2007春季长老
总题:作神的奴仆牧养神的召会
Message Three Types and Prophecies in Isaiah concerning Christ as the Slave of God and Their Application in Shepherding the Church of God as a Slave of God
Scripture Reading: Isa. 42:1-4, 6-7; 50:4-5; 61:1-2a
I. According to Isaiah 49, Christ (vv. 5-9a), Isaiah the prophet (vv. 1-4), and Israel (v. 3) are the servant of Jehovah:
A. In the New Testament Christ is unveiled as the Servant of God—Mark 10:45.
B. We are one with Christ by being in Christ, and thus we are one corporate Christ—1 Cor. 1:30; 12:12.
C. Since we are in Christ, and Christ is the Servant of God, we are a corporate servant of God; this is God's eternal view and the view we need to have.
II. The Lord Jesus did not speak His own word, but having the tongue of the instructed, He spoke according to God's instructions—Isa. 50:4-5:
A. What God desires is not sacrifice or offering but ears that are open to Him—Psa. 40:6.
B. The Lord was never rebellious; rather, He was always obedient, listening to the word of God—Isa. 50:5.
C. Jehovah awakened the Lord Jesus every morning, awakening His ear to hear as an instructed one; this indicates that every day the Lord Jesus had a morn-ing revival—v. 4b:
1. As instructed ones, we need to be awakened by the Lord morning by morning; this is the real morning revival.
2. When the Lord opens our ear and speaks to us, we should not rebel but take His word and obey.
3. We should rely on the Lord and not generate our own light—vv. 10-11.
D. Because the Lord Jesus had the ear and the tongue of an instructed one, He knew how "to sustain the weary with a word"—v. 4a.
III. When the Lord Jesus was living on earth, He never made Himself great— 42:1-2:
A. Instead of crying out and making His voice heard in the street, He was calm and of a quiet character—v. 2.
B. The Lord Jesus did not strive with others or promote Himself; rather, He preferred to be hidden—Mark 1:44:
1. Shunning publicity was one of His sweet and lovely virtues—8:26.
2. The Lord wanted His work to be done within the limits of a move that was absolutely according to God's purpose and that was not promoted by man's excitement and propaganda—1:44.
IV. Because He was full of mercy, the Lord Jesus would not break the "bruised reed" or quench the "smoking flax"—Isa. 42:3-4; Matt. 12:20:
A. Some of the Lord's people are like a bruised reed, which cannot give a musical sound; others are like smoking flax, which cannot produce a shining light.
B. The Lord Jesus will not break the bruised ones or quench the smoking ones.
V. In Isaiah 41—66 three parties are used by Isaiah to typify Christ as the Servant of Jehovah: Cyrus, Israel, and Isaiah the prophet—Matt. 12:15-21:
A. These three servants and the all-inclusive Christ are one, serving Jehovah God for His good pleasure in releasing and raising up God's elect to build God's temple and God's city and to set up God's kingdom, which will be enlarged to consummate in the New Jerusalem—Luke 4:18-21; Matt. 16:18-19; Rev. 21:2.
B. All who are in Christ and who are one with Christ to release God's people and to build up His house and His kingdom are servants of God; those who are one with Christ have become the corporate Christ, the same as the individual Christ in being the servant of God—1 Cor. 1:30; 12:12; Col. 3:10-11:
1. We need to be one with Christ to release God's people from the captivity of Satan back to the enjoyment of God as their possession—Isa. 61:1-2a.
2. We need to be one with Christ to release God's people from Babylon (apostate Christendom) and the principle of Babylon—48:20; 41:21-29; Rev. 17:3-5.
VI. Christ has been called by Jehovah to be a light for the nations, the One who opens the eyes of the blind and brings the prisoner out from the prison and those who dwell in darkness from the prison house—Isa. 42:6-7; 49:6:
A. Christ is the light of life, the true light, that shines over the world and enlightens every man to enliven man for regeneration—John 1:4, 9, 12-13.
B. Christ is the divine, marvelous light to open the eyes of the blind and to deliver God's chosen people out of the darkness of death, the death-realm, the authority of Satan, into God's life-realm of light—Luke 4:18; John 9:14; 1 Pet. 2:9b; Acts 26:18a; Col. 1:12-13.
C. Christ as the light is for us to receive life; Christ as the light carries out God's salvation to consummate God's salvation in life—John 8:12; Rom. 5:10.
D. Because Paul was one with Christ in carrying out God's salvation in Christ, Paul applied the prophetic word in Isaiah 49:6 to himself in his ministry of gospel preaching—Acts 13:47.
VII. Christ is the Anointed of Jehovah to bring good news to the poor and to proclaim the jubilee of grace—Isa. 61:1-2a:
A. The year of jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-17 is recorded as a prophecy in Isaiah 61:1-2a and is fulfilled in reality in Luke 4:16-22.
B. The Hebrew word for jubilee means a joyful noise, a shouting with the blasting of a trumpet and a proclamation; it is a proclamation of the gospel, the good news of great joy—2:10-11.
C. In the year of jubilee there were two main blessings: the returning of every man to his lost possession and the liberation from slavery—Lev. 25:8-17.
D. The year of jubilee is the age of grace—the age of Christ as grace dispensed into us as our enjoyment by His words of grace—Luke 4:22; John 1:14-17.
E. The New Testament jubilee is an age of ecstasy for our salvation—cf. 2 Cor. 5:13-15; 6:2.
F. As slaves of God shepherding the church of God, we need to live and proclaim the gospel—Christ as the jubilee of grace—for the accomplishing of God's eternal economy—Acts 26:16-19.