Guidance from God: A Prophetic Answer
Guidance from God • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
2 Peter 1:19-21
Today, I want to preach on the topic of [Guide us God], the subject of my message is, [A Prophetic Answer].
Who has every been to the point where we just wanted answers?
It is difficult to want answers to very important questions. We often feel impatient. We start to wonder if anyone knows what they are doing?
I had a situation like this occur when I was seventeen years old. It all started on a Monday that seemed like any other day. My friends and I went to eat after school.
We ate at a place that served sushi and ice cream. Doesn’t that sound great? It wasn’t.
On Tuesday, I was sick. Really, really, really sick all day. On Wednesday morning, my chest began to hurt and I struggled to breathe.
Mom took me to the ER where they ran an EKG and a number of other tests. Finally, the Physicians Assistant diagnosed me with inflammation in the chest muscles because of the previous day’s illness.
Mom was not satisfied with that answer. We still had more questions. To make a long story short, they ran a cat scan and found I had a blood clot in my left lung.
This created a lot more questions than answers. Why did a seventeen year old have a blood clot? What do we do? How did it get there?
They never could quite answer that questions, but I could, I blamed the sushi. I told Bekah when the first time she asked if I wanted sushi, I ate it on a Monday, ended up with a blood clot on Wednesday, no thank you.
It was hard on my parents. It was painful for me. It was alarming to my friends and family. But with all the questions we had, we knew the ANSWER.
We prayed. Our church prayed. And God answered and brought healing.
Who believes that Jesus STILL heals?
Who has even been healed by Jesus?
I could stand and go around this sanctuary and testify about the times God has healed someone in our services. It is ingrained in us as Spirit-filled believers— Jesus IS OUR HEALER.
What about those who lived in the Old Testament. There were examples of healing, but it was not widespread. It had to have been a dark day before Jesus not to have the hope that God will heal.
God knew the pains people felt. He understood that sickness came when humanity sinned. Therefore, He longed to provide the answer to the effects of sickness and disease.
That is why He spoke through the prophet Isaiah. Remember, the prophetic is like a light that shines in a dark place.
But the answer to the problems of life came in an unexpected form.
Isaiah 53:1
Many have called Isaiah 53 a prophecy about the Suffering Servant. As God gave this word to Isaiah, He realized that the way in which God would bring answers to His people might confuse them.
There are times when we walk through circumstances that do not make sense. There are times that God answers our prayers in ways that do not make sense.
In these situations, we have to keep believing and trusting that God sees what we cannot see. He knows what we do not know. And He can do what we cannot do.
As the prophet recieved this word from heaven, he acknowledged, the answers to our situations might not make sense, but God knows what He is doing.
It is interesting that God gave this message to Isaiah 800 years before He brought its words to pass. In Isaiah 53, we find the answer to many of our problems.
But I want us to notice that the answers did not come in the way many expected. God’s prophetic answers came, [Through Brutality], [Through Betrayal], and [Through Burial].
Let’s begin
1. Through Brutality
1. Through Brutality
Isaiah 53:3-5
It is hard for any of us to comprehend or imagine a world without sin. Only God can do that. Even the writer of Genesis had a difficult time putting into words the perfection of the Garden of Eden.
One of the reasons we cannot fathom what it was like is because we were all born into sin.
We can safely say though, sin has taken a brutal toll on our world. We see the:
sickness
violence
confusion
pain
evil
immorality
blasphemous
and imperfect society
It is hard to picture in our minds what life was like without this, for it has been around since humanity fell.
God’s people have always hoped for a better day. And God promises that He will deal with the brutal effects of sin.
But to deal with the cruel harsh effects of sin, meant that someone had to endure the brutality that sin caused.
Isaiah did not know who God would use, but he described what this suffering servant would do.
The prophet declared that God would send a man who would face people who will despise and reject him.
This Man will face sorrows and become acquainted with deepest forms of grief.
To make matter worse, the people that this man will come to help will turn their backs on him, despising him and not caring about him.
But this man will face the most brutal of punishments:
He will become wounded for humanities rebellion
He will get crushed for the sins of the world
He will get beaten so others can become whole
He will get whipped so the sick can recieve healing
What a brutal depiction of a grim future for this Suffering Servant.
I wonder how Isaiah felt when he recieved this prophetic word. He had no way of knowing the future. In fact, he had no way of interpreting this prophecy.
He simply spoke the people as God spoke to them.
I imagine he and those who heard the word were confused to see that God would answer their questions through a brutal depiction of a man who will be bruised and beaten.
He also will answer their questions...
2. Through Betrayal
2. Through Betrayal
Isaiah 53:6-7
Remember, the Isaiah’s original audience had no way of knowing what this prophecy meant. But first they heard that God would send a servant who would suffer in the most brutal of ways.
Then, Isaiah reminds them of the track record of Israel. Since their inception as a nation, they had a perpetual bend of going astray. They went through consistent cycles of sin, rebellion, and judgment.
Isaiah uses the metaphor of a sheep that goes astray. One that leave the flock and gets lost.
That was the nature of God’s people. They had the tendency to continue to leave God’s path and follow their own.
The problem was, every time they went on their own path, they fell deeper and deeper into sin and had to reap the consequences.
But what does Isaiah promise?
God will send a servant who will not only suffer because of the sickness of people, He will suffer because of the sins of people.
What betrayal for this servant to face.
He will face harsh oppression, but He will never rise to speak in his defense. Surely that had to wonder, how is this man that is supposed to come to our aid actually help us if He won’t say anything.
All their history they heard the taunts and lies of their enemies. They wanted someone who would come and put their opposers in their place.
And what does Isaiah promise?
The one who has the answer will not say a word in fact, He will go silently as a lamb to the slaughter.
He will hold His peace and take their place.
This should have got their attention. Every year, the Israelites celebrated The Day of Atonement. They would fast and repent for ten days and then the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and present a sacrifice to God.
This sacrifice would serve as an atonement— a reconciliation between God and humanity for their sins.
Isaiah promises that this suffering servant would be like that lamb that was sacrificed on the day of Atonement.
I can’t help but wonder what Isaiah’s audience thought. Surely they had questions about their future and Isaiah promised, the answer to the nation’s problems will come through brutality, betrayal, and...
3. Through Burial
3. Through Burial
Isaiah 53:8-9
So far the answer was not something they wanted to hear. Isaiah promised God would send someone who help, but this man, the servant would face intense suffering.
He will face brutality, complete with bruises and beatings.
He will face betrayal by those He came to help.
But to top it all off, He will become unjustly condemned and be lead away. Notice Isaiah’s words, cut off from the land of the living.
That is the exact opposite of the prayer of David.
12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.
Isaiah promises the exact opposite will happen to this suffering servant.
Where David wanted a smooth path and protection from his enemies. This suffering servant will face brutality and betrayal.
Where David declared his confidence in this one fact— I WILL SEE THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING.
This coming servant will be cut off from the land of the living. He will die without descendants and his life will get cut short.
After he has died, he will be buried like a criminal for crimes he did not commit.
Burial? That is not a message of hope.
At this point in the Old Testament, there were only three people who had been risen from the dead and it was all done through the ministries of Elijah and Elisha.
I say that to explain, when they read that this man would get buried with criminals, for them, that was the end of the story.
Death was final for the Old Testament person. No wonder Isaiah began his prophecy with the question, who will believe our report?
Close:
Why would anyone want to believe Isaiah’s words?
God’s people needed help, they had questions. Isaiah told them God has the answer it will come through brutality, betrayal, and a burial.
Then, to make matters worse, notice what he else he prophesied.
Isaiah 53:10 (NKJV)
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief...
Why would this promise of a suffering servant please God? For the Old Testament person, this was not the answer they wanted for their questions.
So in essence, they put this prophecy on the shelf for 800 years. It was too obscure, to confusing, and not very encouraging.
But God did not forget His promises. Eight centuries after promising brutality, betrayal, and burial, Jesus came walking on the scene.
Everything He did pointed to the fact that He was the Messiah, but the people were still confused.
They wanted prophecies like Daniel to come to pass:
Daniel 7:9 (NKJV)
9 “I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated..
Or the words of Zechariah:
3 Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle.
This is what they envisioned. By the time of Jesus, the people had so many questions, and God had the answer, but they did not understand, but they would very soon.
And the very people He came to save were the same ones who had a hand in His brutal betrayal and burial.
He was arrested and when He could have defended Himself:
14 But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.
Just as Isaiah promised, silently He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
30 Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.
31 And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.
Just as Isaiah prophesied, He was wounded and beaten for us, as stripes were laid upon His back.
After being beaten beyond recognition, taking on the sins of humanity:
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
He truly was the suffering servant. He was and is the answer for all humanity, but He answered through brutality, betrayal, and a burial.
Why then, did Isaiah say that it please the Lord?
Let’s read the entire verse:
Isaiah 53:10-11
God knew that through Jesus’s suffering in our place:
He would become the offering of sin
He would rise from the grave
He would have many descendants
And He would justify many for their iniquities and sins
The answer to the ills and problems of humanity came in the way no one expected. This suffering servant would not suffer forever. IN fact, He willingly suffered for us so that He could take on our SINS, SICKNESS, SUFFERING, AND SORROW.
Now, whenever we ask the questions in life, HE NOT ONLY HAS THE ANSWER, HE IS THE ANSWER!
I go back the my opening story. It was almost ten years to the date that my grandfather died of a blood clot in his left lung and I had the same situation as a seventeen year old boy.
BUT, I had the answer. I knew Jesus was my Savior and my Healer.
How did I know that?
I was raised in a home and a church that taught me. I did not understand the theological implication of the lamb being slaughtered. I did could not explain what it mean for Jesus to be my substitutionary atonement.
But I knew this:
Jesus faced a brutal death for me
Jesus was betrayed for me
Jesus was buried for me
But I also know
Jesus rose from the dead for me
He ascended to heave
He sent the Holy Spirit to me
And He will receive me unto Himself on that day
Now, fourteen years later, I STILL KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE!
I realize in this room, there are many of us who have questions. There are those who face sickness, sorrow, and suffering.
But I have good news today— JESUS IS THE PROPHETIC ANSWER.
And when He walks into the room, everything changes. He is the light that shines in the darkness.
He is the bright and morning star.
And today, right now, we can come to Him in FAITH, knowing He took our place and receive whatever HE has for us.
HAVE BEKAH SING WHEN YOU WALK INTO THE ROOM