Wednesday, 10th August 2022
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V1-6 To Humble
What do we look forward to? When God asks us to arise and awake, we tend to ask God to deal with all the problems in our lives first then we will follow. But today God is telling us to humble ourselves, stop focusing on our own but to focus on God. V1 ‘Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’
V2 ‘For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.’ Jesus taught us to return like a child, like a tender plant out of the ground. We cannot see how the newly sprouting plant will grow into, and God also want us to humble ourselves, stop worrying about our future, where we will go, and what we will become. Instead, follow God without a doubt, not about the environment.
V3-4 ‘He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.’ The Book of Isaiah was written at the time when the Israelites were enslaved by Babylon, they were facing troubles and difficulties, and they could not see the future. A lot of time we also live like the slaves of this world, and we only see what’s in front of us. We are already saved by Jesus, and we can see God face to face, but there is still a price we need to pay for our sins.
V5 ‘But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.’ There are troubles in this world, God is merciful and also righteous. We must repent and return from our sins, there will be a price to pay, but when we turn to God, He will surely give us a way out. God never said that our lives will go smoothly every day, but He will rise up the environment for us to see our transgressions and to turn away from our sinful ways.
V6 ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ We have walked astray; do not think we are walking on the right path. The Lord is our Shepherd, we need to Shepherd to walk on the right way, because we can never find the right path by ourselves. The Shepherd will strike and guide the sheep with his rod and staff, in order for them to come to the right path.
Section Two V7-9 To Deny Oneself
V7 ‘He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.’ We must believe that when we stop calculating about our loss and gain, we can then walk out of the land of slavery. All the hurt and pains we have been through will be taken away, we do not need to fight for ourselves, but let God vindicate.
V8 ‘He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.’ King Hezekiah was prideful, he showed off his treasures to the enemy, and at the end, his kingdom was destroyed. We should not boast, but to be humble, to find our low point in life and to glorify God.
V9 ‘And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.’ No matter how righteous the people may be, they are still in Babylon; no matter how wealthy, knowledgeable, or favourable they were in the past, when they were in Babylon, they were all slaves. It does not matter how much we have in this world, when we die, we will all return to dust, and there is nothing we can take away with us. So why not focus more on God, more on others, instead of ourselves?
Section Three V10-12 To Rise Up
V10 ‘Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You 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.’ The world may have enslaved us, just like the Israelites in Babylon, but can we see that God has saved us? He has given us a way out that as we repent and return from our sinful way, He will forgive us and save us.
V11 ‘He shall see the labour of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.’ We must believe that God will show us the abundance for us and our descendants; as we glorify God, our descendants will see God’s Hands at work, and everything we do will prosper. Let us humble ourselves more, deny ourselves more, and let God use us more.
V12 ‘Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.’ When we are willing to be rise up, God will save many people through us, and many people can see hope through us. Are we willing to see what God sees and feel what God feels? Stop blaming others and despising others, but learn from Jesus, to dine and share with the sinners. Who can see the embrace of Jehovah? Those who live under the Tree of Life, to humble, to deny oneself, and to be willing to rise up.
以赛亚书 53 – 谁能看见耶和华的膀臂
2022年8月10日 星期三
潘锡安牧师
以赛亚书每一章节的经文都在数算神对他子民的爱。然而，这些人的心在蒙蔽和骄傲里，没有对准神的水流，想到的都只是自己。犹大国随着自己心意而行，最后国破家亡，失去自己的命定和祝福。百姓被掳到巴比伦后，却还没有醒悟，反而安逸在为奴为仆的生活中。神是爱，他没有放弃他所拣选的子民。神要他们不要再困苦中迷失自我、而要兴起。我们人通常是先要神帮我们解决所有问题或者给一些印证后再起来回应。然而，我们若要兴起，靠的是神的话语来照亮前面看不清的道路，而不是看环境。我们要兴起的动力如何？
一、v.1-6 要谦卑
V1 “所传的”原文指的是报告。以赛亚问，我们所要传的关于要兴起的信息“有谁信呢”？这篇信息是跟那些神要兴起的人说的。“耶和华的膀臂”指的是神的帮助和保守。神的膀臂究竟在谁身上彰显呢？我们可能很想起来，但我们看见的只是自己和环境的不可能，看不见耶和华的膀臂。我们期待的是神先帮我们解决现实生活的问题，但神要我们先谦卑。
V2 以赛亚书53章原文其实没有“他”这个字。我们要在耶和华面前“生长如嫩芽”，就是要回转像小孩子一样。一棵植物发芽的时候，我们看不到它将来长成什么样子。我们常盼望将来的事是按照我们的期待发生，但神要我们谦卑，不用担心将来会怎样。我们希望在一个平稳的道路中跟从神，可是当我们看环境的时候，就无法跟从神。神对我们说，我们要“像根出于干地”，不是在舒适的环境，而是在干旱无水之地扎根，我们才能倚靠神。那些在巴比伦的人生活在一切的不可能中，神就给了他们一个极大的提醒。“无佳形美容，我们看见…的时候，也无美貌使我们羡慕…”就是回应以赛亚书52:14所讲的“他的面貌比别人憔悴，他的形容比世人枯槁”。我们跟从神、我们兴起后，似乎还是活在困局中，别人也不羡慕我们，然而我们还是要兴起。
V4 我们若只看见生命中很多的问题、困局，觉得自己活在水深火热中，就看不见神的拯救。
V5 在巴比伦的仆人所受的就是刑罚、鞭伤。但神告诉我们，我们所受的这一切是因为我们自己的罪，是我们顽梗不听神的话。然而，这些都是一个过度，虽然耶稣基督已经付上代价让我们得永生，我们还是要为自己的错付出代价，因为神是公义的。当我们愿意回转的时候，神的怜悯就临到。圣灵来就是让我们为罪为义为审判自己责备自己。受鞭伤和刑罚是不舒服，但都是帮助我们得医治和平安。
V6 我们以为自己的道路是对的，没有看到自己是需要牧羊人带领的羊。羊是不知道怎么走前方的道路的，当一只羊走迷的时候，牧羊人会用他的杖和竿敲打羊，使之走回正道。当我们不够谦卑的时候，我们就无法相信神，因为神给我们的不是我们想要的。
二、v.7-9 要舍己
V7 当我们不愿意舍己的时候，我们会对每一件事斤斤计较，非要等到自己的事情解决后才兴起，这样我们反而永远留在巴比伦了。
V8 我们所看到的苦最后都会被拿去。犹大百姓在巴比伦过着为奴为仆的生活，是因着他们的罪。当初希西家不愿意谦卑，想在人前显露自己的能力、财富，而不愿在人前承认自己的软弱，结果整个国家失去原本很好的祝福。我们唯有愿意承认低点，才能彰显神的荣耀。
V9 我们在巴比伦的生活无论有多好，最后都会被埋葬；无论是“恶人”或“财主”，最后都是尘归尘、土归土。我们是否愿意起来，为那些生活在水深火热中的人作见证？我们是否能看到自己兴起后能离开巴比伦，回到耶路撒冷重建圣殿，还是看到自己的无能？
三、v.10-12 要被兴起
V10 我们在巴比伦受尽一切的苦，但耶和华必以这活着的人为赎罪祭。我们若在为奴为仆的地方兴起，相信过去不是耶和华苦待我们，而是因为要为我们的罪付上的代价，我们就不会怨天尤人。我们要相信，神必会让我们看见我们的后裔，他们也要看见神是报应的神，“耶和华所喜悦的事必在他手中亨通”。
V11 我们若愿意无论环境如何都兴起，就“必看见自己劳苦的功效，便心满意足”，且让看见的人赞叹神的作为，所有的罪就都被担当了。我们愿意被兴起，许多人就得救了，他们的生命也有盼望了。
V12 我们是否愿意以基督的心为心，还是批评论断那些不信主的人？我们对他们没有耐心，但耶稣基督与罪人同坐，要分享美好的福音。
谁能看见耶和华的膀臂？就是活在生命树下的人，要谦卑舍己，让我们的生命被破碎，让别人得祝福。我们是否带着假面具让人看到自己伪装出来的美好？还是让神用我们的破碎的生命使人得祝福？