Good News to Share: Becoming a Contagious Christian

Good News to Share: Becoming a Contagious Christian
Isaiah 53: God’s Plan: Jesus is Crucified

The New York Times has described it as ‘riddle-filled, code-breaking, exhilarating, brainy thriller’. It is the ‘biggest selling adult hardback fiction book of all time’, according to The Daily Telegraph. Published in April 2003, The Da Vinci Code has already sold 25 million copies, that’s nearly 250,000 copies a week, Its been translated into dozens of languages and is currently being turned into a film based in Lincoln Cathedral. Canon Gavin Kirk, Precentor of Lincoln, welcomed the cathedral’s involvement in the film.

“It involves transforming the centre of our nave, cloister and chapter house into a replica of Westminster Abbey. We are very pleased. We think it will be good for us and it will certainly be good for the city.” Needless to say its made Dan Brown a multi-millionaire.

Nicky Gumbel describes some of the feedback he has received at HTB: ‘It shows that the Bible can’t possibly be accurate and that the text was changed.’ … ‘It nearly made me lose my faith.’ … ‘It made me think I don’t have any real facts to back up my faith.’

How can a novel – a work of fiction – have such an impact? The Da Vinci Code is a thriller presented as an historical novel. It is fiction and yet it seeks to convince the reader that it is based on fact. Nicky summaries the book like this:

“Through its characters, The Da Vinci Code asserts that ‘almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.’ The Catholic Church has kept the facts hidden through force and terror. Jesus was in fact married to Mary Magdalene (who was the head apostle). The Holy Grail is not the chalice used at the last supper but the womb of Mary Magdalene who bore Jesus’s daughter, whose name was Sarah. Their descendants became Kings of France. Jesus was not the Son of God. He was a mortal prophet, a great and powerful man of staggering influence who inspired millions to a better life. He was also a radical feminist. He was a good man who was deified by the pagan emperor Constantine in AD 325. Prior to that, no one believed Jesus was divine. At the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, Constantine upgraded him into a deity. He became the Son of God by a narrow vote. This turned Jesus, the mortal prophet, into a deity. Constantine’s motive was to give power to the Roman Catholic Church.”[1]

If you want to read a simple critique of the Da Vinci Code, pick up a copy of Nicky Gumbel’s little booklet, order it from Esther or check last week’s e-news. If you want something a little more substantial then I’d recommend Darrell Bock’s, Breaking the Da Vinci Code (Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 2004) and Ben Wetherington’s, The Gospel Code (Downers Grove, IVP, 2004).

Let me make three brief responses to the Da Vinci Code.

1. Its not Original
To a large extent Dan Brown has plagurised material from The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, published in 1982, and is being sued by its authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln.

Leigh told the Daily Telegraph after issuing the writ: "It's not that Dan Brown has lifted certain ideas because a number of people have done that before. It's rather that he's lifted the whole architecture - the whole jigsaw puzzle - and hung it on to the peg of a fictional thriller." Brown’s work of fiction is based on earlier works of fiction including obscure and heretical mystical writings of the 3^rd and 4^th Centuries. So its not Original.

2. Its not Factual
Brown alleges there is evidence of an earlier version of Christianity than the one we have in the NT. He relies on the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran from 1947 and the Nag Hammadi documents found in Egypt in 1945. He claims their content has been kept secret by the church. The fact is you can buy a copy in any good bookstore and neither source offers any substantiation to his claims.

Brown also relies on documents about a secret society, the Priory of Sion that supposedly protected the secret about Jesus family. In fact they are forgeries, actually written in the 1960’s by an anti-Semitic Frenchman Pierre Plantard who was jailed for fraud in 1953. In 1993 he admitted before a French judge that he had fabricated all the documents relating to the Priory of Sion.

Ironically Brown ignores the very New Testament writers who were actually eyewitnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus - who saw these historical events and were willing to die rather than deny what they had seen. Remember the NT was written in an era of intense persecution. The Jewish authorities saw the Christians as heretical and the Roman authorities increasingly saw them as seditious. So the Da Vinci Code is not original and it is not factual.

3. Its not Surprising
Why would so many people prefer a work of fiction to the truth?

The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, warning him that “the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

It is also precisely what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But those who live by the truth come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:19-21)

There have always been myths, and from time to time new ones emerge. The Da Vinci Code is just another myth. It is not original, its not factual and its not surprising. But there is one sense in which I agree with Dan Brown. There is indeed evidence for Jesus earlier than the New Testament.

Think about it - if you were divine and wanted to enter the world you had created, in the form of a human being, in order to save the world from destruction, what would you do? I suggest you would demonstrate your divinity in three ways:

1. Overcome death. The grave would not constrain you.
2. Perform supernatural miracles. Nature would not limit you.
3. Foretell events. History would validate you.

Written around 700 years before Christ, the Book of Isaiah is quoted more times in the New Testament than any other book of the Hebrew Scriptures. 754 of its 1292 verses are predictive = 59% prophecy. Interesting. And you know what, Isaiah 53 is quoted more times in the NT than any other chapter in the OT. It contains 11 direct prophecies concerning Jesus and I found it cited or alluded to in at least 50 NT passages. Why? Lets find out.

With the eyes of faith we see Isaiah 53 so explicitly refers to the Lord Jesus it doesn’t need much by way of explanation. Indeed it became so obvious that Isaiah was referring to Jesus after he was crucified and rose again from the dead, that, as the Church separated from the Synagogue, I understand Isaiah 53 was no longer read as part of the Jewish lectionary. There are five stanzas to this passage, each of three verses, and it begins in chapter 52:13. (Remember the chapter divisions and verse numbering was added in Medieval times and was not there in the original).

1. The Predicted Saviour: The Servant’s Role (52:13-15)
2. The Rejected Saviour: The Servant’s Life (53:1-3)
3. The Representative Saviour: The Servant’s Suffering (53:4-6)
4. The Crucified Saviour: The Servant’s Death (53:7-9)
5. The Glorious Saviour: The Servant’s Resurrection (53:10-12)

1. The Predicted Saviour: The Servant’s Role

“See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness—so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.” (Isaiah 52:13-15)

This 1st Stanza contains the words of God as He makes a divine proclamation. He says, "See my servant" The AV uses the word “Behold” The word means ‘To fix the eyes upon’ or ‘to observe with care.’ John said, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Notice Jesus would be God’s servant. God’s servant, and our Saviour. So God speaks "See, My Servant"

God tells us, through Isaiah, that His Servant will be raised and lifted up. He will be highly exalted, even though his suffering was truly appalling. This was fulfilled when Jesus was lifted up on the cross, then in his resurrection and ascension. God then tells us that His Servant will "sprinkle many nations". This phrase may seem strange. The word used here means to sprinkle as in to declare clean from disease. Leviticus 14 describes the process whereby one who had been healed from leprosy or some other disease that was considered contagious could be declared clean by the priests. Through his death Jesus would provide for our cleansing from a disease far worse than leprosy that disease is sin. The Predicted Saviour: The Servants Role.

2. The Rejected Saviour: The Servant’s Life

“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.” (Isaiah 53:1-3)

These verses speak of the ministry of Jesus and the growing incredulity found in the gospels when it became plain that Jesus was not going to fulfil the role of the warrior king and defeat Israel’s enemies. On Good Friday, the Jewish authorities rejected their Saviour. Even the disciples failed to see in Jesus their Saviour.

The reference to the ‘arm of the Lord’ refers to His power to save His people. The Cross is where God’s power resides. The Cross the power of God for salvation. Foolishness to the world, but the wisdom and power of God. The Predicted Saviour: The Servants Role. The Rejected Saviour: The Servant’s Life.

3. The Representative Saviour: The Servant’s Suffering

“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 of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)

This is the heart of Isaiah 53 and takes us to the core of why Jesus came. Notice that it was not his sin but ours that he took the cross.

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.

Paul captures the essence of this in his second letter to the Corinthians. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Verse 6 probably derives its imagery from the ritual which took place on the Day of Atonement. In Leviticus 16:21-22 we see how the high priest acts as God’s agent and symbolically transfers the sins of the people to a goat, known as the ‘scapegoat’ by laying his hands on its head. Then the scapegoat was driven out into the desert to die; even as Christ, the Lamb of God, was crucified outside the city.

The Predicted Saviour: The Servants Role.

The Rejected Saviour: The Servant’s Life.

The Representative Saviour: The Servant’s Suffering.

4. The Crucified Saviour: The Servant’s Death

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7-9)

Here we see a description of the Suffering Servant’s death - so completely fulfilled in Jesus. His trial, illegally held at night, was a mockery of justice - it was oppressive. His assigned grave was to have been with the two thieves with whom he was crucified. But a rich Pharisee and secret follower petitioned Pilate for the body to bury him in his own tomb. An exact fulfilment of Isaiah’s prediction 700 years after it was made.

As the split between Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity widened and the Church grew, Jewish rabbi’s increasingly taught that Israel was the ‘Servant’ in Isaiah 53. But if there were any doubt, verse 8 settles the question. Sinful Israel could never atone for others. “for the transgression of my people he was stricken”. It is the singular servant - “he” who dies for the transgression of the people, so the people would not have to.

The apostle John understood, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2).

The Predicted Saviour: The Servants Role.

The Rejected Saviour: The Servant’s Life.

The Representative Saviour: The Servant’s Suffering.

The Crucified Saviour: The Servant’s Death

5. The Glorious Saviour: The Servant’s Resurrection

“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:10-12)

These verses point most emphatically to the resurrection. Having “poured out his life unto death” (53:12), he would nevertheless, verse 11, “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.” (53:11). He would indeed “prolong his days” (53:10). As

Tom McCrossan observes, “The Hebrew poetic parallelism shows that “bearing our iniquities” is how the servant justifies. It is not “by knowing about the servant” we are justified. That is, we are saved by redemptive suffering, not simply by revelation. It is the experiential knowledge of faith that is in view. We are saved by knowing and trusting Christ…. The opening of 53:12 shows God honouring the Servant for his faithful work and the Servant in turn distributing the spoils of battle to others. Christ’s work is presented as a victory over spiritual foes, resulting in a distribution of spoils to those made strong in him.

This is precisely the imagery Paul uses in Ephesians 4 & 6 (see Ephesians 4:8; 6:10-17); Christ the victor grants salvation and spiritual gifts to his people. And Matthew 19:28-30 declares that Jesus the great King, when he returns to reign “at the renewal of all things,” will even grant to his faithful followers a right to share in that reign.” Jesus shall indeed come again, crowned with glory and honour, power and majesty! Now do you see how the good news of Jesus was indeed revealed centuries before he came?

Revealed by a loving God who wanted people to recognise His son when he came. Before he came to seek and save the lost.

The Predicted Saviour: The Servants Role.

The Rejected Saviour: The Servant’s Life.

The Representative Saviour: The Servant’s Suffering.

The Crucified Saviour: The Servant’s Death.

The Glorious Saviour: The Servant’s Resurrection.

The prophecy of Isaiah 53, so graphically fulfilled in the last 12 hours of Jesus earthly life can be summed up in one simple word - ‘love’. And one verse.

One verse epitomises the NT response to the predictions of Isaiah 53. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

But remember how Isaiah 53 begins? With two questions. “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Answer: Not many. Why not? Clearly not to Dan Brown, at least not yet. But what about you? Do you prefer the world of fantasy and fiction to the real world of fact? The answer to these two questions comes in Isaiah 53:2-3. These verses express why so many people overlook Jesus… why they never experience His presence and power. “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground…”

From the world’s perspective, the family tree of Jesus did not give Him a real advantage. Jesus did not grow up in wealth. He grew up in relative obscurity. His mother? A peasant girl. His father? A carpenter. His hometown? Nazareth, a place that people mocked: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Jesus came from unpromising surroundings. It was “dry ground.”

These were reasons why people overlooked Jesus then.

And they missed the experience of the arm of the Lord because they overlooked Jesus. And not many have this experience today. So, what do I have to do to experience his power? I have to do what these verses say most people don’t do. The arm of the Lord is revealed to those who…

1. Seek Him
“To whom as the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1)

We have two kinds of eyes, the eyes of the head and the eyes of the heart. What are the eyes of your heart looking at? He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him. Look at: give attention to, gaze at. What gets your attention, your gaze? There is so much to look at other than Jesus. Family and friends and fun. Movies and money and magazines. To many, Jesus may seem not as exciting, unreal, unattractive. The eyes of our hearts grow dull.

The reason the Da Vinci Code is so popular, the reason people prefer fiction to fact is because we have an enemy who wants to keep us from seeing Jesus.

“The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4) But Jesus promised “Seek and you will find” (Matthew 7:8) It’s when you seek the glory of the Lord that His transforming power will be evident in your life. The arm of the Lord is revealed to those who seek Him. Secondly, the arm of the Lord is revealed to those who

2. Desire Him
“He had… no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2) Desire. It’s describing people who have a capacity to want more and more of Jesus. Why don’t we want Him? We are full of other stuff. We’ve been feeding on the Twinkies of this world. We fill up our hearts and minds with work and wealth and worry. Cars and clothes and careers. And we don’t have room for the bread of life.

Friday night I took Joanna out for a meal. She ordered an open andwich with salad, fresh salmon and prawns. I ordered a Cornish pastie, chips and beans. I soon regretted it. I need to develop new taste buds. When I’m too full of other stuff – when the work of the Lord crowds out the Lord of the work –then there’s no room for Christ. That’s when I don’t want Him with my whole desire. But God, by His grace, has given me a new capacity for the Bread of life. sweetness. And I’ve been tasting the bread of Christ for what it really is: nourishing and satisfying. I see Him and I want Him. I want to want Him with my whole desire. The arm of the Lord is revealed for those who seek him, who desire Him.

3. Respect Him
“He was despised...” (Isaiah 53:3) Despised – ‘bazah’ means regarded with contempt, disdained, regarded as worthless. His values are so different. He is humble, so our hunger for power and reputation is shown up as evil. He was poor, so our wanting for more and more is exposed as foolish.

He was willing to suffer, so our craving for comforts is shown to be selfish. God is looking for people who will seek Jesus - be in awe of Jesus - desire Jesus – think highly of Jesus – respect Jesus. Do you? The arm of the Lord is revealed to those who seek him, who desire him, who respect him and who,

4. Receive Him
“He was despised and rejected by others, a man of suffering and familiar with pain.” (Isaiah 53:3) Rejected is a word that means transient or fleeting.

For many, Jesus had His 15 minutes of fame. “He gave a few good talks. He healed some sick people. We welcomed Him into Jerusalem as a king. Now it’s time to move on… Now, we are on to something else – to someone else.” We still do that today don’t we? Where does Jesus rank in the Time magazine top 100 most influential people in the world today? God is looking for people who will really receive Jesus… and hold Him close. “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12). The arm of the Lord is revealed to those who seek him, who desire him, who respect him, who receive Him and above all, who

5. Value Him
“… and as one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” (Isaiah 53:3). Low esteem = low value. Jesus is not valued very much in this world. The world says that Jesus is a religious leader to be respected. His teachings are worthy to follow, just like the teachings of Gandhi, Mohommed and Buddha. But to esteem Him above all? Compare that to Philippians 3:8: “I also consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:8). To value Him is to become captivated Him. Captivated by His love - above all else. The arm of the Lord is revealed to those who seek him, who desire him, who respect him, who receive Him and to those who above all else, above everything and everyone else, value Him as the Suffering Servant, our Saviour and Lord. These are the ones to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed. Have you sought him? Have you received him? Do you desire him? Respect Him? Value Him?

As Nicky Gumbel says, “The truth about Jesus is so much more wonderful and exciting than the myths of books like the Da Vinci Code. Myths do not have the power to change lives. Only Jesus Christ has the power to set people free from heroin addiction and from alcoholism, from guilt, bitterness and fear, to reconcile husbands and wives, to reunite parents and children, bring healing and wholeness, forgiveness, peace and hope. How? As we make this passage personal lets return to verse 1. Remember how Isaiah 53 begins? With those two important questions: “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? (Isaiah 53:1).[2]

To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? We face some important issues as a church that are too big for me. Pray for the PCC meeting on Tuesday. I need the Lord to give me wisdom and strength. I know I’m not alone. Where would you like to find God bringing his wisdom and power into your life?

Maybe you’re just finishing school and starting a new career. Maybe you have a strained relationship with a spouse or family member. Maybe you want to overcome a sin that keeps tripping you up. Maybe you’re in sales and you’re facing a quota that seems insurmountable. Where would you like to see God’s power displayed in your life? “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

What does this phrase, “The arm of the Lord,” mean to you. Arm = ‘zerowah’ means help, power, strength.

The “arm of the Lord” points to His impact in us and through us, His might for us, His protection of us. Who wouldn’t want that!
Who wouldn’t want that for the people you love? I want this for me. I want this for my family. I want this for you! I want God to be revealed in our lives in ways we haven’t seen before. I want for people around us to say, “There must be a God because God did for them what they could not do for themselves.” I want to see the “arm of the Lord” revealed in my life because…

1. I need His liberty
This image, the arm of the Lord, points to His great power – a power that’s available to His people… to us! God’s people in the OT were slaves in Egypt. But God’s arm moved to rescue them – to free them.

Moses says in Deuteronomy, “They are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.” (Deuteronomy 9:29)

God is still freeing people today. Freedom from dead religion. Freedom from addictions. Freedom from panic and worry and doubt and confusion. Freedom from selfishness. Freedom from sin. He frees us from eternal punishment when we turn from sin and trust in Him. He frees us to love Him and love others. I want God’s outstretched arm to work for liberty in my life. I need His liberty.

2. I need His victory
The arm of the Lord points to the fact that He wins – all the time – even when it may look like a defeat at first. God’s wins don’t always look like ours. Look at the cross –the place He was pierced.

It looked like a defeat. But the arm of the Lord turned it into a win – the most awesome win ever! David sings in Psalm 98,

“O sing to the LORD a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.” (Psalm 98:1). God is still winning victories today for His people. You may feel defeated today – spiritually, emotionally, relationally. You’re spent. You can’t lift the weight in your life. It looks like there’s no way you can win. But there is not a weight He cannot lift. I want this victory. I want God’s right hand and holy arm to win for me… and for my family… and for you. I need His liberty, I need his victory.

3. I need His energy
The arm of the Lord points to the fact that He can do anything. When I run out of options and energy and creativity, the Lord has more than enough to finish any job I’m facing. Jeremiah cries,

“Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, who shows lovingkindness to thousands.”(Jeremiah 32:17-18).

When God starts lifting the weight, your impossibilities become His possibilities. I want this energy! I want God’s outstretched arm to work for me, especially when things are too difficult for me because nothing it too difficult for Him. I need His liberty, I need his victory, I need his energy.

4. I need His security
The arm of the Lord points to how He is a soft place for His people to fall. Have you failed recently? Have you fallen? Have you disappointed yourself. Are others disappointed with you? The good news is His arms are a soft place for you to land. In Moses’ final blessing of Israel before he dies he promises,

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

When God’s arm is working for us, we can step out and try some things that we’ve never tried before. We can try things that we’ve tried before. If we fail, we’ll find that God’s arms are there to catch us. I want God’s everlasting arms to hold me, to hold my family, to hold you. I need His liberty, I need his victory, I need his energy. I need his security.

5. I need His safety
The arm of the Lord points to His desire to keep us close to His heart. Isaiah promises,

“Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.” (Isaiah 40:11)

Do you feel like you are all alone? That no one really cares? That no one wants you? Listen, the arm of the Lord draws you close. I want this. I want to know that I am being carried close to His heart. For myself, for my family and for you. Lets pray.