Hey everyone.
This will be my first post of 2015. I have continued in my study of Acts and have reached Acts 8, where Philip converts the Ethiopian eunuch. I was curious about the passage that they looked at together in Isaiah 53. I wondered what made the message so powerful that the eunuch was so urgent to be baptized. So I spent a few days looking at it in my Quiet Times.
Isaiah 53 is a prophecy about the Suffering Servant. We all understand that it is talking about Jesus. In truth, I have read it many times, but I really wanted to look at it fresh, like the Ethiopian had. After reading verse 1, I realized that I had never really paid much attention to it. I generally had read through it quickly to get to the more familiar, seemingly meatier parts, but this time it made a impact on me. It says, "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord be revealed?" I had always read it as though it were two questions, "Who has believed our message?" and "To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" However, it appears to be one big question that ties believing to seeing the arm of the Lord revealed.
So we need to pause and ask ourselves, "what does "the arm of the Lord" mean? It means "power." I may be oversimplifying things, but it seems to me to be implying that if we truly believe the message then we will be allowed to see the power of the Lord. Belief and seeing God's power are connected. This is awesome, because who doesn't want to see the power of God at work in their lives? I certainly do.
Another thought I had about this verse went something like this: During the time of Isaiah, I'm sure the actual answer to this was most likely, "Not many." There were probably not many who believed and not many to whom the arm of the Lord had been revealed. I would hope that today the answer would be more encouraging.
Of course, we get see the arm of the Lord, or the power of God, in the life of Jesus. That is what this prophecy is about. In the verses that follow we read about the Servant, who in his sacrifice bore the sin of many (verse 12). Maybe this is what the eunuch learned. If you want to see the arm of the Lord, look intently at Jesus.
Tom
