Who Has Believed?

John‬ ‭12:38‬ ‭- ...that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”

‭(‭Isaiah‬ ‭53:1,3-7,10-12‬)

‭‭Who HAS believed our report? Who HAS the Lord revealed Himself to? 

Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Just knowing who He is but not seeking Him daily is rejecting Him.

He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 

Do we really know what He has done for us? Can we really put an emotion on it? Do we try? Do we not want to know? Done for us...the rejection, pain, mocking, death. For us... Who else would do this? Yet, if we seek Him, we are spiritually healed.

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 

We deserve eternal death. We deserve eternal punishment. None of us are good...none...until we have Christ in our lives, until we know Him, until we take Him seriously. Jesus did not deserve death, but He died just for us anyway.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 

When we are wronged do we take it silently? Do we? When someone says something we don't want to hear, how do we react? Can we turn away and let it be? Hard sometimes, isn't it?

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.

Just like it pleased God to give His own Son as a sacrifice, Jesus was pleased to die for all of us whose sins run rampant in our lives. 

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. 

He suffered silently...for you. For me. He took on every one of our sins. He paid our very large debt to God. Are we willing to give our all to Him for what He has done? Are we? 

By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. 

Are we still a transgressors before the Lord? Have our sins been truly forgiven? We must know Him and believe in Him as the One who bore our sins. He will remove those sins if we submit to Him. 

Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

1Peter‬ ‭5:5-7‬ - ‭...God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.