Episode #121 God’s Incredible Prophetic Promise for You – Awe in Advent

Hey friends, it's Jen and welcome to Good God Talks. If you're listening to this episode, when it airs, we are a few days away from Christmas. So Merry Christmas and thank you for joining me. I'm going to be sharing a slightly different episode with you today, still with a theme, a verse, and a question to ask God, but I'm actually spending most of these few minutes here to read the whole of Isaiah 53 for us.

And I'm going to read it in the New Living Translation if you want to follow along with me. The theme of today's episode is God with us, and we've talked about that already here throughout the podcast, but especially here in this series.
And that phrase, God with us is in clear reference to who Jesus is. It was spoken by the prophet Isaiah and then quoted in the New Testament, this is Matthew 1:22-23. it says,

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:22-23 ESV)
all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

I'm also going to give you our question before I read the passage, because I encourage you, talk with God about this as you listen to me, walk through this passage of scripture, and then as the episode ends, keep talking with him about it. There's more revelation that he wants to give to each of us personally about what this means that he is with us. And so here's our question for today:

God, please show me more. What does this mean that you are God with me?

Okay, Isaiah 53 in the New Living Translation:

“Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.

There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.” (Isaiah 53 NLT)

Now, as those who are familiar with aspects of Christ's life and death and resurrection, I'm sure many of these verses felt familiar to you. Yes, from Isaiah, but also from the history recorded of how Jesus lived.

And so I want to remind you: this was written hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth.

Jesus's life was a fulfillment of this prophecy.

It also demonstrated the way that God chose to come into the world. He chose to come without anything in his appearance to attract us to him. He chose to come and give himself so fully, so completely, so painfully for us.

This was Jesus's ministry for the world. But that's not for the world as in we're all lumped together as a big group.

This was Jesus's ministry for you personally.

I wonder what more he wants to show you about what this means for you. Let's ask him.

And Here's that question one more time:

God, please show me more. What does this mean that you are God with me?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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