We revert to the words which are guiding
our thoughts at this time in the prophecies
of Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 1.
The second clause in the verse, to whom
hath the arm of the Lord been revealed.
To whom hath the arm of the Lord
been revealed.
Having this morning considered a little of the
meaning of that phrase, the arm of the
Lord, that it indicates and implies the
support, the upholding, the strength of the Lord
given to that and to those who are
wholly in line with his purpose.
We shall go further this afternoon in considering
something more of the content of the question.
We might begin by asking what does the
word of God show to be the meaning
of the support, the upholding of the Lord.
That is, what do we think of when
we think of getting or having the support
of the Lord.
What is in our mind?
We all want to have the Lord's support,
the Lord's upholding, the Lord's strength.
Or in a word, to have the Lord
alongside with us, on our behalf, with all
his gracious and infinite power.
That is, after all, as we have said,
the most important thing in life, for Christians
individually, and for the Church, and for the
work of the Lord.
But have we really thought as to what
we mean by this?
What do we expect when we ask for
and think of the support of the Lord?
Is it just the bare support of the
Lord to get us through, to carry us
over, to see that we do not collapse
on the way?
We see somebody fearfully standing on one side
of the road, afraid to step out and
cross, and we proper an arm.
We say, let's give you an arm, see
you over, an arm.
And, well, the arm is a support, it
helps to the other side.
Is that all that we want from the
Lord?
Is that what we mean?
The Lord will give us his arm to
get us through this difficulty and that trouble,
over this and that phase, where we need
strength from him.
We have many ways in which we put
this, and always speak about the arm of
the Lord.
We ask for grace, we ask for sufficiency,
we ask for many things, but it's all
gathered into this, the arm of the Lord.
But really, what is it that we are
seeking?
Now, what does the Word of God show
to be the meaning of this support, this
arm of the Lord?
This is, before I answer that question, a
matter of very far-reaching and very comprehensive
importance and application.
I trust that you will believe that I'm
not, at this time, a little concerned with
giving addresses and matter from the Bible.
But you will believe that, with a very
great practical background to anything and everything that
is said here, let me pause to say
what I mean.
Taking just recent months of experience, and what
is coming almost daily into one's life, there
has been a continuous, I could truly say,
an unbroken demand made for help in the
problems of Christian lives, the problems of churches,
the problems of Christian relationships.
It's just been, almost day and night, a
continuous demand for help in all these difficulties
and problems, individual and collective.
And letters are continually coming.
I have now, awaiting answer, a number of
very long letters from assemblies of God's people
in different places, telling of those terrible conditions
in those assemblies, bringing almost to deadlock, frustrations,
defeats, limitations, disappointments, and asking for counsel, for
advice as to what is to be done,
so on and so on.
It's a large background of real need, and
it is over against such a background that
this word is to be spoken this weekend
by the help of God.
I want you, therefore, to realize that there's
something very practical in this.
Because, after all, you know, dear friend, after
all, it all amounts to one thing, where's
the Lord?
Just where is the Lord?
Where is the arm of the Lord?
Where are we going to find the Lord?
How are we going to have the Lord?
That's what it amounts to, the great need
of the Lord.
And that contains this very serious question.
How far is the Lord able to support
this and that, and come in and undertake,
and show his power, and show himself mighty?
I'm sure you will agree that that really
is the heart of the whole matter.
Does this represent a limitation on the Lord
that he cannot, he cannot, because of certain
things?
It is, therefore, important over everything that we
should know and understand the ground on which
the Lord will show his mighty arm.
In these days, on behalf of his people,
on behalf of his church, on behalf of
his work.
And when we ask this question as to
what it really does mean that the arm
of the Lord should be revealed, I find
two or three things in the word of
God, holding a very large place in the
word of God, in many forms of expression,
which answer that question.
First of all, and may I pause again
to say that Isaiah 53 is the answer
to everything.
You think you know Isaiah 53, don't you?
Perhaps you could recite it.
I venture to suggest you know very little
about that chapter.
It's the most comprehensive chapter in the whole
Bible.
If we were able to read it with
real spiritual comprehension, we could find all our
questions are answered in that one chapter.
All our needs are met in that one
chapter.
All our problems are solved in that one
chapter.
The Bible is comprehended by Isaiah 53.
Having said that, and I'm, of course, keeping
all the time within the compass of that
chapter in what I say, I find that
this is the first thing that the arm
of the Lord, on behalf of his people,
means.
It means the vindication of the course that
they have taken.
Now if you like to go to your
Bibles with that, you will find how much
there is that gathers around it.
And again you will agree that it is
a very important matter that the course that
we have taken should be proved at the
end to have been the right one.
To be nothing more terrible and tragic than
having taken the course, given ourselves and all
that we have to it, and poured out
our lives, and then at the end to
have found we've been wrong.
And the Lord is not able to vindicate
the course that we have taken.
It is therefore of utmost importance that the
course that we have taken should in the
end receive the divine vindication.
That is that God is able to say
over against, over against everything, in spite of
everything, from men and from devils, that man
was right.
You know that after all was the vindication
of Job, wasn't it?
Oh how much that man meant.
Of misconstruction, misinterpretation, but in the end
God said my servant Job is right.
And that's that's no small thing.
In Isaiah 53 it's that.
The vindication of a course taken in spite
of everything.
And that in spite of everything is quite
a lot in that chapter, isn't it?
To look at that again later, but there
it is.
Oh an overwhelming amount of contradiction and misunderstanding,
but in the end vindicated.
God saying he was right.
He was right.
To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed?
That one.
To that one.
And again I say that it's a matter
of the greatest, greatest importance that at the
end the way that you and I have
taken with God shall be proved by God
to have been the right way in spite
of everything.
Now you look into your Bible and I'm
not going to take you through it with
that thought, but that it's it runs everywhere.
See not only in relation to Job, but
to Abraham and to them all as they
went with God.
What a way they went.
What a difficult way they went.
What a misunderstood and misinterpreted way they went,
but in the end God said, not in
word only, but in very, very practical vindication.
He was right.
That is the meaning of the arm of
the Lord.
That is what I want when I ask
for the arm of the Lord.
Oh Lord, that I may take such a
way with you that in the end you
may stand by that way and say he
was right.
He was right.
Do you want that?
God is the good of anything if he
doesn't work out like that.
A second thing that I see to be
the meaning of the arm of the Lord
is the abiding spiritual fruit of a life.
Isaiah 53.
He shall see his feet.
The abiding spiritual seed.
That is the life, the life that was
in him now perpetuated and established, indestructible
in new forms of expression.
He shall see his feet.
God is the good of anything if we
live our lives here and when we go
that's the end of everything.
We do our work and when we've gone
that's the end of everything.
It's the memory growing more and more indistinct,
fading, fading into the past.
Perhaps true to that very depressing, very depressing
line that some people like to sing.
Time like an ever rolling stream bears all
its sons away.
They fly forgotten as a dream dies at
the opening day.
I say that's pessimism to the last degree
but that ought not to be our heritage.
That ought not to be true of any
servant of the Lord.
Forgotten.
Died.
Born away.
Past us.
Nothing left.
A vapor.
No.
He shall see his feet.
Arm of the Lord on behalf of any
true servant of the Lord.
Ought to be that.
But when the form of service and expression,
the vessel and the framework which was only
temporary has gone there's something intrinsic that goes
on and ever on indestructible and we'll be
found in heaven abiding eternity.
That's the arm of the Lord.
Again I say that is the vindication of
life and that is the thing that you
and I would covet, is it not?
Surely that's the only thing to justify our
having lived at all.
Not that we did a lot of things
and there was a lot even to show
while we were here but when we're gone
the work lives on.
The seed goes on.
It's an imperishable seed.
Well that is what the Bible shows to
be the meaning of the arm of the
Lord.
That is the Lord standing by, supporting, carrying
on, giving his seal.
However you may put it it's the Lord
involved in things.
It's that.
That which is established.
You see the arm of the Lord establishes
what is of him.
It's something that is established that it cannot
be destroyed.
Oh do you not want the arm of
the Lord in that way?
Surely we all do.
Spiritual fruitfulness, spiritual increase, no stagnation, no end
but a going on.
Well of course we can see that, can
we not?
In the case of all the true servants
of the Lord.
But the the Lord came in.
He came in afterward.
Often after they were gone and he stood
by.
He stood by Jeremiah.
When Jeremiah was gone then that the word
of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah
might be fulfilled.
The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus,
king of Persia.
He made a decree the Lord is standing
by Jeremiah though he's gone.
Paul ministered to the seven churches in Asia
and Paul is gone but the Lord comes
back to the seven churches to stand by
the ministry of his servant Paul and to
vindicate.
No that's the arm of the Lord.
But he does not allow what has been
of himself in any servant's to perish.
It is established.
The arm of the Lord is the verdict
of God upon everything.
The verdict of God upon everything.
Dear friends I suggest to you that that's
something that you ought just to take away
not in your notebook but in your heart.
It's the verdict of God upon everything that
matters.
Not the verdict of man.
Not the verdict of our own minds or
hearts.
What we think about is the verdict of
God.
To Abraham the Lord said walk before me.
That's the last thing.
The final thing.
Walk before me.
Live your life to get my verdict upon
it.
Day by day day by day see to
it that at the close of the day
at the close of every day you can
have my verdict of approval on that what
you've said what you've done the way you've
lived in all things you have lived through
that day in the light of the verdict
of God which is to come at it
then.
Walk before me.
Well all that is gathered into this word
the arm of the Lord.
That is what we need.
Now we come back to this chapter.
What are the principles upon which the arm
of the Lord will be revealed?
I have said that we are very familiar
with this chapter Isaiah 53 or we think
we are.
When we read it we are usually so
taken up with the sorrows and the sufferings
and the sin bearing of this one in
view this servant of Jehovah.
We're usually taken up so much with those
vividly descriptive words of his person and his
experiences that we almost entirely lose sight of
the tremendous significance of this fundamental initial question
to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed?
You see the whole chapter would have very
little value and meaning but for that question
think about it again.
Supposing all that has happened that is described
there about his sufferings and his sorrows and
his sin bearing.
Supposing if it all happened and then the
arm of the Lord had not been revealed
on his behalf what's the value of it
all?
It's happened.
Well where's his vindication?
What is the verdict of God upon it
all?
You see although the content of the chapter
is so impressive and overwhelmingly pathetic it all
relates to this one thing.
To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed?
The answer is to that one.
To that one described here in such vivid
detail.
The arm of the Lord is revealed to
that one.
If you want to know on what ground
the arm of the Lord will be revealed
it's on that ground.
Just that and that ground only.
The obvious answer to the question is the
arm of the Lord is revealed to the
one who is here in view.
With all this full descriptiveness with all this
paper with all this tragedy with all this
affliction with all this misunderstanding and misrepresentation it
is to that one that the arm of
the Lord is revealed.
See the prophet is doing the whole reaction,
whole reaction of the world of Israel and
the Gentiles to the report, the proclamation.
Who has believed our report or who has
believed that which we have proclaimed?
The messengers have gone out.
It's all prophetic.
It's all looking on for the day of
the Son of Man.
The messengers have gone out.
Proclamation has been made.
What a proclamation!
It was made on the day of Pentecost.
It went out from Jerusalem into all the
region round about.
But who believed it?
What were the reactions to it?
Israel and the Gentiles.
The prophet in this vivid, very vivid inspirational
foreknowledge, insight into the reactions of the world,
Jew and Gentile, to the message of the
gospel.
He says, who has believed?
Who has believed?
He answers his question in the whole chapter.
Then he says, to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed?
They have so reacted.
They have all refused, all denied, they have
all done this.
This is the construction they have put upon
it.
But nevertheless, in spite of all that, it
is to this one that the arm of
the Lord is revealed.
It is alongside of this one that Jehovah
stands.
And that of course leads you to the
whole comprehensive context of the question.
We are thrown back into this context, first
of all in the wider context, of which
this chapter, two or three verses before it,
is the immediate context.
The wider context takes us back to the
earlier chapter 42.
Behold my servant whom I oppose, my chosen,
in whom my soul delighted.
I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
And so on.
Behold my servant.
You see, that is the immediate context of
53.
We have pointed out that chapter 53 ought
to comment that verse 13 of chapter 52.
There ought never to have been a break
there.
The real beginning of this section is there
at verse 13.
Behold my servant shall deal wisely.
He shall be exalted and lifted up and
shall be very high.
We are brought into the wider context of
the servant of the Lord.
And what real service to the Lord means.
That is, what that service is that the
Lord vindicates.
What that servanthood is that the Lord stands
by.
To whom he shows his arm.
You and I are very much concerned with
that, I'm sure.
What kind of service it is that the
Lord will stand by and vindicate and say,
behold my servant whom I uphold, whom I
uphold.
That's only another way of saying to whom
I show my mighty arm.
See, the term servant of the Lord is
used in a threefold way by Isaiah.
In chapter 41 it is used of Israel.
Israel is called the servant of the Lord.
Raised up to serve the Lord in those
great purposes of God in the midst of
the nations.
But Israel failed as the servant.
Failed the Lord.
Tragically failed.
And out of the midst of Israel God
raised up one, his Messiah, and transferred the
title to him, my servant, whom I uphold.
I put my spirit upon him.
Behold my servant, he shall be exalted and
lifted up and shall be very high.
That's the second way in which the word,
the title is used of the Messiah.
And that opens up a very profitable line
of study if you care to follow it.
Noting that eleven times in the New Testament,
Isaiah 53 is quoted, the very words are
transferred to the Lord Jesus in the New
Testament.
Matthew himself says that the word of Isaiah
might be fulfilled when he quotes from Isaiah
53 in relation to the Lord Jesus.
Well you can follow that and you might
say here that the whole New Testament can
just be bracketed into Isaiah 53 and into
this title, the servant of the Lord.
He is a person and his word.
The third way in which Isaiah uses the
title servant of the Lord is in a
collective or plural way of faithful believers.
You'll find that in chapter 54 and verse
17, 65 and verse 13.
The faithful people of the Lord are given
this very title, servants of the Lord.
So you see there is a sense in
which you and I come within the compass
of this great divine vindication.
But here we must pause.
We must pause to make a fundamental distinction.
That is the distinction between the unique servanthood,
the unique work of the Lord Jesus and
that which relates to others.
I say there's a fundamental distinction there which
must be borne in mind.
For Isaiah 53 sets forth that unique servanthood
of Christ, that unique work of Christ in
which no one else shares at all.
Thank God it's not necessary.
He's done it himself, fulfilled it all without
our help and without leaving us in it.
That has to be noted and we must
follow that through in a moment more closely.
While that is true and we keep that
distinction, let us remember that the principles of
the service of the Lord are the same
principles of the service which we are to
render to the Lord.
If we do not share in the atoning
work of the Lord Jesus, that has to
be noted and we must follow that through
in a moment more closely.
But while that is true and we keep
that distinction, let us remember that the principles
of the service of the Lord are the
same principles of the service which we are
to render to the Lord.
If we do not share in the atoning
work of the Lord Jesus, if we do
not come into this vicarious service, nevertheless we
come into a service and that service is
based upon the same spiritual principles as his
service and that is a thing that we
have got to see soon because it's very
important.
These are the principles on which the arm
of the Lord is revealed.
Let us spend a few minutes looking at
his unique work and service.
I think it's impressive, dear friends, to note
that this section begins with the glorious end
to which God is moving.
Behold, my servant shall be exalted and lifted
up and shall be very high.
It's always good to get the end right
into view at the beginning.
To bring the end right to the beginning
and see how is all this going to
work out.
All this tragedy of chapter 53 all this
terrible story, how is it going to end?
Not just a matter of idle curiosity, a
matter of tremendous effectiveness.
What's going to be the end of this?
Well, God begins with his end.
Because this is how it's going to end.
Before I tell you all about the course
of things which might terribly distress and depress,
let me tell you how it's all going
to end.
This servant whom I'm going to describe in
his person and his work in the end
shall be exalted, shall be high, shall be
lifted up.
Because you've just got to put right into
that haven't you Acts 1 and 2, Philippians
2, he became obedient unto death, God highly
exalted him, gave him the name which is
above every name, in the name of Jesus
every knee should bow.
And Hebrews 1, there he is exalted to
the right hand of the majesty in the
heavens.
That's how it has ended, not how it
is going to end, that is how it
has ended.
And that is how the story, the terrible
story is introduced.
It's all found in this repeated phrase of
two words, he shall, he shall, he shall.
He shall be exalted, he shall be lifted
up, he shall be very high, he shall
see of the travail of his foes, he
shall be satisfied, he shall, he shall.
It's established from the beginning, that's vindication, that's
the arm of the Lord.
Let all this transpire, nevertheless the arm of
the Lord will see that that is how
it will be at the end, he shall,
it's established before anything happens.
Before the cross, before the it is established
in the counsel of God, he shall.
You and I really do come onto the
true spiritual principles of Christ's service, that is
exactly how it will be with us.
God will see to it that that is
how the end will be.
He shall, he shall.
If we suffer together with him, we shall
reign together with him.
But having noted how it's introduced, let us
look at the story of his unique servanthood.
There are eleven expressions in chapter 53, which
describe the vicarious character of the sufferings of
the servant of the Lord.
You might like to run your eyes down
through these verses.
One, verse two, he bore our grief, he
bore our grief.
Two, verse three, he carried our sorrows.
Three, verse four, he was wounded for our
transgressions.
Four, verse five, he was bruised for our
iniquities.
Five, verse six, the chastisement of our peace
was upon him.
Six, verse seven, by his stripes we are
healed.
Seven, verse eight, the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all.
Eight, verse nine, for the transgression of my
people was he stricken.
Nine, verse ten, when thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin.
Ten, verse eleven, he shall bear their iniquities.
Eleven, he bear the sins of many.
Eleven expressions which describe the vicarious character of
his service in suffering.
It's very interesting, and we ought perhaps not
to use that word, we ought to say
instructive.
Notice the three words here, descriptive of what
he bore.
Notice the terms used are iniquities, transgressions, and
sins.
Now if you like to turn back to
the book of Leviticus, to chapter 16, you
will understand what Isaiah was talking about, and
what the Holy Spirit through Isaiah was pointing
to.
Here in Leviticus 16, at verse 16, he
shall make atonement for the holy place, because
of the uncleanness of the children of Israel,
because of their transgressions, even all their sins.
And so shall he do for the tent
of meeting that dwelleth with them in the
midst of their uncleannesses.
Verse 21, and Aaron shall lay both his
hands upon the head of the live goat,
and confess over him all the iniquities of
the children of Israel, and all their transgressions,
even all their sins.
Here we have our three words of Isaiah
53, verse 22, and the he goat shall
bear upon him all their iniquities unto a
solitary land, and he shall let go the
goat into the wilderness.
Verse 30, for on this day shall atonement
be made for you, to cleanse you from
all your sins, from all your sins, ye
shall be clean before the Lord.
And verse 34, and this shall be an
everlasting statute unto you, to make atonement for
the children of Israel, because of all their
sins, once in the year.
He shall carry their iniquities, he shall bear
their sins.
Here in Isaiah then we have that which
corresponds to the work of the scapegoat, and
that's a word, a name, that fits into
this chapter so perfectly.
Here's the scapegoat.
Bearing iniquities, transgressions, sins, and being driven up
into desolation, into the wilderness.
Well now, what are we to conclude from
this for the present?
As to the arm of the Lord, and
as to the service of the Lord, the
arm of the Lord, with all that that
means, is inseparably related to the cross of
the Lord Jesus.
There you've got the heart and the sum
of the whole matter.
You want the arm of the Lord, you
want vindication, you want the Lord to stand
in and stand by, to support, to uphold,
to carry through, to commit himself, to be
with, however you may put it, and all
that that means, you want the Lord on
your side and with you, in your life,
in your company, believers in the work of
the Lord.
The arm of the Lord is inseparably related
to the cross of the Lord Jesus, and
none of us will ever find the Lord
with us, only on the ground of the
cross.
You remember how I opened this afternoon telling
of the situations in lives and in companies,
so many places, situations of spiritual tragedy amongst
the Lord's people.
Dear friends, I have one answer, only one
answer, but I have a sure answer for
everyone, because again and again, in personal words,
and in the letters that I have received,
these terms exist.
It seems that the cross hasn't done its
work in us yet.
Therefore, therefore, this lack of support of the
Lord, you see, Isaiah 53 covers everything.
The support of the Lord, the presence of
the Lord, the power of the Lord, the
committing of the Lord to us and to
the work, can only be, will only be
on the ground of the cross of the
Lord Jesus, as the ground upon which we
stand and live, as the ground of God
in us, individually and in us collectively.
The arm of the Lord only operates by
the cross.
You may say, if you like, that the
cross is the arm of the Lord.
It's there that the divine vindication is found.
Christ crucified the power of God, power of
God, the arm of the Lord.
The arm of the Lord is related inseparably
to a seed which is the fruit of
the travail of this servant of the Lord.
He, to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed, to this one he shall see
his seed.
He shall see of the travail of his
soul.
That church, that church which is essentially the
fruit of his travail, not the making or
the building of men, but the fruit of
his travail, something that has come right out
of his own anguish and passion, something that
has been borne out of his cross.
The arm of the Lord is inseparably bound
up with that.
Dear friends, I'm sure you recognize how important
it is that you and I should be
a part of that, a part of that.
There is a danger in making things too
personal, in this sense, that very often we
are not just so happy to be a
part of something larger.
We want it to focus down upon ourselves.
Oh yes, if it focuses down upon us,
we're very happy.
But just say, I'm just a bit of
something more.
I'm only a bit of something.
That's not very interesting at all, to be
a part of some larger thing.
Ah, but here it is.
The arm of the Lord is bound up
with that larger thing of which we are
only perhaps small bits, but we come into
the value of the arm of the Lord
as parts of something more.
Take any local company, the arm of the
Lord may be with the local company, and
we shall only find the arm of the
Lord as we are really integrated into that
local company.
Whereas we may not find the arm of
the Lord if we are taking independent and
personal lines, the Lord won't stand by us
on that ground at all.
But just to be wholly integrated into something
that has been born out of the work
of the Lord Jesus by his cross, that
is the place where we shall find the
arm of the Lord.
It is to that he shall see his
seed.
Oh, it's a very important thing that we
should lose our own distinctive independent entity in
that thing where the Lord is finding his
fullest interest and concern.
We should live for that.
That is where the arm of the Lord
is.
And finally, for the moment, the arm of
the Lord, with all that it means, is
inseparably bound up with the vindication of his
Son.
That's the test of our lives.
Paul said, for me to live is Christ.
God has vindicated Paul.
What enemies he's had?
His own lifetime and more since.
What enemies Paul has had and does still
have?
I think nothing, nothing has been left untried
to discredit the Apostle Paul.
But he's got a greater place today than
ever he has had in history.
The arm of the Lord is with that
man.
Why?
Because for him to live was Christ.
He had but one all-absorbing concern, the
vindication of God's Son.
Read again.
All Paul's sad, bitter words about his earlier
life against the Lord Jesus.
Again and again he tells us of what
he did, how he persecuted the church, how
he hailed men and women to prison.
Again and again he speaks of his attitude.
But now, now, his whole being to the
last ounce of his strength is to vindicate
the one whom he persecuted.
God is with him.
Remember that?
Life really poured out for the vindication of
God's Son.
We'll have God with it.
We're serving ourselves, serving some piece of work,
trying to make something go and be successful.
We may have to take the responsibility and
let God leave us with a lot to
carry and all the troubles associated with it.
But have a passion for the honor, the
glory, the name of his Son.
And God will take care of the rest.
He will.
To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed?
These are a few of the things which
answer the question.
On the ground of the cross, on the
ground of the name, on the ground of
the glory of the Lord Jesus, we shall
find the arm of the Lord.
We leave it there, friends, for the time
being.
The Lord will return to the game.