Before we begin I need to ask your forgiveness again for being absent from the blog for a couple of days. I spent most of Sunday night and Monday morning at the emergency room having tests run for severe pelvic pain and then I spent Tuesday morning at my regular doctor's office. It has been an incredibly rough few days for me and I was in too much discomfort and on too much medication to do any sensible writing. In fact, I feel like the few blog posts I did were not my best effort because I was having trouble concentrating. But the word of the Lord is powerful and He is able to accomplish things through it even in our weakness. My doctors and I think we have an idea of what has been going on with me and I hope things are going to be okay now, but I still desire your prayers for a return to health. The things I've been through for the past three weeks or so have really worn me down and have made me feel weak. But with your prayers and the help of our Great Physician I believe I will be able to return to all my normal activities soon.
In today's post the Apostle Paul explains to us that while his own people are rejecting Christ, the Lord is saving the Gentiles. He proves to us that these things were foretold in the Old Testament. "But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our message?'" (Romans 10:16) The apostle quotes from Isaiah 53, the chapter that describes the crucifixion about seven hundred years before the birth Christ. I love the way The Message Bible words this verse, "Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?"
This is the problem in a nutshell: Jesus' nation did not think God's saving power would look like this. The nation lost its sovereignty several centuries before Christ. The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 was not the type of Messiah most people were looking for. They were looking for a Conquering King who would overthrow their oppressors, reinstate their sovereignty, and rule the nation from the throne of David. The Old Testament contains prophecies about both the Suffering Servant and the Conquering King, and I can understand the nation's difficulty in reconciling these two roles in the same Messiah, but by New Testament times it had become clear how these roles are going to be reconciled. At His first advent the Lord came to give His life as atonement for our sins, becoming the Suffering Servant. But at His second advent He will return as King of kings and Lord of lords. This is when He will judge sin and will wage war against His enemies in righteousness. This is when He will rule the earth.
Isaiah, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, not only foresaw the crucifixion, but he also foresaw the rejection of the Messiah. Isaiah knew no one was going to believe his message in his own times, and he knew very few would believe the message in Christ's time. Paul says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." (Romans 10:17) Hearing the gospel doesn't save us. Faith is what saves us when we hear the gospel and believe it.
"But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: 'Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.'" (Romans 10:18) Paul quotes David's Psalm 19 in which he says the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands. The creation proves there is a Creator.
"Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, 'I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.'" (Romans 10:19) This quote is from Deuteronomy 32:21 where the Lord says, "They made Me jealous by what is no god and angered Me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding." Bible scholar William Barclay comments on verse 19 by saying that one of the objections Paul's listeners might have brought up was, "'But what if Israel did not understand?' Apparently the meaning is: 'What if the message was so difficult to grasp that even when Israel did hear it they were unable to grasp its significance?' But Paul's answer is: 'Israel may have failed to understand, but the Gentiles did not.'" So no one can make the excuse that the gospel is too difficult to understand. The pagan Gentiles, who were living in complete ignorance of the God of the universe, understood it.
"And Isaiah boldly says, 'I was found by those who did not seek Me; I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me.'" (Romans 10:20) In Isaiah 65 we find the prophet predicting that those who weren't even looking for Christ were going to find Him. They may not have been looking for Him, but He was looking for them.
I'm so thankful Christ comes looking for us! I don't know where I'd be today if Christ never came looking for me.
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