Lord Who Hath Believed Our Report? (Lesson 1) Series

INTRODUCTION

Outline.

1. Lord Who Hath Believed Our Report?

Remarks.

1. This is lesson one in this sermon-series entitled: Lord Who Hath Believed Our Report? The question originates from the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 53:1. This was Isaiah’s report of the coming and work of the Messiah. He wrote: “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him…Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…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. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” Isaiah 53:1-6. I have collapsed this text for brevity.

2. We will consider Isaiah’s question: “Lord who hath believed our report?” In this text, Isaiah was writing of Christ, His beauty, and His betrayal, death, burial, and resurrection. And the results of his terrible suffering and sacrifice for sin. The report predicts the Messiah's coming, his being rejected, crucified, and raised from the dead to deliver his people and all nations from their sins: it is that “good news” that would be spread abroad to both Jews and Gentiles. What is later learned of this "good news" is Israel’s rejection of it; and the Gentiles' reception of it. With this brief introduction, let’s consider lesson one in this sermon-series: Lord Who Hath Believed Our Report?

BODY OF LESSON

I LORD WHO HATH BELIEVED OUR REPORT?

A. Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Isaiah 53:1. This entire chapter is so filled with the unsearchable riches of Christ that it may be called the gospel of the evangelist Isaiah rather than the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah no doubt was speaking of Israel then, regarding his preaching to them the report of the Lord. Their pending overthrow, capture, and being led into captivity by Babylon. However, it held the prophetic meaning to the coming Messiah, which was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ unto the children of Israel, during their yoke of bondage under Rome’s oppression in the city of Jerusalem and the entire world.

1. The person of Isaiah’s report: was the Lord. Jesus is that “messiah” who would come, not to deliver Israel from the yoke of Rome’s bondage; but, the yoke of “sin and death,” Romans 8:1-4; Matthew 1:21.

2. Isaiah was writing about the coming Messiah. Not just His coming, but also the purpose of His work while being “tabernacled among us,” John 1:14. He came--

a. First, to reveal Himself to the world lost in sin, despair, and hopelessness, Luke 19:10; John 10:10; 1 Timothy 3:16.

b. Second, to complete the will of His Father. Behold, “I have come - In the volume of the book it is written of Me – To do your will, O God,” Hebrews 10:7; Matthew 26:39.

c. Third, to fulfill His eternal purpose, Revelation 13:8; John 1:29; John 19:30.

d. Fourth, to die for the sins of the world; to be buried, and raised from the dead, Luke 24:44-47.

e. Fifth, to establish the kingdom of God, Mark 1:14; Daniel 2:44. Now we must ask ourselves: what was Israel looking for in the coming Messiah? They sought a deliverer from Rome’s bondage and oppression. The overthrow of the Roman Empire to build an earthly kingdom to be established in Jerusalem. After feeding the five thousand. They sought to take Jesus: “To make Him king over Israel.” John wrote--

1) First, “Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said: This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world,” John 6:14. When they had recognized "the arm of the Lord," i.e., His mighty works and power: they sought to seize Him. For what reason?

2) Second, “Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone,” John 6:15.

3) Third, Jesus told Pilate, at His trial: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but my kingdom is not from here,” John 18:36. Christ's kingdom is heavenly; His subjects encompass both: heaven and earth, Ephesians 1:9-10. Hebrews 11:39-49; Hebrews 12:22-29.

NOTE: Illustrate, Thy Kingdom Come. Download this lesson from SermonCentral.com by Ron Freeman Evangelist. It describes the establishment of the kingdom of God in the first century. The lesson dispels the notion that Jesus will establish the kingdom at His second advent!