Hey all,
Today we have the 6th song of 2024 and we’re 3 of 3 in the Isaiah 53 series! It’s available to WATCH below (no YouTube today) and to STREAM on Soundcloud.
The purpose of this newsletter/podcast is to share one thing about the importance of the verses we’re memorizing.
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Today, we’re talking about the last 3 verses of Isaiah 53: verses 10 -12.
They read as follows:
Isaiah 53:10-12
10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Why it matters
Have you ever wondered why it matters if we understand the bible?
Why does it matter? Seriously?
Do you read the bible from a sense that it is your duty or habit?
Habits are good. We should always do our duty.
As a child you’d be very disturbed to hear your mom or dad say, I’m just not in the ‘right spirit’ to cook today. I don’t want to feed you just out of a sense of duty. So we’ll eat tomorrow.
No, we should do our duty but just as we can kinda taste when someone ‘cooked it with love’, I think motivation matters in our bible intake.
I believe many of the problems in our lives, our families, our communities, and even within our churches come from approaching the word of God as a detached duty (robotically, and doing the bare minimum, if at we approach it at all) as opposed to something we love!
Did I do my devotions today? Sure. I can tick the box. But do I understand? Has it shaped me? What’s its effect on my conscience? Do I have new convictions? Can I share it sensible to others?
In his book What’s Wrong With the World, the writer G. K. Chesterton challenged the idea we hear so often, that Christianity has been tried and has failed to produce meaningful changes in our society.
Chesterton said:
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
Nowhere more powerfully exemplifies that when when we as Christians don’t know or understand the bible.
Now, I’m not talking as someone who has a great knowledge of the bible and could talk about it.
That's exactly the point.
I’ve been a Christian for twenty years this year and I am astounded at how much I just don’t know.
Immediately someone might say, ‘yes Andrew, we’re always learning my brother. We won’t get it all until we get to heaven.’
That’s true, but I think that refers to the full range of truth. The bible tells us, now we see through a glass dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12). It tells us there are secret things which are not for us, but for the Lord (Deuteronomy 29:29).
I don’t expect to know those things. What I am interested in are the things that made Jesus say to the Sadducees, you do not know the scriptures.
When Philip the Evangelist was sent by God to talk to the Ethiopian eunuch in (Acts 8:26-40), he was help a stranger understand God’s plan for his life and change his life forever.
It’s an amazing story.
Verse 32-33 tells us that the eunuch was reading the text we memorized last week:
32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
He read it but he didn’t understand it and he admitted to Philip that he didn’t think he could understand it unless someone explained it to him.
So thats what Philip did.
34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.
Philip did such a good job by the help of the spirit that the man chose to be baptized too.
Verse 39 says, “when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.”
This record is priceless for the witness it bears to the work of God in the life of this man.
All of it stems from Philips ability to explain a passage we now look at as too obscure to think about.
I hope you feel inspired by this, not guilted in any way.
I really want you to see the potential that exists for God to use our efforts to learn his word. It can help, bless and transform your life and the lives of others.
Make it more meaningful
Here are 2 ways you can make this passage more meaningful this week:
There are seven references to Isaiah 53 in the New Testament. Just go read them. Stand in awe a second at how precisely God foretold the end from the beginning. And think about what it means that we serve such a God.
I’ve created a list of all of the verses and copied the New Testament passages so you can just read them. Download: The 7 Isaiah 53 References in the New Testament with the verses copied.
Also, As mentioned in my first post on Isaiah 53, I recommend you listen to John Piper’s sermon on this text to hear someone preach on its significance and meaning.
Sing Isaiah 53: 10-12 + When reading your bible is like cooking with love