What if God showed up in ways in your life that simply defy human explanation? What if He did for you something that you could not do for yourself? What if the stamp of the supernatural was such a part of your life that everyone around you said, “Look at what’s happening for him. Look at what’s going on in her life. There must be a God!” What if God unleashed His power for you?
I have to honest. I’m facing some things as a leader here at church and at home that are too big for me. I just have questions, not answers. I know I need the Lord to show up with wisdom and strength.
Weightlifting illustration.
I know I need the Lord to show up with wisdom and strength. I know I’m not alone.
Where would you like to find God showing up with power for you? Maybe you’re just finishing school and starting a new career. Maybe you have a strained relationship with a spouse or family member. Maybe you’re wanting to overcome a sin that keeps tripping you up. Maybe you’re in sales and you’re facing a quota that seems insurmountable. Where would you like to see God’s power on display in your life?
We need Him to open doors for us. We need Him to lift the weight that we can’t lift. We need Him to do things for us that we can’t do for ourselves. A simple question: Has the power of God been unleashed in your life?
We’re beginning a new series today. It will take us through Easter. I hope you are praying about who you can invite. On Easter, we’ll look at the last three verses in this chapter in a talk titled: The Life You’ve Always Wanted.
Next week, we’ll be looking at verses 4-6, some of the most significant verses in all the Bible about forgiveness. Seven hundred years before Jesus came into the world, God opened the eyes of this man named Isaiah to see into the very heart of what Jesus would do to save us. The Christ is pierced in our place. Don’t miss next week. Bring a friend.
More on that next week, but today, “power unleashed.” Isaiah 53 starts with two questions:
1Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Isaiah 53:1 (ESV)
It’s that second question that grabbed my attention this week. To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? Who sees it? Who watches it be displayed in real life?
I want the answer to be me! I want the answer to be my family! I want the answer to be you!
Now, why do I have such passion about this? It’s because of what this phrase, “The arm of the Lord,” means.
Arm – zerowah - help, power, strength
The “arm of the Lord” points to His impact through us, His might for us, His protection of us. Who wouldn’t want that! Who wouldn’t want that for the people you love?
I want this for me. I want this for my family. I want this for you! I want God to show up in our lives in ways that we haven’t seen before. I want for people to have to say, “There must be a God because God did for them what they could not do for themselves.”
I spent time this past week just looking a this phrase in other places in the Bible. Let me share with you just a little of what I found.
I want the “arm of the Lord”
unleashed in my life because…
1. … I need His liberty.
This image, the arm of the Lord, points to His great power – a power that’s available to His people… to us! God’s people in the OT were slaves in Egypt. But God’s arm moved to rescue them – to free them.
They are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.
Deuteronomy 9:29 (NASB)
God is still freeing people today. Freedom from dead religion. Freedom from addictions. Freedom from panic and worry and doubt and confusion. Freedom from selfishness. Freedom from sin. He frees us from eternal punishment when we turn from sin and trust in Him. He frees us to love Him and love others.
I want God’s outstretched arm to work for liberty in my life.
I need His liberty.
2. … I need His victory.
The arm of the Lord points to the fact that He wins – all the time – even when it may look like a defeat at first. God’ wins don’t always look like ours. Look at the cross –the place He was pierced. It looked like a defeat. But the arm of the Lord turned it into a win – the most awesome win ever!
O sing to the LORD a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.
Psalm 98:1 (NASB)
God is still winning victories today for His people. You may feel defeated today – spiritually, emotionally, relationally. You’re spent. You can’t lift the weight in your life. It looks like there’s no way you can win. But there is not a weight He cannot lift.
I want this victory. I want God’s right hand and holy arm to win for me… and for my family… and for you.
I need His victory.
3. … I need His energy.
The arm of the Lord points to the fact that He can do anything. When I run out of options and energy and creativity, the Lord has more than enough to finish any job I’m facing.
Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, who shows lovingkindness to thousands.
Jeremiah 32:17-18a (NASB)
When God starts lifting the weight, your impossibilities become His possibilities.
There’s a businessmen who needs to sell $50,000 worth of product in a month to meet quota. Even the boss thinks, “There’s no way.” But a chance contact takes place and a $20,000 sale happens. A sales project that everyone thought was “dead in the water” suddenly takes place for another $35,000. The businessman not only meets quota, but exceeds it. How did that happen? It’s the arm of Lord.
I want this energy! I want God’s outstretched arm to work for me, especially when things are too difficult for me because nothing it too difficult for Him.
I need His energy.
4. … I need His security.
The arm of the Lord points to how He is a soft place for His people to fall. Have you failed recently? Have you fallen? Have you disappointed yourself. Are others disappointed with you? The good news is His arms are a soft place for you to land.
The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Deuteronomy 33:27a (NASB)
When God’s arm is working for us, we can step out and try some things that we’ve never tried before. We can try things that we’ve tried before. If we fail, we’ll find that God’s arms are there to catch us.
I want God’s everlasting arms to catch me, to catch my kids, to catch you.
I need His security.
5. … I need His safety.
The arm of the Lord points to His desire to keep us close to His heart.
Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
Isaiah 40:11 (NASB)
Do you feel like you are all alone? That no one really cares? That no one wants you? Listen, the arm of the Lord draws you close.
I want this. I want to know that I am being carried close to His heart.
I want all this. I want more and more of all this. Who wouldn’t want God to be all that in them and for them and through them?
Remember, Isaiah 53 starts with this question: To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Who has made a personal discovery of God’s strength? Who gets all this? Who sees it? Who experiences it? Answer: Not many. Why not? The answer comes in Isaiah 53:2-3. These verses express why so many people overlooked Jesus… why they never access His power.
2For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground…
Look at the phrase “young plant.” It restates what was already said about Jesus in Isaiah 11:1, “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” Jesse was the father of the Jewish king, David. This is describing the earthly family line of Jesus. David, the king, was his forefather. Pretty impressive.
But the family had fallen on hard times. The kingdom had been destroyed and al that was left was a stump. The verse is predicting that out of that stump – the destroyed house of David – a tender shoot would grow. Usually, no fruit will ever grow from a shoot that grows out of a stump. From the world’s perspective, the family tree of Jesus did not give Him a real advantage.
Jesus did not grow up in wealth. He grew up in relative obscurity. His mother? A peasant girl. His father? A carpenter. His hometown? Nazareth, a place that people mocked: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Jesus came from unpromising surroundings. It was “dry ground.”
These were reasons why people overlooked Jesus then. And they missed the experience of the arm of the Lord. Not many had this personal experience of the arm of the Lord then because they overlooked Jesus. And not many have this experience today.
So, what do I have to do to get this power? I have to do what these verses say most people don’t do.
The arm of the Lord is
unleashed for those who…
1. … see Him.
We have two kinds of eyes, the eyes of the head and the eyes of the heart. What are the eyes of your heart looking at?
He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him.
Look at: give attention to, gaze at. What gets your attention, your gaze?
There is so much to look at other than Jesus. Family and friends and fun. Movies and money and magazines. Jesus is not as exciting, not as shiny. He seems unreal, unattractive. The eyes of our hearts grow dull.
I hope you know we have an enemy who wants to keep us from seeing Jesus.
The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
II Corinthians 4:4
If the truth were told about some of us, we’d have to say, “I don’t see why you guys are getting all worked up over someone who lived 2,000 years ago. Nice stories. Great leader. But I don’t get all this passion you seem to have.”
Ask the Lord to let you see Him. It’s when you behold the glory of the Lord that transforming power starts operating in your life.
Even once we become Christ-followers, we can see without seeing.
The other morning, I looked at Maryanne… I see her everyday. But this time I looked. I thought, “I have a great wife. She’s pretty.” I said, “Thank You, God.” I saw her in new light. I gazed at her.
It’s what we need to do with Jesus.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus saw this happening in the church of Laodicea, who thought they needed nothing. He said to them, “You are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” And He counseled them, “Buy from me . . . salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see” (3:17-18).
The arm of the Lord is unleashed for those who see Him.
2. … desire Him.
He had… no beauty that we should desire him.
Desire. It’s describing people who have a capacity to want more and more of Jesus.
Why don’t we want Him? We are full of other stuff. We’ve been feeding on the Twinkies of this world. We fill up our hearts and minds with work and wealth and worry. Cars and clothes and careers. And we don’t have room for the bread of life.
They… had sought [the LORD] with their whole desire, and He was found by them…
II Chronicles 15:15b (ESV)
I’m glad that we took a month to look at II Corinthians 3:18. Personally, I’m developing new taste buds. When I’m too full of other stuff – when the work of the Lord crowds out the Lord of the work –then there’s no room for Christ. That’s when I don’t want Him with my whole desire. But God, by His grace, has given me a new capacity for the Bread of life. sweetness. And I’ve been tasting the bread of Christ for what it really is: nourishing and satisfying. I see Him and I want Him. I want to want Him with my whole desire.
The arm of the Lord is unleashed for those who desire Him.
3. … respect Him.
Not everyone respected Jesus. That’s why He ended up as the Pierced One.
3He was despised…
Despised – bazah – regarded with contempt, disdained, regarded as worthless.
His values are so different, that we despise Him. He is humble, so our huger for power and reputation feel evil. He was poor, so that makes our wanting more and more feel foolish. He was willing to suffer, so that makes our craving for comforts feel selfish.
The opposite of despise is respect, admire, appreciate. God is looking for people who will marvel at Jesus - be in awe of Jesus – think highly of Jesus – respect Him. Do you?
A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due Me? If I am a master, where is the respect due Me? says the LORD Almighty.
Malachi 1:6 (ESV)
The arm of the Lord is unleashed for those who admire Him.
4. … receive Him.
… and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
Rejected is a word that means transient or fleeting.
For many, Jesus had His 15 minutes of fame. “Hey, He gave a few good talks. He healed some sick people. We welcomed Him into Jerusalem as a king. Now it’s time to move on… Now, we are on to something else – to someone else.”
We still do that today. Think back to the time when you first rusted Christ. Think about how excited you were about Him. You couldn’t talk to Him enough. You couldn’t read about Him enough. But now… He’s had His 15 minutes of fame in your life. And, truth be told, you’re onto something else.
God is looking for people who will really receive Jesus… and hold Him close.
To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
John 1:12 (ESV)
The arm of the Lord is unleashed for those who receive Him.
5. … value Him.
… and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Not esteemed – not valued.
Jesus is not valued very much in this world. The world says that Jesus is a religious leader to be respected. His teachings are worthy to follow, just like the teachings of Gandhi and Buddha. But to esteem Him above all? No! He’s not to be valued that much! Compare that to Philippians 3:8:
I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ.
Philippians 3:8 (HCSB)
To value Him is to become captivated by His beauty above all else. The arm of the Lord is unleashed for those who value Him.
I see the Pierced One. I desire the Pierced One. I admire Him. I receive Him. I value Him.
This is to whom the arm of the Lord will be revealed.
Does this describe you? What this really describes is worship. Jesus is looking for worshippers. Does this describe you? If not, perhaps this describes why the arm of the Lord has not been revealed for you.
Why does this kind of worship unleash God’s power? It’s because God is a Person who likes it when we delight in Him. He is moved when we value Him. You say, “I don’t get it. How does that work?”
Suppose I take Maryanne out to dinner. And we go to Champs. You see a problem with that? I do. I like sports! And let’s say that the Cavs are on the big screen. While I’m supposed to be focused on Maryanne, I’m looking over her shoulder at LeBron James. I’m seeing her. But I’m distracted… a lot! How do you think she’s going to feel about that?
But suppose I take her to Carrie Cerinos. And I say to the host, “We want a seat in the most secluded booth in your place. We want to be disturbed as little as possible because I want to focus on my wife!” Let’s say we sit there all evening and I devote my full attention to her. Eye contact. Holding her hand across the table. Asking her questions. Telling her how I’m feeling inside. Thanking her for being the light of my life and the mother of my children. Talking about things that I know are close to her heart. How do you think she would feel about that? And suppose I go on day after day, week after week, looking for opportunities to see her, desire her, admire her, receive her, value her?
Do you think that might make a difference in how she relates to me? In how much she’s willing to do for me? You bet it would make a difference. She would be looking for ways to bless my life – to encourage me, to support me, to lift her arm to help me.
Jesus is waiting. He’s waiting for us to see His beauty and to worship. The Pierced One is so great that just thinking warm thoughts about Him are not enough. There must be deep feeling for Him. It’s not enough to simply see Him.
God is glorified not only by His glory being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it.
Jonathan Edwards
A truth to take home: The Savior is strong for those who see His piercings as precious.
A verse to remember: O LORD, be gracious to us; we look to You. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble. (Isaiah 33:2; Pastor’s translation)
A question to answer: This week, how will I show Jesus that He is becoming more and more valuable to me?
Watch the Passion of the Christ again.
Get caught up with the Bible reading we suggested a few weeks ago.
Get a copy of Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ and read it slowly, letting the scriptures in the book sink in. Rephrase those prayers at the end of each chapter.
Find a secluded place where you won’t be disturbed. Focus on the Pierced One. Devote your full attention to Him. Give Him eye contact. Hold His hand. Ask Him questions. Tell Him how you’re feeling inside. Thank Him for being the light of your life and the joy of your heart. Talk to Him about things that you know are close to His heart.
Got some weight you can’t lift? Need some power from God in your life and relationships? I want the arm of the Lord to be at work for me and for you. I want this!
Look at Him. Desire Him. Esteem Him. I know it’s counterintuitive. I know it seems weak. I know it seems like you’re not doing anything – that you’re wasting your time.
But God does things His way, not ours. The Pierced One is the Powerful One. The weak become strong.
