Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You 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.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53 NKJV
Isaiah 53:6 All, everyone
8Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved! 9What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. 10As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.… Romans 3: 8-10
All we - This is one time when inclusiveness will not go over so well, for it is in men's hearts to follow their bellies, their feelings, the lust of the flesh. We try to make our own way, led by our eyes, noses and emotions, and develop our own religions, either within the language of an established vocabulary or system, like saying, "I was born or reared Christian, Roman Catholic, Jew, Atheist, Nature worshiper", or that I just don't know, not enough information, but I just want everyone to be happy. Now, for the Jews in Christ time, it was more acceptable than ever before to view other systems as inferior, since by that time they had put away the idols made with hands. They were not going to make that mistake again, and they followed the law in a manner sufficient to them, outwardly, but they also added to the law and nullified God's laws with their own. Everyone is fallen in Adam, thoughts are like spoken words before God, and self assessment is useless because the heart is wicked and deceitful above all things. There is justification by faith in Christ work, atonement and resurrection, Him as the head of the Church, the only approved mediator, the God/Man, or there is apostasy and every other merit based system. God accepts Christ offering, and He only accepts you through Christ. So the inclusiveness of man is that all have sinned, all fall short, all are born dead in trespasses and sins, all are fallen in Adam. What we don't like to hear is the exclusive nature of salvation, that God has declared only one way, and Jesus states this very clearly, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me." In other words, it doesn't matter what you want to believe, wanting something to be true won't make it so, believing in yourself, some self professed guru, thinking yourself good, following a moral code, adopting shelter animals, eating a certain way, or going to church etc., none of these things can reconcile you to a Holy God.
Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 “‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Matthew 15: 1-9
Jesus used this same metaphorical description in Matthew -- "Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd." (Mt 9:36) Like sheep they followed the sinful path of their fleshly, fallen hearts. So just as sheep wander, sinners (all of us) wander from God's way, "they way, the truth and the life," which is the only way to the Father (Jn 14:6). So in the confession of the saved Jewish remnant, they acknowledge their sin and sinful nature, which is the beginning of the road to repentance. Precept Austin
…22And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.… Romans 3: 22-24
Like sheep - This is not a compliment they pay themselves, for sheep are the most high maintenance of the herding animals. Shepherds carried hooked staffs in order to pull them back when they wandered. Some shepherds employ dogs to herd sheep by nipping at their legs to bring them back to the flock, and also to protect them from predators. There was an old practice with lambs that tended to wander off, where the shepherd broke it's legs and carried it on his shoulders until the bone repaired and the sheep was bonded to the shepherd. They are not the most intelligent creatures and out on their own they become easy prey.
I did not love the fold;
I did not love my Shepherd’s voice,
I would not be controlled.
I was a wayward child,
I did not love my home;
I did not love my Father’s voice,
I loved afar to roam.
--Horatius Bonar
…175Let me live to praise You; may Your judgments sustain me. 176I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments. Psalm 119: 175-176
… 12What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? 13And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices more over that one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.… Matthew 18: 12-13
We have turned, everyone, to his own way - Remember how the scribes and Pharisees had searched the scriptures, looking for Messiah, trying to deduce the time of His arrival and what manner of man He would be? Well, this passage gives a very clear and detailed picture of Him, but when the Shepherd came, the sheep held to their own way. Much of what is called Christendom today is no different in their response. They cannot tolerate the thought of rebuke, much less a broken leg, the idea of self denial is repugnant to them. They have popes in Roman Catholicism that pretend to be Christ here on earth, and many follow them because they offer a legalism that they are comfortable with. I can ask a man if I am ok with God, and their is always one, if not millions, that will reflect back to me what I want to hear, or offer me a ritual to satisfy the concern. Many evangelical churches reject doctrine, even though the Apostles taught it and this very passage is laden with it. Who is Christ? "It doesn't matter," they say. They denounce doctrine, but in doing so they only forsake God's in favor of the doctrines of man, just like the Pharisees. A true pastor, someone wanting to shepherd a church, would take seriously that these are not his sheep, that they belong to the Good Shepherd. They would teach them His words, so they recognize His voice, lead them into sound teaching, away from danger, and defend them from wolves at the cost of their own lives. We have all wandered into error, and pride hates the feel of the Shepherd's crook, but the gospel is too precious to leave with hirelings.
…21So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work. 22 Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling.…
…24And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing. 25 He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. 26Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.… 2 Timothy 2: 21-26
…12Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in the things you have learned and firmly believed, since you know from whom you have learned them.…
…15From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.… 2 Timothy 3: 12-17
And the Lord has laid on Him, the iniquity of us all - The doctrine of substitution, and this passage is filled with it. Look at verses 4 through 6 again, bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, chastisement for our peace was upon Him, by His stripes we are healed. We went astray, were lost, and He had to come find us. We were so lost that we had our own way, in other words, we didn't think we were lost. I thought I was good, thought I was on the right path, was acclimated and at peace with my sin, a friend to the world. The Bible says, "every way of a man is right in his own eyes." We even believed we knew God, but did not accept Him when He came, for Who He is, nor did we honor Him. We thought that we were right before God through our rituals, yet God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. We were unclean.
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