by Eddy Lanz
This sermon is translated from German into English. You can find the original video here
I want to talk about this word and then the rest of Chap. 53. I talk to you in 3 steps. The one that is also in this text and already in the first 3 verses:
1. Here God presents a man who goes through terrible suffering, that is the suffering of God’s servant.
2. Then he introduces the same man who overshadows everything. There is no one as huge, so mega, as big as him. He will be elevated, very high. You really notice how he is always higher and so huge that the kings keep their mouths shut in front of him. One can ask: what kind of man is this that God is presenting here? He is an incredibly successful man. It is about the success of the servant or his effectiveness, what he does in humanity, what he changes. So: the suffering of God’s servant, the success of God’s servant and then:
3. Who is that? So that’s Jesus Christ. These are the 3 things I want to discuss with you.
First of all on the subject, the motive. Within the book of Isaiah, this motif that God has servants is several, not just one, that is a key theme in the book; and that is also interesting and is also presented in an interesting way, e.g. is Isaiah one of this servants. It appears in chapter 20. A servant of the Lord and the idea is that God is king and a great king has many servants. We often think when we hear the word servant or servitor that makes you small. But if you are servants, special servants of a king, you are quite tall. And that’s why it’s a title of very important people in the Bible, again and again. Moses is called that, Isaiah is called that, David, who was king in Israel. He is called the servant of the Lord. This is interesting: The topic that God has a servant or servants occurs 33 times and is divided exactly. 22 times in the singular and then that changes to plural. So 22 times, whenever there is talk of the master’s servant or the master’s servants, then the singular is always used, grammatically so singular. Isaiah, David etc., also Israel. And then, within these 22 times there is a servant at once, that is that servant. It occurs in 4 texts. This is Isaiah 42, 1 ff., 49, 1 ff., 50.4 ff., And this is the last of these 4 texts 52, 13 ff.
One can then ask: who is that? There were also various opinions on this, e.g. in 42, 1 the Greek translation translates the Septuagint, that is the Jewish translation of pre-Christian times the text so that the word Israel comes in with it. So in 42, 1 that was translated in pre-Christian times with the people of Israel. And that’s right. In Isaiah there are also texts where the servant of the Lord Israel is. But the Aramaic translation of the Jews translates our verse 13 in Isaiah 52 so that the first word, that is, where the servant appears with: Messiah. This is Aramaic and means: the anointed, the Christ. This is not clear within the Jewish tradition itself. I say: who is that?
You know, in Acts 8, a man from Ethiopia comes to Israel, goes on a pilgrimage, comes back, and God says to Philip: go out there now and there. And then Philip is there, and there comes the chariot and God says to him: hold on to this chariot. As Philip runs alongside the car, he hears the man reading from Isaiah 53. The man of course has no idea what that means, what he is reading. Philip just asks: Do you understand what you are reading? It was the Queen of Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance. He replies: „How should I understand if nobody explains it to me? And he asked Philip to ascend and sit with him. On the way Philip explains to him: The man that is Jesus! The finance minister is so moved that when he sees water he says: “There is water, I would like to be baptized! Is there an obstacle? ”He is baptized and the first person from Ethiopia is baptized. The church there goes far, far back to the primeval period of Christianity and is one of the oldest churches. Ese still gives it today. That’s why it’s a huge topic.
We are now negotiate with the last of these texts, chapters 52, 13 – chapters 53, 12 and I have to tell you, by the will of God, this book was found in pre-Christian Hebrew in Qumran. It was written around 150 BC. You can tell that from the writing. Our chapter is in there. I looked at these 54 columns from the Isaiah book in Hebrew. You can download it (53MB). I divided this up into the individual columns using image processing software. The interesting thing I discovered is that two times with this 54-column book roll, a main section ends at the bottom and then a new main section begins in a new column. It only happens twice. It is often the case that verses are simply split up. At the bottom of the column, a verse is not yet finished and then just continues at the top. This is always the case. But in two places in the Isaiah book the text is highlighted by leaving space below and deliberately starting a new section in the next column. Once it is exactly halfway through the book. It has 54 columns. After 27 columns, chapter 33 below, 2-3 lines are left blank and then the second half of the book continues with chapter 34, 1 above. The second place is our place. In chapter 52, 12 this column ends although there is still a lot of space available. It starts with what I read above:
See, my servant will succeed. He will be elevated and very high.
Before Christianity, the Jews recognized that this servant of the Lord is important! What God says here is so important that they start a new column like only twice in the whole book, and have lifted him enormously, so to speak, to the stage.
1. The suffering of the servant of God
And God speaks. What is he saying here? I said that the first thing we want to talk about is his suffering. God introduces a man and the first thing he says:
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
The size of the servant is in direct proportion to his suffering. So as much as he suffered and so terribly and cruelly and terribly he suffered that it dwarfed everything, as deep as he was below, so high is he raised. That is why we first speak of suffering. What did he suffer, what is said in these 4 texts? This happens again and again in all 4 texts. In chapters 42, 49, in 50 and also here. Because of the time in this sermon I am concentrating today on our last section and what is written in suffering is enough.
4 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
What is said here is: it’s about disfigurement! This man suffered and if you read on you can see that people have judged him. He was sentenced to death by a false judiciary. They tortured him and then murdered him. Chapter 50 says that he was slapped on the back, that his beard was torn out. He had a good whisker and you tore your beard hair so that you tore it out. Accordingly, he was beaten. It says that he was murdered and that he was tortured so that you could no longer recognize him as a human. That is what the Hebrew gives here. The disfigurement was so strong that it could no longer be recognized. His shape was so disfigured, away from being human, away from human shape. That is, when Pilate’s minions got his hands on them when they were done, it was terrible. In chap. 53 is how it is formulated
1 But who believes what we have been told, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2 He shot before him like a rice and like a root from arid earth. He had no shape and sovereignty. We saw him, but there was no shape we liked. 3 He was the most despised and unworthy, full of pain and illness. He was so despised that the face was hidden from him; that’s why we didn’t take him for anything.
I say it in my own words: If you saw him in his suffering, you looked away. You see it and you turn away. „Hide the face from him“ means: one turns away. You can’t see that. When I think about who it is and what the New Testament says, who it is identified with, when I think that it is the Lord who suffered it for me … We saw it, but there was no shape, that we would have liked. In terms of his suffering, it was as Isaiah speaks here in the „we-form“ (he sometimes does that in his book) That is, what he says here is: he speaks for the Jews, that is a text (Isaiah 53, 1 – 10)), the Jews could say when Jesus returns with the clouds of heaven and when the Spirit of God is poured out over them as it says in Zechariah 12, 10: And they will look at me whom they pierced. ..
God also speaks! This presupposes that at some time God was pierced by the Jews: „They will see me who they pierced!“ Then they will cry terribly because they see him. The stigmata are kept by Jesus. The Risen One has stigmata. If we have an accident and are hardly recognizable afterwards from the car, you will no longer be able to tell from our resurrection body. That is gone. We will be wonderful and glorious in the resurrection body.
The stigmata of Jesus are of course wonderful and glorious, but they are there. When he comes you will see him with his stigmata. You will see his pierced hands and feet. And then the contrast will be insane. The contrast that is in here: “We thought this and that and that about him, but it wasn’t like that. This is anticipated prophetically here. In chap. 53 you can already see the people of Israel converted to this man. Here is already reflected on what our view of things was, but actually something completely different has happened. He was so despised that you didn’t want to look at it at first, and when you saw him you wanted to look away quickly; One wanted to turn away. He is full of pain and weakness (v. 3). The wording is such that this man, in his suffering, knew exactly what weakness was, knew exactly what illness was. The word is general. The word disease, weakness can mean a normal disease, so maybe corona? as well as a weakness caused by humans. That is the case here. The word applies to both. This man has been made so weak, he has been brought into suffering so much that he is, so to speak, an expert in suffering.
This is of course extremely important for all Christians who are sick and get sick or who go through severe suffering. He knows! It is often the case that we, who have perhaps never experienced something like this, ask ourselves, how should we comfort such people? We will of course take the word of God with us when we go to the bedside and try to comfort them and pray for and with them. But we know that there is one who is now the King of Kings, who rules the universe from his throne to the right hand of God, and who has gone through a grief worse than your grief. It went so deep that there is no one today who went deeper. This is also part of why it says: God wanted to hit him. God wanted to make him weak, it says later in the text. Here is an important element: He was hit by our weakness, our sin. Isaiah 53, 4 – 6 + 8
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Here Isaiah speaks for Israel, for the believers for those who turn to God who recognize by God’s grace what the peace is based on which God gives us, what the healing is based on which God gives us and which he turns back to us and heals Israel. It is based on the fact that one suffered for all of us. He carried our illness and took on our pain. He is wounded for our iniquity and battered for our sins. The punishment lies on him for having peace or v. 6: We all went astray like sheep, everyone looked on his way. And then God goes after and collects the sins of the sheep. He collects the sins of all Israelites and all people of all generations and all times. That gives a mountain of guilt and on Calvary or here prophetically in Isaiah 53 God takes this giant mountain and throws the force of all the sin of Israel and the whole world onto a man who is innocent and is crushed under this guilt.
The first word in Isaiah (1: 1) means translated: vision, face. That is: Isaiah saw all of this! We couldn’t see that, but a prophet can see it. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, Isaiah saw and wrote this down 680 – 700 years before Christ! He saw this man in his incredible, unbelievable suffering. He saw and heard God. He says on behalf of God: „My servant will succeed.“
He says: We. He was a sinner himself. In chap. 6 he converts and there is this coal from the altar. Why should the charcoal from the altar purify and make up for its sin? Because the altar is the place where the victim’s blood gets on it! In heaven where the seraphines serve, there is only one altar and there is only one blood that has ever come to this altar there and that is the blood of Jesus Christ that he shed on the cross of Calvary! Isaiah also confesses that he was saved by this man. He also says that he is included in this „we“ where he is in Chap. 6 thinks: now I am finished, now I have to die because I am unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips. His sin was also atoned for by the suffering of this man whom he sees visionarily. Then, interestingly, one may ask, is this Lamb of God that bears the sin of the world (V6 and 7 comes the image of the Lambs) being beaten to the place where it was sacrificed? The answer is: no! This is the big surprise, willing and silent, this man endures what Isaiah says about him on behalf of God. We read that again in verse 7:
When he was martyred, he suffered willingly and did not open his mouth like a lamb brought to the slaughterhouse; and like a sheep that fell silent before its clipper, he did not open his mouth.
Verses 6 – 7 are very artistic in Hebrew. Verse 6 begins: We all and it ends with: We all. That means: In the beginning everyone went away from God and in the end everyone’s sin is thrown at this man. And then you see this man and it says twice: and he didn’t open his mouth. Verse 6 frames this: Everyone and verse 7 frames: He has not even opened his mouth! In the time of insane suffering, he decides to remain silent and that is exactly what Jesus does before the High Council and Pilate. All the time he says nothing, not a word. The crazy thing was, this man could talk like that to the soldiers in John 7 who arrested him should, get there and not be able to arrest him, and soldiers or people in the appropriate hierarchy if you tell them arrest the man, they will arrest the man. It’s part of being a soldier, that’s drill. The officer says that and you do it. And these soldiers go there, hear Jesus talk, stand there rooted and can’t arrest him. When they come back and haven’t brought him along, they are asked: „Why don’t you have him with you?“ they answered : „A man has never spoken like this man!“ They were enemies! With order! If Jesus Christ had opened his mouth, he would not have been condemned. Pilate wanted to release him anyway. He had smelled the fuse, he had noticed: That stinks. And only when the Jews force him and threaten him: „If you release him, we will send a delegation to Caesar and tell him: you are against Caesar, you are not a friend of Caesar! That was the only reason why he condemned Jesus to death on the cross! If Jesus had started talking, he would never have been crucified! You have to imagine this: if we were tortured, if we were treated like this, if we had the choice to suffer the cross or not: we would do everything to get out of it. If we could save ourselves through our words, we would.
The big question is: why? Why does this sheep fall silent before the shearers? Why is he silent? In verse 12 you have the answer:
That is why I want to give him the many to booty and he should rob the strong for giving up his life in death and being equal to the evildoers and carrying the sin of the many and praying for the evildoers.
Tortured, suffering and dying, he is silent about people and he prays about God. He uses his mouth to pray for his tormentors and torturers and murderers. What a love!
Because he loved you so infinitely and because he loved me so infinitely, because he sinners from Israel and sinners from Germany and sinners from China and sinners from Pakistan and sinners from Kenya and sinners from Saudi Arabia and sinners all over the world, because he loved them so infinitely, he prays dying, tortured, prays on the cross: „Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they’re doing!“
He was considered a great criminal, murdered by an unjust judiciary. Verse 8: He was taken out of fear and judgment. Fear and judgment, two words that actually only mean one thing at the origin: false justice. It was actually a false judiciary, a drawn, a depressed judiciary. And that’s exactly what happened here. False witnesses have been set up. That failed and then there was only the oath, which the high priest swears under oath and says: “I swear to you by the living God. That was his ace of trumps, his last thing he still had up his sleeve. Otherwise he would have gone empty-handed. But Jesus responds to it and tells the truth. Under oath, in the face of Almighty God, he speaks the truth and dies for the truth. He does not die for false certificates that were fabricated. The truth had to be over the cross. Pilate nailed it to it:
Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews
He was eliminated by wrong judiciary. In V 8 it says: He was considered a criminal. V 9-10:
And his grave was given to the wicked and to malefactors when he died, though he was not wrong and there was no betrayal in his mouth. 10 But the Lord wanted to smite him with sickness.
Actually it should be in V9: with the godless and with a rich man. If you translate it as it is in Hebrew, the following is the goal: they wanted to throw him on the garbage heap of history through a wrong judiciary and in the fulfillment he had really been crucified between two serious criminals. There were three people and two of them were felons and one of the two said to the other: “We earned what we suffer. But he is innocent! ”And means Jesus. When they were done with him and he was murdered when it came to his funeral, you actually wanted to throw him away as a garbage heap. For Jews, the worst death was when you were hung on the wood and died there. There is a verse in the books of Moses that says: „Cursed is everyone who hangs on the wood!“ That is, that was the perfidious intention. Pilate had no idea of that, of course. Why do they have it, as later e.g. Stephanus, not stoned or stabbed with a sword in a night and fog action? They didn’t want to execute Jesus quietly and secretly. No, they wanted to show Jesus through the hand of the Romans, through the cross as a cursed, rejected by God! The teaching of Jesus and his person should be absolutely destroyed so that not half a gram was left!
And then their ranks break and one of them, Joseph von Arimatia, one from the high council, takes another from the high council, Nicodemus, and the two bury Jesus royally in a never before used grave with a hundred liters of these things that have been used to embalm the dead. Now it wasn’t thrown away as garbage. Why? Why did God say at that point, „Is it enough?“
Jesus had prayed and said: „It is done!“ And when this judgment came out of the mouth of Jesus it was clear: It is now going in a completely different direction. And his grave was given to the ungodly, to the rich he was in his state of death – plural – to emphasize how terrible death was. Because he has not wronged anyone and there has been no fraud in his mouth. This man never sinned, no crime, no ill-treatment of anyone, never any lie! This is the only one in the Old Testament, the only one in the whole Bible that has remained sinless as a human being! That is prophesied and it has literally been fulfilled in Jesus Christ! Because of this, it was impossible that anything beyond the redemption plan had to come. When he said: „It is done“ and he bowed his head and died, everything was paid for, there was no need, so to speak; a garbage man in the end, but then he was buried royally and rose on the third day as the victor over death!
Another: He is suffering sinlessly, we have just seen, he is suffering according to God’s plan: This is how the Lord wanted to smash him with illness. This is of course a surprise. Why should God in Chap. 52:13 say: This is my servant. It is very close to me. Why is he saying here: My servant will succeed, he will be exalted and very high, but at the same time God wanted to smash him? Why did God want this man who is so great, who is so hardworking, why did God want to smash him? So that you don’t go to hell, but to heaven, he had to go to hell.
That means: Here we learn not only about the servant, but also about the servant’s lord, about God. Not only the servant prays: „Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing“, but the father is as it is written:
„God loved the world so much that all who believe in him are not lost but have eternal life!“
WOW! It is God’s plan that he lives! Jesus‘ death is the atoning sacrifice, his death is the guilty offering. In V. 10 the guilt victim is mentioned, V12: he pours out his soul.
2. The man who overshadows everything
You noticed: Already when describing the suffering I went into the exaltation. Now we come to the exaltation. That will be faster and faster, because the equivalent of suffering has always been in the verse.
Why does he have to suffer so terribly? You can tell that he is extremely successful. There are three different words for raised in Hebrew. It is a Hebrew way of speaking. When we do something, we emphasize that, we make bold letters in books, but the Jews repeat things: it is increased, increased, increased, very increased. Increased three times and increased again in the end. That is why he is not just a priest who dies here, who is himself the victim, he is not just a prophet like the one in Chap. 50.4, he is king! He is king of the kings. That is why it also says: „He will sprinkle many heathens, 52, 15: „The kings shall shut their mouths at him“
Imagine there is a gathering of kings, not today’s United Nations, but an ancient picture. The kings of the world come together in a huge royal hall, a palace and then the king of kings comes. At the beginning they were talking. Suddenly everyone puts their hand on their mouth and is silent. Shut up! Because he comes who is greater than the greatest kings in the world. This is of course a good success, this is great!
He brings many peoples to God and kings submit. Here it is said: this is how he will sprinkle many pagans. The word for sprinkling is usually used in the books of Moses for the cultic acts of sprinkling with blood. The word blood is not mentioned here. That’s why some translate with jump up, jump up in front of him, but I think you can mentally replenish the blood from the end of Cape. 53 because it also says: He poured out his soul into death in order to redeem the people who are many of whom we are talking about here, that is: all of humanity!
The success of this servant is that he not only died for the sins of all people of all times, he brings all peoples back to God. If he sprinkles them with his blood then they will be sanctified. They become holy people. The impure pagans become holy people. The Israelites are also saved, all are reconciled to God, all who accept it in faith. The almighty arm of God works in him. V. 53, 1: It is wonderful how he starts by saying: We.
But who believes what we have been told, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
Before that in Isaiah you see the “arm of the Lord” again and again. The arm of the Lord brought Babylon to his knees, the arm of the Lord smashed Rahab. Rahab by that was meant the Egyptians with their pharaohs.
In chap. 52, before our text you can see God rolling up his sleeves and shouting to his beloved, Jerusalem, who is caught in the hand of the villain: get ready, make yourself beautiful, dress yourself nicely, put on make-up (my translation), he comes. Eloah.HE is coming. And now you think God is coming, now there’s a huge brawl, they get something on the nose. The section before that ends like this. And now the fight is coming. Suddenly you see the arm of the Lord and Isaiah says: „Who recognized this? Nobody.
When the arm of the Lord does not come for a second exodus but now to redeem all mankind, one sees the arm of the Lord uncovered and it is Jesus Christ the crucified.
The arm of the Lord represents the power of God, the omnipotence of God. God bare his arm. He is naked! He is crucified naked. The clothes were taken from him . He is totally dishonored. The arm of the Lord seems to be passed out, not all-powerful. But that’s the way God chose to redeem all people. The arm of God works. This is the power of God to save everyone who believes it (Romans 1, 16-17) says Paul.
He has great spiritual offspring. In chapters 53, 8 it says: „But who can measure his skill“ as Luther translated. The word here can be used for „generations“ as well as for „offspring“. Afterwards it is mentioned that he will have offspring, so I translate that with offspring both times. That means he already has the keyword, he has understood how many descendants he has and then in verse 10 it says:
So the LORD wanted to crush him with illness. If he has given his life as a victim of guilt, he will have offspring and live long, and the Lord’s plan will succeed through him.
Wait, how does that work? How should one who was murdered and put in the grave, how should he offspring have? What kind of birth is that? Do you notice that rebirth is also required here? This is exactly what Isaiah 44.3 preaches: God will pour out his spirit over the desert, which will be transformed into fertile land, chap. 55: All who are thirsty: come and drink what Jesus quotes in John 7:37. This is insane, folks, what is in this chapter, in this text that Qumran holds so high and honors. He has so many offspring. There is no people in this world, there is never a nation in this world that is as powerful, as huge, as powerful as its gender. We are countless. We often don’t feel that way, especially not nowadays and not at all in Germany. But, folks, we’re on the winning side. It is successful. Nothing stops Jesus Christ, nothing. Guys did you hear it? What is stopping him? Nothing!! This man bought his success with his life. All the chosen ones of God from all peoples of the world: Not one of them will be lost, not one can be lost. John 6: „39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
This is waterproof, people.
What we do is: we only come to him. But why do we come to him? Why did I come to him? Why did I get the New Testament from the Gideons? Why did the Gideons come to our school? They were people and I am grateful for their service, but there is a secret behind all of this. It is a secret from before the foundation of the world. God gave me grace before the foundation of the world. There was not one electron from me yet. Nothing! Nobody stops this man. He bought his people and saved them. It’s huge.
He has great spiritual offspring. He has been buried with dignity. The Risen One lives forever. V. 10: He will live long. That is funny. He lives forever. He has overcome death. God’s plan of salvation succeeds through his hand. V. 10: „The Lord’s plan will succeed through his hand“ And something very beautiful V. 11:
“Because his soul has struggled so that he can see the light and have abundance and through his knowledge he, my servant, the righteous, will create justice for the many; because he carries their sins. „
That means: God speaks here and says: He is righteous, but because he bore the sins of the many (he died innocently, he was murdered, he was tortured, he went down deep), he has it now Right to save as many people as he wants. He makes everyone the same. Saul, the later apostle Paul, was a murderer, as he says himself, has the blood of many innocent people on his hand. The Lord Jesus loved him (Galatians 2: He loved me and presented himself for me. Singular! For you, for me. That is awesome, people. We have a fantastic Lord. He does justice. How does he do it By His knowledge. You have to know Jesus Christ. It is both that I recognize him and his teaching. And if I recognize him and his teaching, His word will remain in me. Then I belong to him and He will save me and God says V 12: I give him everything! „Therefore I want to give him the many to loot and he should have the strong to rob.“ This is about the many peoples and the strong peoples. I give him the whole world! It’s all his . These are the successes of the Lord.
3. Who is that?
Jesus Christ! I said that again and again and therefore the third point is essentially already ticked off, but I would just like to tell you briefly, as an overview in one and a half minutes like the new testament to these chapters that I just mentioned speak comes.
John the Baptist quotes or refers to Isaiah 53: „Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.“ That is the center of Isaiah 53 in his words. Jesus himself, in Luke 22 from verse 35 presupposes that he must fulfill that he is counted among the evildoers. That’s why he asks a question, very practical: „Do you have a sword with you?“ If you don’t have one, you should buy one. But we now have two swords. Jesus: „That’s enough.“ He says this because nobody can be classified as a felon if his people are unarmed. So he has to have some weapons in order for this to work at all. He knew I had to fulfill Isaiah 53. Is not that great?
The apostle John quotes in Chap. 12, 36 ff. Our section and says: „Isaiah said this because he saw his glory.“
Matthew 8 quotes the part that our weakness and illness were also on him and he bore it for the healing service of Jesus.
Paul quotes him in Romans 10:16 and 15:21. This is extremely important for him: the last verse of 52. For him it was decisive: He, Paul, had to go where people had never heard of Jesus. This is typical missionary who reach the unreached. And for him the marching order was verse 15 of chapter 52: „Those who haven’t heard it should hear it now!“ And that’s why he only went there. For him, Rome was only a throughput station; Spain was unmatched. He writes the entire letter to the Romans for one reason only: “I have to reach the unmatched Spaniards. I want to go there.
We already had Lukas. 1 Peter 2:22 quotes Isaiah 53: 9. The servant of the Lord suffered terribly, for you and for me. The servant of the Lord is successful like no other, from the beginning to the present day. There won’t be a bigger one. The question is: „What are you doing with him?“
You have now been shown that this has been predicted prophetically, 680 – 700 years before the cross, and you have seen: He loves you so much that he willingly falls silent like a sheep. He gives his life for you! Now I’m asking you what you do with him. Anyone who hears and accepts this will be saved. No matter how much and what „bullshit“ he built. I am personally grateful to the Lord for being able to recognize him. It is a bliss for me to live with this gentleman – every day!
This is waterproof people