11 September 2016
Two-Minute Features | 18 September 2016 | 04 September 2016

Isaiah 53- Jesus Was Sorrowful in His Life, Part 1 (TMF:495)

Friday, September 16, 2016
Peace to Live By: Isaiah 53- Jesus Was Sorrowful in His Life (TMF:495) - Daniel Litton
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       God knows what it is like for us, as people, when we face abandonment by others. Perhaps a person has let us down, showing us that they are not the person we thought they were. Perhaps we put our trust in the person, only to have him or her disappoint us. But Jesus was sorrowful in his life I am sure for many reasons. After all, he had this great secret that he carried with him that we was God. No one else knew the secret, at least for awhile. His disciples knew he was the Christ, but did they know he was God? We see Jesus’ emotions at their pinnacle when he goes to Bethany to visit the grave of his friend Lazarus. Remember the shortest verse in the Bible is found here, in John 11, which says, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35, ESV). Was this weeping, though, just over his friend Lazarus who had died? Jesus knew we was going to raise him from the dead—for he had already hinted this to his disciples. No, I think the scene here of Jesus weeping was more a culmination of feelings that had built up inside of him. He was sad to see the heartbreak that death causes for those who love the person.

Isaiah 53- The Jews Were Expecting the Messiah (TMF:494)

Thursday, September 15, 2016
Peace to Live By: The Jews Were Expecting the Messiah (TMF:494) - Daniel Litton
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       It is true that a lot of the Israelites, including the Scribes and Pharisees, were expecting the Messiah to come, to be the Savior of Israel. It’s just that they—at least the leaders—thought he would come as a Glorious King in fine robes, with much pomp and riches. They thought he would be high and lifted up in the realm of higher society. The leaders thought he would be like them. Jesus hadn’t come to the earth to be king—not yet. He had come to die for sins—to reconcile people with God. To put it in Jesus’ Words, he said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17, ESV). The righteous, of course, were those who were seemingly righteous, but were whitewashed tombstones, clean on the outside but full of death on the inside. That was the elitists of Israel. So, Isaiah calls Jesus a “man of sorrows.” This is a very interesting name for the Messiah, and one that I think many in the Christian life can relate to. Remember that Jesus said, “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14, ESV). Jesus had befriended his twelve disciples. They were close to him. But at the end, they all let him down. He had one who became a traitor against him, and gave him up to the Jewish leaders. And then he had the rest abandon him at his arrest.

Isaiah 53- Jesus Was Despised & Rejected by Men (TMF:493)

Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Peace to Live By: Isaiah 53- Jesus Was Despised & Rejected by Men (TMF:493) - Daniel Litton
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       And Jesus grows up in a typical Jewish family, not one of great wealth but one that is average. The only thing we know about his boyhood is the story about him at the Passover Feast, when he was twelve years old, which is found in Luke chapter 2. He ended up staying behind in Jerusalem to learn from the Temple teachers. And his parents, both Mary and Joseph, had to come back to Jerusalem to get him, after they had left. So, it is true that Jesus would have “no form or majesty” in his days. The people did not see him as a stand out character because of his looks or oratory skills. Matthew tells us, in chapter 7 of his Gospel, that the crowd was astonished at his teachings, as he had taught them as a person with authority, and not like the scribes who showed no such authority from God in their teaching style. But Jesus was “was despised and rejected by men.” Certainly, not everyone rejected Jesus initially, for he had his twelve disciples, and then his other followers. But at his arrest, everyone deserted him. But really, the scribes and the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and those not part of the kingdom, were really the ones who hated and disposed of Jesus.

Isaiah 53- Jesus Was Born in a Humble State (TMF:492)

Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Peace to Live By: Isaiah 53- Jesus Was Born in a Humble State (TMF:492) - Daniel Litton
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       Continuing in the passage, speaking of Jesus now, it says, “For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:2, 3, ESV). From the very beginning, when Jesus came to this world he was born in a humble state. We are all familiar with the story of Jesus being born in a barn for animals, lying in a manger. It is so interesting how God works. Out of all the places to be born, Jesus in born with animals and is laid down in a trough, which became his makeshift crib. Jesus deserved the best, to be born in the best place possible, but that was not what God had in mind. God confuses everyone by becoming the servant of all, for Jesus, as God, is lowly and gentle in heart.

Isaiah 53- God's Love is Huge, Far & Wide for Us (TMF:491)

Monday, September 12, 2016
Peace to Live By: Isaiah 53- God's Love is Huge, Far & Wide for Us (TMF:491) - Daniel Litton
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       So that brings up the love of God. We can in fact believe God would due this if we try to understand his love. God’s love is huge. It is far and wide for us. Understanding that, it’s no wonder God would have done this. God is love, as the Apostle John has told us. I also want to note here that the reason Isaiah says that God’s arm hasn’t been revealed to anyone is because no one seeks God. Going back to Romans, it is written in chapter 3: “For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:9-12, ESV). Listen! Any view that looks at the people of the world as inherently good in their current state is in fact incorrect. All people are born into this world as sinners, separated from God. All are evil, belonging to the wrong side originally.