Part I Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 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. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.Isaiah 53 God's Eternal Purpose The prophet Isaiah brings forth a report of God's Word, God's Plan, and God's Purpose: just exactly what God intended to do for everyone through Jesus Christ. In the midst of the confusion of our day, it is well for us to go back to the report given by God's Word. It is sad to say, but men have been led far from the truth and far from the experience which God intended for us to have through His eternal purpose. In the very beginning, God's eternal purpose was that every man and woman be completely delivered from the guilt and power of sin, and be able to reign and be an overcomer. God's purpose through Jesus Christ was that every one of us would be changed into the very image of Christ, that we would be brought to the obedience of Christ and be able to obey the Father just as Jesus obeyed the Father: by the same power, by the same Spirit, and in the same way. Isaiah said in the second verse that Christ would grow up as a tender plant, as a root dug out of dry ground. This tender plant springing up from dry ground is a picture of the Virgin birth, coming out of the human womb where there was no human planting whatsoever. Christ sprung forth as a tender plant out of dry ground. The prophet just means that everything except Jesus Christ is dry ground. There is nowhere you can get any help, when it comes to real spiritual help and strength, except in Christ. How many nominal religions over the land are producing any righteousness and holiness in the lives of men and women? Friend, nothing can come forth from dry ground, and the religions of men are as dry ground! Verse 3 tells us that He is despised and rejected of men. According to Verse 2, there is no beauty in Him as man looks upon Him. In other words, when man looks at Him with carnal eyes, there is no beauty that he should desire Him. We have seen pictures painted by artists of a beautiful young man with long, wavy hair, but that is not the true picture of Christ. The carnal eye cannot behold the beauty that is in Jesus Christ. You can't separate Christ from the truth. He is the Word made flesh, and the same attitude that the world has towards His Word, they also have toward Jesus Christ. When it comes right down to sound teachings of God's Word, too many find no beauty in it. You may question, "What marred Him so? What put Him in such a state that He would be despised and rejected?" Friend, the thing that took His beauty, the thing that made Him look much older than His [earthly] age, was my sins and your sins; my grief and your grief; my sickness and your sickness; my heartache and your heartache; my misery and your misery. You have seen people who have gone through miseries of their own: terrible heartaches, grief and sorrows. You have heard people comment, "They've aged a lifetime in just..." (however long they say). That is just ONE man's sorrows and grief. We are talking here about One Who bore the world's grief! E-V-E-R-Y bit of sorrow and grief that was in the world was laid on Him until, as a young man, He died. The Scriptures says, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities... Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him... Someone may ask, "Are you saying that God was pleased with the unjust deeds that He permitted man to do to Jesus when they spit in His face, slapped His face, crucified Him, ran a spear in His side, etc.?" God was pleased because of what it was going to bring forth. He looked beyond the terrible bruises that Jesus had to take and looked to what was going to happen, that many would be justified and delivered from sin. The only pleasure that Jesus found in it, according to Hebrews 12, was that He looked to the joy that was BEYOND the cross: Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2. Verses 11 and 12 of our scripture text tell us: He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong... Christ came to His glory by a great conquest. He HAD to conquer, He HAD to battle, and He HAD to win (all of which He did!). Our Great Lord He came to this world handicapped by manhood. He took on a fleshly body, and a fleshly body is a handicap. I Timothy 2:5 speaks of "the man Jesus Christ": For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Yes, He was handicapped by taking on a fleshly body, a body if you please, which knew what temptation was; a body that desired the things of this world; a body in which He had to battle against opposing forces. This thing of Christ redeeming us was just a gift that God gave Him; He had to fight. He had a conquest, and He HAD TO OVERCOME! Luke 11:21-22 tells us: When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. This is what Jesus Christ, in the handicap of humanity, HAD to OVERCOME! By the Bible, I want to prove to you that God has no real blessing for anyone BUT overcomers, the STRONG. That 11th Chapter of Luke lets us know that Jesus overcame the foe, the "strong man", right in his own territory (this world)! Jesus Christ dispossessed him and divided the spoils! Jesus Christ banished and conquered principalities and powers, sin and Satan, death and hell, the world and the flesh. Hallelujah! He vanquished them, as far as the Christian is concerned, and OVERCAME them. Glory to God! Isaiah 53:12 speaks of two dividings: God said, I divide him [Jesus] a portion with the great... and certainly God did that. Because of Jesus' faithfulness, He is to be called GREAT. He has been GIVEN A NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME that is named in the world, the Name of LORD. He is LORD over EVERY circumstance. He is LORD over the devil, He is LORD over sin, He is LORD over the world! Because of Jesus' faithfulness, God said, Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong..." The "spoil" is all the belongings of the enemy. When someone conquers their enemy, the spoils belong to the conqueror. Jesus only divides the spoil with the strong because it is ONLY the STRONG who are really battling. (The rest are coasting or "coat-tailing".) I am not downing any weak Christian; I am trying to get you to see that you need to be STRONG! I will prove to you that you have no real reason to be weak. We're not talking about "new" babes in Christ here--we're talking about those who have "been in the way" long enough to no longer be bottle-babies: they need to be on the "meat of the Word" by now. One of the reasons a person is a "weak Christian" is because they want to be. And that includes because they will not put forth the necessary effort to be STRONG. In our weakness, we can never rightly represent Christ. Another reason is because they actually do not know HOW to be strong in the Lord and we pray this article will help them with that. When you live a weak, borderline Christian experience, the world shakes its head and says, "Is that the best Jesus can do?" No, that is not the best He can do. He CAN make you STRONG. This is why some people have the spoil divided with them every day, while others do not get a thing. The weak do not get a thing. There are many Scriptures we can read wherein God divided a portion of the great with Him: Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. Ephesians 1:20-23. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins...And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:1,6. This "heavenly place" is a place where God's Will is done in earth just as it is done in Heaven. This "heavenly place" is the kingdom where men and women live according to God's Will. Right in a world where people say that nobody can please God completely, there is a "heavenly place", through the POWER of JESUS CHRIST! He delivers you from trespasses and sins. Through HIS power (and not that of your own), you are able to keep His law in your heart just as it is in Heaven! More Than Conquerors We stated previously that He only divides the spoil with the STRONG. The reason we are STRONG is because of that which we overcome. You CANNOT overcome if you are NOT strong. A lot of folks are afraid of that word STRONG. It is does not mean "bully strength"--what determines our ability to OVERCOME is the source of our strength and vice versa. Let me say that again: What determines our ability to OVERCOME is the source of our strength, and the source of our strength determines our ability to OVERCOME. To be STRONG is not just a good idea, it is a command we have been given: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the WHOLE armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:10,11 (bold is mine). When we fail to meet the conditions of that command, instead of overcoming, we are overcome. In Revelation 3:21 we read, To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. There is not a promise in any of the seven letters in Revelation, but to the overcomers. Here is a truth which is sadly missing today. Going to Heaven is generally associated with weakness, instead of strength. Far too many confessions of mankind are what he cannot do instead of STRONG testimonies of what he can do, through Christ. In Philippians 4:13, Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Real Christians are Supermen (and women); they are doing what ordinary people cannot do! What does Revelation 14:4 tell us? ...These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. We have been lifted up to a heavenly place. Don't allow the devil to drag the church (members of the Body of Christ) down to the level of Babylon (false religions) where there is no real victory or shouts in the camp! You cannot have real shouts without real victories, and you cannot have real victories without real battles. Come on now, let's make sure we get that, it's good! You cannot have real shouts without real victories, and you cannot have real victories without real battles. We often sing this song: Be an overcomer, only cowards yield, When the foe they meet on the battlefield; We are blood-bought princes of the royal host, And must falter not, nor desert our post. Never yield to the enemy; God will give you strength from on high! He divides the spoils with the strong. Too many glory in their weakness. You do not have anything to brag about if you are a weak Christian. You have to be strong to be an overcomer, and to be a Christian, you have to overcome. My friend, the eternal benefits are consistently to those who overcome, to those who conquer, and to those who are strong. Pual said in Romans 8:37, ...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Jesus Christ conquered and made us MORE than conquerors, through Him. Through Him, He not only expects us to be conquerors, but MORE than just conquerors. Now let's face it, you are a conqueror when you overcome something and just make it "by the skin of your teeth", but you are MORE than a conqueror when you can overcome it, conquer it, kick your heels together and say, "Brother, Sister, I will lift you a little, too; I have some extra strength left!" In too many cases, the world is not getting any lift from the church because too many are too weak themselves. You have to be MORE than a conqueror in order to give the world a lift. They only get the overflow, and if you are getting barely enough to just "skinny by", you won't have any overflow to share with them. Christ conquered for us, and through Him, we are MORE than conquerors. He is dividing the spoil to the STRONG, to those whose faith is greater than the attacks of the enemy. If you are not strong in the Lord today, you are missing some might great blessings and benefits that God would like for you to enjoy!