03042012 Sunday in Lent 2

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

Let us pray, heavenly Father, ‘Who has believed’ that You would send Your Son into the world?  We meet plenty of people who have not heard the message of salvation, enable us to proclaim this real message for them today.  For Your Son, Jesus Christ came to endure this humiliation for us because of His great love for the world, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

There is a movie that encapsulates in one quote of four words, the entire premise of the movie.  Yes, it is also a fable that dates back millennia and in different religions.  But if I said, “The Sky is Falling”, it is not difficult for you to say, “Chicken Little”.  This entire fable has at its root the notion of “Belief”.  Will anyone believe this chicken who says, “The Sky is falling”?

This morning as we continue our Lenten Journey with Isaiah, the Suffering Servant deals with the same concept of belief.  Hear our text from Isaiah:

 ¹ Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? ² For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 

Isaiah asks clearly, “Who has believed our message?”  It is clear, people sometimes do not believe and we do not know ‘who’ believes.  Unlike God who can see, read and know what is in every man, woman and child’s heart, we cannot discern or make that judgment.  We are not called to make the judgment of each other either.  But what is clear is that it is the message that is important.  The message we are to believe is the message of salvation for all of mankind.

What Jesus Christ has done on the cross of Calvary is the real message.  This Gospel message we hear read from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and the Gospels.  The Old Testament prophesies about the coming Messiah, the Psalms explain what Jesus would endure on the cross, the Gospels tell what Jesus Christ did on this earth and the New Testament Epistles explain how the church developed after His life, death and resurrection.  Thus, the entire book of the Bible, though brought together and written at different times have the central theme and core message of the salvation brought to us through Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection for all of mankind.

For Jesus Christ endured the humiliation of the cross to give to everyone the gift of Eternal Life.  Jesus Christ through His being the suffering servant spreads and reveals the message of salvation for all mankind.  And we are attracted to Him, not by His marred appearance, not by His silencing kings and rulers, not because He has been exalted and lifted up, but because His real and true message is for all of mankind.  It is the forgiveness of sins that God offers to us through His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ.  For Jesus Christ is the suffering servant we believe in because He came down from heaven and suffered, died, was buried and raised from the dead for all of us Saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.