Pastor Chris Enoch - January 2, 2017
Scriptures:
Isaiah 53
Who
has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and
like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to
him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He
was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with
suffering. Like one from whom men hide their
faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we
considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought
us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of
us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us
all.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet
he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By
oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And
who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the
living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and
with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit
in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him
and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he
will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will
prosper in his hand.
After
the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by
his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their
iniquities. Therefore I will give him a
portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because
he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
For
he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
2 Kings 17:13-15“The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all his
prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees,
in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and
that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.” But they would not
listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD
their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their
fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and
themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the
LORD had ordered them, “Do not do as they do,” and they did the things the LORD
had forbidden them to do."
2
Kings 17:18 “…the Lord
was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence.”
2 Kings 19:17-19
“It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid
waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire
and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned
by men’s hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all
kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”
2 Kings 21:2-6
“He did evil in the eyes of the
Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out
before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had
destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab
king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped
them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said,
“In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” In both courts of the temple of the Lord, he
built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his own son in the fire,
practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did
much evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger.”
