I love a comeback story!
Last week, Kim and I watched “War Horse.” It’s a Steven Spielberg film about a young English boy and his horse.
The family is about to lose their farm because dad bought a horse for his son. The father bears a war injury and cannot tend the farm. He spends his last money buying this horse that was a racing horse, and not a work horse.
The land owner is about to evict the family. Their only hope is if the teenager can plow a rock-filled field with his new thoroughbred so that the family can plant their crops.
The entire town gathers along the field to watch the event. They watch with pity and laughter as the boy attempts the impossible. “A team of trained horses couldn’t plow that field,” they say. But everyone wants the boy and his horse to pull through.
Rain falls, and the crowd disappears, sure that this is the end for the boy and his family. But as the rain falls, the boy and his horse continue, undaunted. With more rain, the ground softens enough for the boy and his horse to finish the job and save the family farm.
Everyone loves a comeback story.
Whose spirit didn’t soar when the 1980 Men’s Olympic Hockey Team defeated Russian in the 1980 Olympics? Or cheer when Keri Strug landed her final vault with a sprained ankle to win gold for the American women’s team in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta?
And you didn’t have to be a football fan to be thrilled when Tim Tebow accomplished the nearly impossible task of turning around the 1-4 Bronco’s with spectacular come-from-behind wins or his overtime pass to beat the Steelers in the first playoff game.
We all love a comeback story.
Today is Easter, or as I like to call it, Resurrection Sunday.
The Resurrection story is about victory rising out of suffering and defeat. It is the story of the greatest comeback in human history!
It is a story of SUFFERING and GLORY. The clouds and darkness of Good Friday give way to the joy and victory of Resurrection Power. You can feel it in the cycle of the passion week. You can sense it in the comeback of the very earth itself, brimming with new life, budding trees, growing grass and blooming flowers. What was dead has come back to life.
The Resurrection is also about you. We need a comeback too. There are times that we feel like we’re backed up at our own ten yard line, down by ten points with no time outs and only one minute left in the game. Until we have Christ in our lives, we are hopeless.
Your greatest comeback is found when your sins are forgiven through Christ!
We’ve been studying the story of Christ’s suffering and his glory from Isaiah 52:13 through the rest of Isaiah chapter 53. In these verses we see two central themes: Christ’s suffering and his glory.
His Suffering is clear.
It is the familiar passage of Christ’s passion in Isaiah 53.
He was wounded for our transgressions.
Crushed for our iniquities.
With his stripes we are healed.
But these familiar verses are found in between the other theme of Christ’s glory. Notice how the section begins with Isaiah
Isa 52:13. “He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” This is a promise of resurrection! It is one of the few OT prophesies of resurrection. One other passage is Psalm 16:10 "because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay." This Psalm is quoted by Paul in his sermon in Acts 13:35 "So it is stated elsewhere: “ ‘You will not let your Holy One see decay."
Job also speaks prophetically of the resurrection of Jesus in Job 19:25–26 "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. " "And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;"
This Messianic prophesy that “He will be highly exalted” is expounded upon in Philippians 2:5-11 That great kenosis passage tells us how Jesus humbled himself, and through his sufferings, God “highly exalted him and has given him a name which is above every name.”
The exaltation of the Suffering Servant also marks the conclusion of Isaiah 53. Notice Isaiah 53:11–12 "After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. " "Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
The following phrases speak of the glory that the Messiah will receive because of his sufferings.
“He will see the light of life and be satisfied”
“Justify many”
“bear their iniquities”
“Therefore I will give him a portion with the great.” This is a picture of a victor returning from battle. The GLORY that Jesus received through his suffering is the glory of many sons and daughters. His glory is the collection of people who are redeemed by his death. His glory is the multitudes of people who will gather around the throne, as we read in Revelation 5:9 "And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."
His glory is the “sons and daughters” that are now part of his same family through their faith in his blood. Hebrews 2:8–12 "and put everything under his feet.” In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. " "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. " "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. " "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. " "He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”"
But not only does Christ’s suffering bring him glory, it is also OUR GLORY.
The text above states “the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.” We are brothers and sisters with Christ! His suffering “brings many sons to glory.” When you trust Christ as your Savior, you receive all of the glory that he won for you at Calvary!
There is victory and glory for us when we trust in Jesus
Sins are forgiven.
Bitterness is conquered.
Fear is overcome.
Hope is found.
Suffering and Glory.
There is no glory without suffering.
Although you and I have difficulties in this life, nothing can compare to the suffering that Christ went through for you. In His death, he took on ALL of the sin of the world at the same time. He bore the greatest injustice ever committed against any person. He endured the most horrific suffering for you. In doing so, he placed himself “on your team.” He joined with humanity. He put on our uniform. And when he became one of us, he knowingly and willingly allowed himself to be mistaken as a sinner, so that those who are sinners could be included as his brothers!
His suffering brought him glory - and YOU are the glory for which he died!
Have you ever come to the point when you realized that Jesus is all that you need? Are you content with him alone? Do you know how you would respond if everything else were to be taken away, and all you had left was your relationship with Jesus?
Christian songwriter and singer Tammy Trent had such an experience. She is a frequent speaker at “Women of Faith” conferences all around the country. Her story is of being a young wife, joyfully married. Her and her husband Trent were in Jamica resting during a mission trip. (Tammy took Trent’s first name as her last when they got married). Trent was an experienced diver and went for a dive as Kathy watched. He was free diving and came up for air every few minutes. As Kathy was eating her lunch, she noticed after a while that she hadn’t seen him surface. Her worst fears were confirmed.
There she was. In Jamica. All alone. Trent’s body had not yet been recovered. Desperate, she called for her parents and friends to come. They immediately tried to book flights to join her in her most crushing moment. The morning after Trent’s dive, a medical doctor came into Kathy’s room. He asked her if she knew what was happening on the news. She turned on her TV just in time to see the second plane crash into the twin towers. It was September 11, 2011. EVERY aspect of Kathy’s life was devastated. Every plane was grounded, and her parents and friends could not get down to her.
There she was. Alone. Afraid. Falling apart. Kathy writes,
I think it was two days after the loss of Trent when I was in a hotel room, by myself, and I was crying in the bathroom. I just said, 'God, I need to know that you're real! Are you there? Can you hear me? Can you see me? Do you feel the pain that I feel?' I remember tears just racing down my face and I specifically said, 'I miss my family. I miss my best friend.' Nobody could get to me because of 9/11. In America all flights were grounded so I was by myself and I longed especially for my mom. So I said, 'God if you can hear me, if Heaven is real, if this is all real, could you just send me somebody to hold me? I'm not asking for thousands of angels or even hundreds of angels; just one angel that would just hold me.'"
Her voice goes quiet as she feels again the emotion of the moment. She continues, "I remember at that moment I knew I was supposed to somehow get up and move out of that bathroom. So I got up and I began to move through my room and I could hear somebody in the adjoining room. I made my way over there and the door was open so I looked in and I saw this beautiful Jamaican woman standing there in a Hilton housekeeping outfit. I looked at her and said, 'Ma'am could you come in and make my bed?' She looked at me and said, 'Yes.' She said, 'I've been trying to get to you. I could hear you crying and I've been trying to get to you. Could I just come in and hold you?' And at that moment it was an instant answer to my prayer. Everything that I'd ever longed to experience before in my walk with God happened right there. I had asked, 'God could you just show up here right at this moment?' And he did it for me at that moment. So I knew at that moment that somehow I would get through this. I knew that God was very, very real. And that I wouldn't just survive it but somehow I would overcome it. I knew that truly that was the beginning of healing in my life. And I think there's been seasons of that for the last five years where God has constantly reminded me that he's very real. That this is a truly authentic relationship that I can have and that I CAN be restored and I CAN be healed.
http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Tammy_Trent_Living_Through_Personal_Tragedy_And_Finding_Gods_Healing/26866/p1/
I don’t know your PAIN, but I do know your HEALER.
I know the One who can CAME BACK FROM the DEAD so that you could have victory over your problems.
I know the One who can give PEACE in the middle of the storm.
I know the One who can give MEANING in your chaos.
I know the One who died so that you would not have to LIVE in GUILT and JUDGMENT.
Turn to him today.
He suffered for you.
You are the glory that the Father gave to Jesus.
But you do not belong to him until you give him your heart in faith.
