THE PLAN - ISAIAH 53:1-10

THE PLAN - ISAIAH 53:1-5; 10

INTRO: Parents - birth of children; Parents protect their children; Parents never intend for their children to be born for tragedy.

So what about God. Let’s look at THE PLAN.

THE PLAN WAS UNBELIEVABLE - V. 1

E - Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought GOD’s saving power would look like this?

The is God speaking. He is asking “Who believes Me?”

R - historically God’s People didn’t believe His word or His prophets.

Gen 3:15 “I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

serpent’s seed = demons and anyone serving the kingdom of darkness.

woman’s seed = humanity at large.

Satan crippled mankind, but the seed, Christ, would deliver the fatal blow. PLAN

Gen 49:10 “10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.” FULFILLED IN LUKE 3:33

MICAH 5:2 “2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.”

All through scripture - mostly in ISAIAH.

YET, to the people, the chosen ones, The PLAN WAS UNBELIEVABLE.

A - There are many today who don’t believe God. NOT unsaved, but saved; the ones who claim allegiance to His kingdom.

They don’t believe His report on Vengeance -

Matt 5:38 “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”

Jesus taught that when someone attacks our right to respect or dignity, we are not to defend our rights with revenge. We are not to retaliate. The believer’s defense of dignity rests in the Father’s hands.

They don’t believe His report on Faithfulness -

Luke 16:15 “15 Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.”

God is faithful to us; He cares for us; He leads us; He loves us.

When we’re faithful to God it means that we trust that He will care for us, we follow where He leads, and we love Him in return.

Being faithful also means that there will be some evidence of our faith in God. A faithful Christian will produce fruit.

They don’t believe His report on Finance -

Luke 6:38 “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

The Plan, God’s plan of redemption, was Unbelievable yet that didn’t hinder His plan from being fulfilled.

THE PLAN WAS UNUSUAL - vs. 2-5

E - The description of God’s plan for His son is UNUSUAL. You would expect the son of a king to be received with honor and majesty.

Coming to America - King Jeffrey Joffer entrance.

R - v.2 - tender green shoot in dry ground - unusual for growth, yet His Son would grow.

Nothing attractive in human terms but God always look at the heart.

v.3 - It was unusual that the Messiah would experience the grief of rejection; despised…but that was the plan.

A - v. 4-5 - The PLAN was unusual because with all the ill treatment He received, He still carried our sins; still received the beatings; SO WE COULD WHOLE -

(Please notice the past tense in this passage.)

That’s Love! UNUSUAL LOVE!

THE PLAN WAS UNPARALLELED - V. 10

E - Most parents want their children to be born to live. God’s plan was His Son would be born to die.

R - It was the Lord’s good plan…it didn’t make any sense to us, but that was His plan.

John 3:16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

2 Cor 5:21 “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Col 2:14 “He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.”

A - So, the UNPARALLELED love of God allow Him to send His Son to be born in a manger; parented by the poor; grow up in a rural town called Nazareth;

BUT THE PLAN WAS UNPARALLELED causing Jesus to be the firstborn of many descendants; adopting us as heirs to the Kingdom; providing everlasting life to all who believe.

CLOSE: THE PLAN was to reunite God with mankind. THE PLAN was for God’s glory and nothing would stop THE PLAN.

Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE with God. He works through the things which are UNBELIEVABLE to manifest His magnificent PLAN.

God’s PLAN is always UNUSUAL - it upset you, but continue trusting Him.

God’s PLAN is AWESOME. Rom 5:8 “8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Jer 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Do you believe?

Our Hope is in Christ, the One born in poverty but reigning in POWER.