The Arm of the Lord

Oh, Oh, at long last WINTER has arrived! Brrr....

In the book of Isaiah chapter 53:1-6, we read the following prophecy about our Lord Jesus Christ, and also how it relates to every human being.

“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep, have gone astray, each one of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Dear friends, this portion of prophetic Scripture clearly refers to our Lord Jesus Christ and His incarnation. We would like to suggest that each one of you reading this message would take time to read the entire chapter of Isaiah 53, because each and every one of us is included in this prophecy.

To begin with, our Lord Jesus is referred to as the Arm Of The Lord. The Lord mentioned here is God, the Father Himself. Therefore, whatever happened to the Son of God in this prophecy, was in accordance with the will of the Heavenly Father. That, however, does not mean that Jesus was not in agreement, and that the Father obligated Him to be humiliated and treated in such a scandalous manner at the hands of men.

By no means, because there are other Scriptures that clearly tell us that the Lord Jesus willingly, and motivated by love, took upon Himself the shame and the punishment which each and every one of us deserved. In Hebrews 10: 5-7 we read the following words: “ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, O God.’”
So, Jesus is called “the Arm of the LORD” in Isaiah 53:1. Throughout Scripture the arm of the LORD represents the strength, power, and authority of Almighty God. The Lord Jesus received authority from the Father to do the work that He came to do in the world. To be sure of this we ask each one of you who are reading this message to read John chapters 5 & 6 completely, as well as the 17th chapter of John.

In Luke 4:17-19, we can see Jesus reading from the Book of Isaiah the following words:
“The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”’
Then Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. While the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Here the Holy Spirit is called the “Spirit of the Lord” and that is the Lord , who anointed Jesus with the Spirit to preach the Good News, etc. In the Book of Acts, chapter 10, the Apostle Peter, in a vision, guided by the Holy Spirit, was sent to take the Gospel to a Roman Official called Cornelius. Beginning with verses 38 – 43 we read these words:

“ You know …..how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him, from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. All the prophets testified about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Considering all the Scriptures we have mentioned, and there are many more, we can understand why JESUS is called the “ARM of the LORD” in Isaiah 53:1-6. It is through Him, that God, the Father provided forgiveness and eternal life for every one of us who repents and believes and receives Him as our personal Savior.
Written and prepared by Bicento and Betty Henriquez