Our Report

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Right off the bat, one might think Isaiah is speaking about himself, but he was dictating what God reported. This is God’s report Isaiah refers to. See the timing and why he gives this report.

News is supposed to be a compilation of what’s happening, and we should be able to trust the media. In the old days news used to be cut and dry. Now you never know. Walter Cronkite used to close the nightly news by saying “that’s the way it is.” You can trust the Word of God more than you could trust Cronkite. We tend to get confused. One reason is that we see only a small piece. It is very important to understand OUR REPORT as told to us via the book of Isaiah.

The Old Testament on through Jesus’ day had yet to realize that God is a trinity. He’s three in one and consists of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Jews of that day used this against Jesus as a basis to crucify him because they didn’t believe him when he said he was God. We are a trinity as well—body, soul, and spirit. We need each part to exist.

Verse 1 asks who hath believed our report? What report is this? He was getting ready to let them know how it will be, how it would happen. In fact, Isaiah wrote it 600 years before it happened as if it had already happened. Reporters today can’t give facts on events yet to happen. Verse 1 does just that. In heaven, in the mind of God, Calvary was a finished plan. The giving of the Son by the Father to the world was yet to happen physically, but in the mind of God it was done. He was coming among us, to suffer for our sins. He would be our only hope. It couldn’t be an angel. It had to be God, and He (God) had it all worked out before the foundation of the world. He asks us today who is willing to accept and believe it.

There is controversy today over Jesus. We have to believe God’s report, not man’s opinion. The only way to look at Calvary is through God. This report is true and gives insight on what was going to happen. Even John forgot Isaiah’s writings. All he and the women could see was their Messiah suffering and then dying. Surely Isaiah’s writings went through Mary’s mind when the angel told her she, a virgin, would conceive. It was Isaiah who wrote behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son. The virgin was her. She embraced it.

Verse 2 says for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Long before Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, Isaiah told plainly how it would be. He would come as a root to live life in the dry desert of this world. For God to save us, Jesus was willing to become like us. He had our human nature through his mother Mary, but his Father was not human. His Father was God. There was no curse of sin to his nature. He was God in human form. We had fallen due to sin and couldn’t get up. That’s why it’s important to believe this report.

Verse 3 says He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Jesus didn’t come to impress anyone. The unlimited Son of God became limited when he took on our limitations. I don’t deserve that. Every time I slip and sin, I throw it in the dust. I need to trust this report. God gave it, and we’d better listen. From his birth, Jesus was sought by Herod to be killed. His first few years were spent in hiding. He lived a low profile life until he was 30 years old. That was the plan. He bore our griefs, and carried our sorrows. We didn’t help him one bit. Man made him unwelcome and miserable in this world. It’s a wonder he did what he did. The worst you’ll ever be treated by others is nothing to the way Jesus was treated. When he cried, he cried alone. He hung in there. On the cross, he should have told God to destroy us but he said Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

To whom is this report revealed? You and me! He did it all for us. In order for us to be saved, Jesus had to leave glory and be numbered with the transgressors—us. This report is extended to all who read and are willing to accept it. The peace we enjoy today came at his expense. Verse 5 says but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Jesus took the suffering and misery for us.

On Easter Sunday morning, the grave clothes lay there. They saw the scars in his body, but they didn’t see the blood. He shed it for us. Why? Verse 10 says it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt 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. Every believer has a prolonged life by trusting in the Lord. We’ll live into eternity forever.

That’s the way it is Sunday, June 10, 2012. It’s the way it was and the way it shall be for eternity. God did it all for you and for me. Believe this report. Receive the One who did it. Receive the hand of the arm that has been extended. Let salvation work in your heart and life. Let’s make God’s report our report.