engineering and I've made my life hobby collecting examples of that now when you encounter something like the City of Refuge you say well gee chuckle what's that got to do with anything well not only can I give you an answer I'll give you a methodology that generally will work when you find something in the scripture that makes no sense to you at all let me give you two suggestions another one occurs to me that you I should share with you I'm going to encourage you as part of your approach to the Bible is to keep a journal your girls will do that because you're used to keeping Diaries of stuff guys generally don't but I encourage you to keep a journal and when you find something you do understand rejoice could take your journal put down the date - put down the reference and try to express to yourself what it is you don't understand I know it's hard to do but try - its private it's not something you'll never show anybody just for yourself try to document your confusion then close your journal and pray about it give it to Holy Spirit and stand back it won't necessarily happen in the next 5 or 10 seconds it may happen the next day the next week a month later I'm not sure when something will occur it might be something else you're reading some other unrelated verse it might be something you hear on the radio it might be partially hearing or misunderstanding somebody else's conversation but somehow the Holy Spirit will give you an insight and you'll go back to that part that confused you and it'll be so obvious you will have forgotten how confusing it was that's why I want you to keep a journal because then I want you to put the date and the events that cause that verse to become clear to you this will have no meaning to anybody else it's private but as you collect these and there'll be a number of these every time you give something ho spirit he will answer this and then you'll discover a lot of things when you get down there be times you go through a valley of doubt and you wonder gee have we gotten carried away with it all and and and you'll kept times when you're just really out of it I want you go back to your journal and remind yourself of the personal supernatural tutoring not of chuck Missler or anybody else on the radio TV the Holy Spirit and it's an incredible experience you have to have it for yourself and when you have it you won't be able to share it with anyone else you'll sound like a nut but you'll know there have been times I can remember vividly I'm an adventurer I've had many exciting things in my life but I can remember most dramatically experience when God showed me something that caused me just to follow the floor of my study and cry because of what he showed some some incredible insight that was troubling me now getting back to the pragmatics if you find something like the City of Refuge the other suggestion is take Jesus Christ and put him right in the middle of it and see what happens I would suggest to you Jesus Christ is our city of refuge and we're guilty of manslaughter aren't we what's our refuge he is for how long till the high priest dies who's our high priest that's interesting then our refuge is permanent isn't it in him they say Chuck that's a lot of puns there isn't it but that's exactly what the Holy Spirit deals with a suggestion we talked about a go kinsman-redeemer we focused tonight on his a a--j 53 where Jesus Christ is our kinsman redeemer he died for us but I want to share something else with you to keep in the back of your mind as the Bible teaches us what the kinsman redeemer is he has two roles he has the role of the goal well as the kinsman redeemer that is to redeem the land and redeem the bride all that we've talked about that Book of Ruth sky but the kinsman redeemer has another role in Luke chapter 4 when Jesus Christ opens his ministry when he formally starts his actual ministries come of age he's getting rated he reads in the synagogue of Nazareth from the Book of Isaiah and the portion that he reads is recorded in Isaiah chapter 61 in the synagogue in Nazareth his first thing publicly to do was in chapter 61 he read the following it's recorded in Luke 4 but I'm reading from Isaiah for some specific reason Isaiah 61 verse 1 the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach the good tidings to the meek he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty to the captives and opening of the prison to those who are abound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord then he did something kind of interesting he closed the book and told them there this a is that prophecy fulfilled in your ears and he starts his ministry and we read that we understand it used in order to preach good tidings to the meek and so forth that all fits doesn't it it isn't until we go back to Isaiah and realize where he stopped he stopped at a comma verse two says to proclaim the exact acceptable year of the Lord , and the day of vengeance of our God who he didn't read that because that wasn't the time that part was not fulfilled at that on that particular Shabbat in Capernaum I mean in Nazareth but see that the kinsman redeemer has two roles one is that one of redemption and that's what he did the first visit he provided for your redemption and mine but he's not through there were 300 from over 300 prophecies fulfilled in his first coming but there are over 500 that deal with his return and his mission on the return is going to be quite different he's going to be the Avenger of blood Isaiah in chapter 63 describes him with blood all over his garments not his blood the blood of his enemies and the more you study prophecy the more you can very quickly become convinced we are on the threshold of that time the 70 week prophecy of Daniel at Gabriel gave Daniel Daniel chapter 9 is clearly getting positioned it's all starting to happen Ezekiel 3839 describes an alignment of Nations and an agenda that's unfolding before our very eyes as the Soviets break up in the bursary and the Islamic Republic seek separate identity with the UN with three things in common they're Muslim they're short of card currency of nuclear weapons and they're obviously going to intrigue with the Islamic brothers against what what unites is long their hatred for Israel Ezekiel 38 is getting positioned next month next to you I'm not setting dates but it's close all the experts know that Bible says that Europe will emerge as a out of which will come a world government hey watch it as watching unfolding the original 12 have been joined by seven more of the explanations and others 19 but take the ball she got three more you got twenty in fact you can end up with twenty three nations and growing three times the population United States and on an agenda for what a world government interesting what the Bible says Bible says babylons can be rebuild Saddam Hussein spent twenty last twenty years doing it it's coming it's not there yet but it's emerging watch for it fascinating Israel's back in the land no surprise regain Jerusalem on the very day that Ezekiel predicted no surprise Bible the three times new testament says that temples got to be rebuilt hey they're starting two hundred priests and training the implement of the implements built not all but almost of them it's all happening as we speak and of course the issue is in Russia sure Babylon or Israel or Jerusalem or the temple or Europe or any of that stuff the issue is Jesus Christ was he who said he was did he fulfill the incredible detail laid out but not only by Isaiah 53 but the other three hundred details and if so what are you gonna do about it what's your position in Jesus Christ are you sure of your position in Jesus Christ are you confident that you are his boy I sure deal with that nothing else matters nothing else really matters and really then that's the whole enchilada your position in Christ someone told me the other day they knew the hour that he's returning I mean obviously all excuse me of setting the day and they are it's going to be between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning as it where it says I don't know suppose I could tell you that Jesus Christ was going to return to the earth to fulfill his mission between 2:00 and 3:00 o'clock tonight tomorrow morning what's your feeling if you get excited about that hey that's praise God then I know you've got as many problems as I have first time I heard people applaud that I've got problem no no sir if on the other hand that idea seriously sends a little trickle of fear down your spine that's the Holy Spirit telling you you're not ready and the amazing thing is you can be ready this evening you just make a commitment to him if you'll handle it all well we don't have a follow-up program praise God you know who follows up the Holy Spirit will and he doesn't right he knows your needs he knows your earths he'll draw into those portions of Scripture he'll have you growing grace the knowledge the Lord and Savior he knows how to do it what you need to do is commit yourself to Jesus Christ normally I have an altar call would be a natural time to do it those of you who might want to come down and just pray hey I'm here that's great you do tonight turn to anyone you trust and just confess Jesus Christ just commit yourself to him just take care of the rest I'm confessor to somebody somebody trusts own record just take care of it all the father give to me she'll come to me and whosoever cometh to me I will in no wise cast out he'll handle the whole thing doe e till you're ready you'll never be ready he's ready that's the important thing your position in Jesus Christ it's the whole ballgame my friends everything else is wood hay stubble I know I've trafficked in wood hay stubble long time I've won I've lost then I've done all frankly in many respects and and it's interesting I praise God that he's allowed me the perspective of the futility of all the rest all the other appetites are unsatisfying whatever they are all the other things we choose to worship empty distractions he's what he's what it's all about you and I have an enormous advantage we were having this discussion ten twenty fifty years ago it's a theological issue yeah okay today I have to pick up a newspaper every day it unfolds every day it becomes more clear every day another piece falls into place it's happening and God seems to be in a hurry I don't mean that literally he's never a hurry but boy the pace at which things are happening this is the time to get serious about your position in Jesus Christ this is the time to get serious about the Bible find out all these things for yourself don't believe a thing I told you dig it out for yourself what stands for closing word prayer the Lord Jesus Christ he's what it's all about what God puts above his name his word declares from Genesis chapter 1 through revelation 20:2 one primary issue the person the mission the achievements of his son Yeshua HaMashiach the Messiah promised a God of Abram eat sock knock off the one has provided an eternal destiny for you and I let's bow our hearts father we come before you in gratitude that we can call you father grateful that in your kingdom there are no coincidences no accidents that we're all right here right now by your divine appointment that we've heard these things declared because you've declared them and that you've declared them that we might live father we just stand back and on the one hand were awed by your creation as we survey your majesty your handiwork in the world's without number and yet father were even more odd as we recognize the lengths that you've gone to that we might be redeemed the cost to you of our Redemption vastly surpassing the cost of the creation itself and father we just thank you that you have made it so available we would ask you Father in accordance with your commandment in Jesus Christ we ask you Father and give us no peace until we rest in you there's any among us father we just that are not in your forever family we would ask father that you would just convict continue to strive with us all father until we rest in you we just pray father that you would indeed receive us Paul in Jesus Christ and further father we would ask that you would just minister to us by your Holy Spirit cross into your word that we might behold these treasures you've hidden here for our learning help us to understand the price of our Redemption help us to understand what you have done for us in him that we might indeed grow in grace and in the knowledge our Lord and Savior that we might discover that unique opportunity that you put before each and every one of us to participate in your grand adventure unfolding before us that we might be more responsive to your will in our lives and more pleasing in thy sight Oh Lord our strength and already

Channel: NarrowPathMatt714

Views: 81,251

Rating: 4.7468925 out of 5

Keywords: Chuck Missler (Film Actor), Book Of Isaiah (Religious Text), Isaiah

Id: Mall7UadiHg

Length: 81min 28sec (4888 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 23 2013