Reading:
Isaiah Chapter 53
1. Introduction
Everyone loves shopping, especially if one has a lot of money to spend.
It's very exciting and great fun. After a shopping trip the one question
that folk ask - or would like to ask - is:
“What did you pay for it?”
Everything in this universe has a value. And if an owner
of something wishes to transfer it to another, he may either sell, in
which case a price is involved; or he may give it away, in which case
there is no price involved. You've all no doubt heard it said that
Salvation is a gift - it's free! And that is perfectly true. Salvation
is offered to the human race -
free of charge! It is a gift from God to us,
it’s free! But it is a terrible mistake to think that because salvation is free
to us - it cost nothing. In actual fact our salvation cost a great deal to the
One who bought it for us. The Bible says:
| 1 Corinthians 6:
| 20: “For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
|
| 1 Corinthians 7:
| 23: “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”
|
2. What Was That Price?
The price Yahweh paid to buy us back from Satan is called the
Price of Redemption. The word
‘redemption’
means to buy back, to recover - by payment - something which was yours
in the first place. What was man's redemption price? What did Yahweh
give to buy us back from Satan?
| Ephesians 1:
| 7: “In whom we have redemption THROUH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”
|
| John 3:16
| 16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.
17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God.”
|
Note: Blood represents life. Yahweh sacrificed His life blood to
win life for us. The Father's part of the sacrifice (the
RAM
caught in the thicket by it's horns) is a mystery we shall investigate
and marvel at throughout eternity. I do believe that the Father's
sacrifice in the plan of salvation is infinitely higher than He is
prepared to tell us. His humility forbids Him: but I am certain that
it was an enormous price: possibly beyond our ability to appreciate.
In exchange for man's salvation
Emmanuel the Son gave up the
following:
His Reputation
| Isaiah 53:
| 3: “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.”
|
His Happiness
He became a
Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief.
| Isaiah 53:
| 4: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”
|
Our sickness, weakness, pains and distress; the Saviour accepted all these.
His Innocence
| Isaiah 53:
| 5: “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.
6: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his
own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
|
Note: When at Calvary the sins of mankind were laid on the
Saviour, he was reckoned as guilty as the Serpent itself.
The Father could no more countenance Christ's guilt (which was
placed on him) than He could Satan's; and thus the full measure
of divine punishment was poured out on the Son just as surely as
if he had committed those sins himself. Thus he gave up his
innocence and
‘became sin for us.’
His Right of Appeal:
| Isaiah 53:
| 7: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he
opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”
|
His Posterity
| Isaiah 53:
| 8: “He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation?...”
|
His Life
| Isaiah 53:
| 8: “...for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.”
|
Pause and consider what an amazing price Yahweh paid for your
salvation! Those are the things (and much more) that Yeshua gave up to
buy life for you and I. Oh the wonder of it all!
3. Value for Money / Use
Everything has a value; either in monetary terms, or in an abstract
equivalent (memories, love, friendship, faith and happiness). All of
these have value. They are worth something. Values are perhaps best
measured by the price one is prepared to pay for them. In other words,
you can tell a thing's worth by its price. Judging by the price Yahweh
paid for our salvation, and bear in mind that the Creator is not ignorant
of an item's real worth, we can safely say that the human race is an
extremely valuable purchase. In other words,
human beings are not cheap.
Every person, no matter how poor or worthless he/she may appear, is of
priceless worth. Bear in mind that we were created
"in the image of
God!" Therefore it is an error for believers to repeatedly refer to
themselves as being
"useless and worthless." It makes nonsense of
the enormous price paid for our redemption. The fact is, Yahweh paid
a very high price for man's salvation.
We are His jewels - everyone of
us - His most valuable possession. And because of this fact we are
admonished as follows:
| Malachi 3:
| 16: “Then they that feared the LORD spake
often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book
of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17: And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”
|
4. In Your Body / Temple
The true believer is the
Temple of the Holy Spirit.
To appreciate what this means study the physical temple of Solomon.
(1 Kings 6) It was made of the very finest materials, built by the
best builders in the realm and visited and blessed by the most
glorious Person in the universe. But it was simply a physical symbol
of Yahweh's church. Yes,
we believers are the real Temple of Yahweh.
And because of this fact we are to glorify Him just as the physical
Temple of Solomon was glorified. Remember these vital points:
| Acts 7:
| 48: “Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,”
|
| 1 Corinthians 6:
| 19: “ What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
|
Dress Well
This means we must wear good, clean garments.
Like every temple on the face of this earth,
we must be properly turned out - else we will
bring shame, not glory on the God whom we represent.
| Judges 8:
| 18: “...each one resembled the children of a king.”
|
Keep in Good Health
Eat the right amounts of the right food. See
(Leviticus chapter 11) where believers are advised
as to the right and wrong meats to eat. Certain animals
(pigs, dogs, cats, snakes, mice etc., are unclean
and must not be eaten.) For further information see
Dietary Laws in Scripture.
Be Clean
Physical cleanliness is of great importance.
It comes second only to godliness.
“Be ye clean.”
Follow after Godliness
Godliness is next to cleanliness. This is, doubtless,
the most important aspect of a true believer's responsibilities.
5. Are You Worth It?
"Have you been shopping lately? What have you bought? What did you
pay?" And, here comes the next - inevitable - question:
"Is it worth it?"
Let me ask you an extremely personal question.
"Are you worth what
Yahweh paid for you?" It's a difficult question to answer; but it's one
we should be constantly asking ourselves.
"Am I worth it?"
AMEN!
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