Isaiah 54:5 caught my attention earlier today! God speaking to His people Israel …

“For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”

To employ all its various “truths,” its five “word pictures,” it has visited the realms of human “manufacturing, marriage, warfare, commerce (banking), and geography!”

“Thy Maker,” our Creator, none other than the Lord God Almighty! But the noun “Maker” here translates the participle “asah” in Hebrew. It means “to do, to make, to build, to fashion, to prepare,” God being the Real Architect of the little nation of Israel!

“Thine Husband,” a familiar term indeed! (Just as in the New Testament the Lord Jesus is the Bridegroom of the Church … so in the Old Testament is God the Father portrayed as the Husband of Israel!) The noun (brace yourself) is “baal!” Yes, the heathen named one of their many gods after this concept, “Baal.” It means “ruler, possessor, owner!” Twice in the King James Version is “baal” translated “dominion!” (God and Israel, in personal relationship! Having made vows to each other!)

“The LORD of Hosts,” now we are talking martial (military) language! It literally means “Jehovah of the Armies!” Or the God of “warfare!” And get this … He has never lost a battle! How safe Israel will feel when she trusts this great General (God) with all her heart!

“Redeemer,” which necessitates the very Holiness (sacredness) of God, is a loan word from the field of commerce, banking. The word is “gaal,” related to the great Kinsman-Redeemer Concept of the Bible! Jesus “bought” me out of poverty, out of prison, and paid my debt in full! Yes, Calvary involves a “transaction” in which God the Father was “paid, satisfied, appeased” regarding my sin … via the Value of the precious Blood of Jesus!

Then He is “the God of the whole earth!” North, south, east and west … every continent and every lisle and every ocean! Some day, the Prophets promise us: “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:9 … geography bearing witness to the Power of our great God! And His Omnipresence, too!

No doubt saved Jews (the few still alive, a “remnant” no doubt) during the dark days ahead (Tribulation) will read this verse again and again and treasure its every thought!

In fact, this old Gentile is pretty enamored with them!

The Church, of a truth, is not Israel.

But still, I think, we might apply the principles of these great concepts to our lives as well!

God … my Maker, my Bridegroom, my Commander-in-Chief, my Ransom, my Purity, my Lord over all the earth!

Praise His dear Name!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Immediately after Isaiah chapter 53 has described (in detail) the Death of Jesus on the Cross … believing Israel is invited to “sing!”

A Nation that has mourned so much throughout her existence … now jubilantly singing!

If you remember, she also sang after she came up out of the dry Red Sea bed … immediately after the armies of Pharaoh had been drowned! (Another instance of singing after salvation!)

Read our Text with me: “SING, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into SINGING, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.” Isaiah 54:1-3, and this Text just “begins” the list of blessings a saved (born-again) Israel will some day enjoy!

The implication here is that Israel will have more “children” (offspring, seed, inheritance) that any of the ungodly nations who did (with much travail) bear many sons and daughters.

Furthermore, Israel will have to “enlarge” her coasts! Growth is ahead, during the Millennium if no other time! (I am thinking of the prayer of Jabez, now.) That’s what the “enlarging” of the place of her “tents” means. The geographical territory called “Israel” will be widened and lengthened exponentially!

Also, according to our Text today, she is going to explode (“break forth”) into revival and expansive national health! She (her capital city Jerusalem) will be the center of the earth some day, in fact … “the joy of the whole earth!” According to Psalm 48:2, it’s Bible!

And again, WHY all this reversal, change of status?

Because of Jesus, His vicarious Death (again, Isaiah 53) and Israel’s subsequent trust (belief) in our Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour!

Did not the same thing happen to us Gentiles? Soon as we were saved? Colossians 3:16 … “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

When the WORD really gets “in” you … joyful singing apparently comes “out” of you!

Praise the Lord!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

My saved friend, sing some today!

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That last verse, number 12, is loaded with divine meaning!

But today particularly I’d like to discuss the clause: “He hath poured out his soul unto death.” Describing Jesus on Calvary, on the Cross.

What does it mean “to pour out” one’s soul?

The verb is “arah” in Hebrew. And it usually means “to lay bear, to uncover!” The lexicons say, “to be naked.”

In the King James Version “arah” is translated as follows: “uncover” (3 times), “discover” (3 times), “to empty” (2 times), “rase” (to level or to destroy, 2 times), “leave destitute” (1 time), “make naked” (1 time), “poured out” (1 time), then just “poured” (1 time), then “spreading” (1 time).

All these depict some “price being paid,” or some “cost being exacted,” or some “sacrifice being offered!”

It cost Jesus much … Calvary did!

He became the Ransom for our sins!

One Greek scholar captures the meaning well, I thought. “He EXPOSED Himself to Death!” Hanging publicly on a Tree! Dying before men!

Jesus willingly died for us sinners!

And as a Result of His Soul being so expended … or maybe I should say as a Reward … God has “given Him a Portion with the great!” And allows Jesus “to divide the spoil with the strong!”

Thee is “booty” for Jesus winning His great Conflict on Calvary!

What might that be?

The Church, I believe.

Souls saved!

Including you and me, dear Christian friend!

Part of God’s “blessing” upon Jesus … God actually gave His Son a BRIDE for His (Successful) Work of the Cross!

Wow!

If I have interpreted this correctly, we have just been given a glimpse into the very Mind of Almighty God!

Into the very Heart of the Trinity!

The Salvation of a soul … what a magnificent miracle! And at what great Cost!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Let us sing forever: “Redeemed, redeemed … redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb!”

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Years ago a British Pastor (Dr. A. C. Dixon) preached a series of sermons (on successive Sunday Nights) which he eventually called “The Glories of the Cross.” Though that little volume is nestled away in my library, I do not recall a chapter entitled “The Satisfaction of the Cross,” though I could be wrong.

At any rate, today’s Bible Study Text, Isaiah 53:11a, highlights that thought, that doctrine. That Aspect of the Atonement, of Calvary!

“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” What a Statement!

I truthfully am having an issue determining the Speaker here, the Antecedent of that first Pronoun, “He.”

Personally I believe it is God the Father!

As in: “He (God the Father) shall see of the travail of His (Jesus’) Soul, and shall be satisfied.”

Once Jesus had “paid the price” for our sins, via His Precious Blood, God the Father “saw” something. He had turned His Head during those three dark hours of Agony, if you recall.

But sin now being atoned, God (in Hebrew “raah”) literally “saw” (inspected, regarded, perceived) the “travail” (in Hebrew “amal,” meaning VERY HEAVY labor) of Jesus’ Soul … and God was “satisfied!”

His (the Father’s) Holy, Righteous Demand (that is, full Payment for rebellion, sin) … fully met, completely quenched, absolutely sated!

Wow!

Yes, God was that “satisfied,” with an imperfect verb being used … not only satisfied that Day Jesus “paid it all,” but the next day too! And the thousands of days since! He is, in fact, still satisfied this very second with Jesus’ Death!

Hallelujah!

And if, via saving faith in Jesus, I have been placed “in Christ” … then God the Father is satisfied with me as well! Because of His overwhelming Pleasure in Jesus’ vicarious (in my stead) Sacrifice!

Wow again!

When He sees me, He indeed sees the Blood of the Lamb!

Thanks unto Thee, O great God of my soul, my Father in Heaven!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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The last three verses of Isaiah 53 are intriguing!

For example … “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt 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.” Isaiah 53:10

Here we see God the Father (the “LORD”) actively “bruising” Jesus, clearly on the Cross! This verb (“daka”) literally means “to crush, to break in pieces, to smite, to oppress!” God forsaking (and more) His Only Begotten Son … because the tremendous weight of our sin had been violently poured upon Jesus!

Here (in verse 10) we also see that Jesus literally became our “sin-offering!” He was made TO BE SIN for us! (Read 2 Corinthians 5:21.) The sin offering, according to Leviticus 4:12, was to be burnt “outside the camp!” Just as Jesus was crucified “outside Jerusalem!”

But then, immediately, the verse “changes course!” From negative to positive. Or better said, from death to resurrection!

No longer bruised of God, no longer a sin offering … Jesus “shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”

Wow!

Shall “see His seed?” Shall, because of His Death … see multitudes “born again” into the family of God!

Shall “prolong His days?” Yes, was raised from the dead (the grave) by the mighty Power of God! And His days have been prolonged … for all eternity!

And now, instead of God “crushing” Jesus … we have the Father taking “pleasure” in Jesus! A Hebrew word meaning sheer “delight!” Jesus as “God’s Beloved Son!”

Jesus’ Calvary work will now (and has been doing so for two thousand years) “prosper!” Meaning “to advance, to make progress, to be successful!” Every soul saved … another step forward!

Wow!

All these little thought “nuggets” from a single verse in Isaiah 53. What a powerful chapter indeed!

And, the Lord willing, more tomorrow …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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