God bless you
@Verily! Just bookmarked this!
307 words 1,710 characters
If this forum operates based on a character limit, then I have clearly exceeded it-as evidenced by this brief and condensed post. This limitation prevents me from providing a proper rebuttal to many of the erroneous doctrines shared by some members. However, if the "program" is instead governed by a word count, there may still be hope. So, which is it: a restriction on the number of characters or the number of words?
Which is it @Heart2Soul? The number of words or characters? Not being facetious.
Johann.
1. The appeal of the Servant is to all men (Jew and Gentile) - even to the ends of the earth, (vs. 1-a; comp. Isa_45:22).
2. From the womb of His mother, Jehovah has called- the Servant by name, (Mat_1:21).
a. Making his mouth like a sharp sword - hidden in the shadow of Jehovah's own hand, (vs. 2a; Isa_11:4; Isa_30:31; Rev_1:16; Rev_2:16; Rev_19:15; comp. Heb_4:12).
b. Making Him as a polished shaft - ready to be drawn from the quiver of Jehovah, (vs. 2b; Hab_3:11).
3. Elsewhere referred to as "David" (Eze_34:23), the Servant (Christ) is here called "Israel"; He always identifies Himself with His chosen people, (Hos_11:1; Mat_2:15; comp. Num_24:8) - with Israel in the Old Testament, and with His church in the New, (Act_8:3; Act_9:1; Act_9:4).
a. He is ever the Head of His covenant-community (in both the Old Testament and New) - they being His body (Eph_1:22-23), bride (Isa_62:5; 2Co_11:2; Eph_5:21-32), house (Heb_3:1-6; Heb_10:21; 1Ti_3:15; 1Pe_2:5), temple (Eph_2:20-22), holy nation (Exo_19:6; Deu_14:21; 1Pe_2:9), and people for God's own possession, (Exo_19:5; Deu_7:6; Deu_14:2; 1Pe_2:9; Eph_1:18).
b. What many fail to see is that the covenant-community in the Old Testament and New are ONE in the special relationship of covenant-fellowship that they sustain to Christ - a relationship that is rooted in divine grace and maintained through the obedience of faith, (Eph_2:11-19).
4. From every observable indicator of Israel's response to Him, our Lord's labor toward her APPEARED to be in vain - His effort wasted, (vs. 4a; Mat_23:37-39; Joh_5:39-40).
5. But, He left the result in the Father's hands -trusting Him for a just recompense of His faithful service, (vs. 4b; 1Pe_2:21-23; Php_2:9-11).