From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>
To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"
Sent: Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 5:23 AM
Subject: 4-19-22 THOUGHTS
4-19-22 THOUGHTS
Last Sunday brought remembrances of the death-burial-resurrection of our Lord. God’s plan to save mankind is shown in Isaiah 53 as prophecy. Compare this reading with the gospel accounts and the specificity is striking. Numerous copies of Isaiah 53 were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The message is so powerful. Let us together, consider in awe, what God has done in Christ Jesus to save us. It has been so... from the foundation of the world!
Isa 53:1-12 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. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
1Pet 1:18-20 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
My Prayer:
Accept our praise and thanksgiving, O God, for your grace and love in saving us. Your picture of love and personal cost to you, O Lord, is overpowering. Giving is displayed in every brush stroke of the picture. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear is our prayer. May our seeing become living, and our living become a zealous pursuit of you and the Kingdom you’ve placed us in. May we see the Church with your eyes, O God. In the name of our Savior, Amen.