Jesus: The Arm of the Lord

Read text: Isaiah 51:9-11

Awake! Put On strength!

Thank God for His Mighty Arm!

That Arm who embraces the hurting.

Who supports the weak.

Who defends the downtrodden and those who seem utterly without help in a hostile world.

Who is the Mighty Arm of God?

It’s Jesus!

He is the one who executes the Father’s will on the earth, so of course, He is the Arm of God prophesied here in our text.

He is the One to whom Israel cries out: Awake! Awake!

They know He’s not asleep — they are crying out to him to take action.

To cloth Himself with strength and power.

To rises up against Rahab (not the Rahab who hid the spies in Joshua, but a symbolic Rahab who stands for Egypt) and the serpent of the deep — the dragon.

To makes a way where there seems to be no way so that the redeemed cross over the depths of sea like they did in Exodus and in Joshua.

So that The ransomed of the Lord can return to Zion with shouts of rejoicing and gladness.

So that sorrow and sighing will flee away.

I like the way the NLT version translates it ...

Isaiah 51:9 NLT

Wake up, wake up, O Lord! Clothe yourself with strength! Flex your mighty right arm! Rouse yourself as in the days of old when you slew Egypt, the dragon of the Nile.

For 2000 years God has been flexing and using His Mighty Right Arm — Jesus.

Jesus is the Arm of the Lord personified.

The Arm who has clothed Himself with the strength and power of Almighty God.

You Display Your Strength

This powerful Arm of God has done and is doing tremendous things in the earth

Mary, the mother of Jesus said in:

Luke 1:51–53 NASB95

“He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. “He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. “He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed.

How has God done these “mighty deeds?”

With His Arm.

Through Jesus.

Strengthen Your People!

And so, as we go to the Lord in prayer, lets ask God to use His Mighty Arm to strengthen us

To deliver us from anything that would hinder us from serving Him..

To again make a way even in the depths of the sea of evil all around us.

To enable us to face the challenges of the blessings God has carried out in this church.

I can tell you right now that I told Sandra in the car after lunch — we need God’s help.

Thank God for those He is bringing in!

But if we don’t get them connected, they will go right on out the back door.

We WANT to be able to minister:

To the deaf and hearing impaired

I was asking Tina if she knew if there were many deaf in the area.

She said, “A few, but they like to hide. they like to just be around their peers.”

But church, they need Jesus, pray the Lord help us to better walk through the door God is opening!

To Spanish-speaking people of the area

I think they too want to be invisible — they want to hide.

Friday, I was approached by Lucas, one of the floor installers.

He was showing me that he is reading through the book of Romans.

He talked about coming all the way from the Atlanta area to be in one of our Bible studies on the Commands of Christ.

He is from Brazil and speaks very little English.

He speaks Portuguese.

He feels a call on his life, he said his mother felt that call when he was in her “belly.”

How can we minister to those who speak Portuguese?

How can minister to ANYONE?

Only through the supernatural strength God gives.

God is giving us a chance to minister to the nations right here in little Blairsville.

And the ONLY way we can do it is if the Arm of the Lord enables us to do so!

So, as we pray, let us ask God for strength, but let’s also ask Him to restore His joy

The joy of His salvation.

A contagious joy that draws people to Himself.

Let’s pray that He will take away the sorrow and sighing that comes from living in this present age.

Let’s seek the Lord!

Let’s pray in the Spirit.

Let’s hear what the Spirit is saying to the church today!