The Upholding Christ – The Arm Of The Lord

Hebrews 1:3; Isaiah 53:1-7

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3). The text talks about Christ, the brightness and the glory of God. Christ is the arm of the Lord and He upholds all things in the world. The arm of the Lord is the strength and power of the Lord. Christ is centrally important to the whole earth because without Him everything will fall apart. He is the invisible power upholding everything on the earth. He is the strength, power and pillar of the Lord. We are all blind to the glory of God and there is no personality among men and angels that can show us the glory of God. Every man who lived, or is living, or will ever live does not qualify to show us the brightness of the glory of God. Christ is the exact and perfect image of God’s person. He has the power no one on earth has. He upholds the sun, moon, stars, galaxies, the universe, seen and unseen. He does all of this by Himself and He purged our sins – the only thing that hinders us from seeing God, and now He sits on the right hand of the majesty of God. 

In Isaiah 53:1-7 the scripture says, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?”  Those people who believe the report of Jesus Christ as the unique, arm of the Lord, upholding all people and planets, will have the power and strength of the Lord revealed to them. As you hear, believe and accept the report of scriptures about Christ, the arm, power and strength of the Lord will be revealed to you. You must make the revelation about Christ to be peculiar and particular to you. The arm of the Lord will give you transformation, redemption and hope for heaven. He will give you deliverance from your past and everything that holds you down. 

1.  THE REVELATION OF OUR SUFFERING SUBSTITUTE

                 Isaiah 53:1-3; 1 Peter 2:21-24; 3:18

“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:1-3). Christ was born of a Virgin and lived a perfect life. He was the only One qualified to be our Substitute. He suffered, not for Himself but for the world. He bore all our shame, torture and punishment. You do not have to bear these any more. It is what you believe in your heart that matters. Any church you attend or religion you associate with does not matter as much as what you believe in your heart about Jesus Christ. As you believe, He gives you His strength and reveals the Arm of the Lord to you. 

Christ was in Heaven from all eternity, wonderful, beautiful, and glorious from all eternity till He was born into the world because of God’s love for man as in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” He left the wonder of His personality and the beauty of His Glorious Personality in Heaven because of you. He was born in a humble manger just for you. He did not have a proper residence at some point, He slept in the boat, walked among natural men, and eventually went to the Cross, tired, thirsty, and worn. As you look at Him on the Cross, no beauty, strength, or physical admiration for Him. We look at ourselves and say we are a wonder but Heaven says we are worms. You may say you are beautiful and desirable but in heaven’s estimation, there is no beauty or desirability in you. Heaven says there is no place for the worm or the person in whom there is no pleasure. The only person who can take us to heaven is the One who bore our ugliness. He took what we had and gave us what He has. It is by His substitution that we can get saved and get to heaven. 

There is nothing wonderful about us without the appropriation of the sacrifice of Jesus in our lives. We must come to the Lord and confess our undesirability and ugliness in God’s sight and receive the beauty and desire of heaven through the Blood of Jesus. As Christ becomes your Substitute, He puts His Light in you and presents you to Heaven as the Light of the world. Heaven sees the wonder and beauty in your life as it sees the Light of Christ in you. Christ saw we could not bear the consequence of our sin, and He offered to bear our sorrow, grief and rejection. The rejection He bore got to a climax when He was hanging on the Cross and cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” You do not want to reject this suffering substitute who gave Himself for you.

        2.   THE REDEMPTION BY THE SPOTLESS SAVIOUR

                 Isaiah 53:4-7; Romans 3:23-26; Acts 2:21,37-42

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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. 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. 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.” (Isaiah 53:4-7).

Christ was spotless. He never did or said anything wrong. No man on earth ever lived as spotlessly as Jesus from infancy to adulthood. He was tempted at all points, yet without sin. There is Restoration, Resurrection, Renewal, and Righteousness in Redemption. Redemption brings restoration of the glory we lost in Adam. It also brings resurrection from our death in sins and trespasses through the Fall of Adam. Redemption renews our lives. You cannot work or pay for righteousness. It is only the Spotless Saviour that gives us righteousness. He has borne our griefs and carried away our sorrows. He has removed all our transgressions. As you realize that Christ has done what no man or angel can do, and accept He bore it all for you, you show your gratitude by confessing Him as Lord and Saviour. There is no partiality or exception to the mercy of God. God took all our common, carnal, and committed sins and laid them on Christ our Saviour so that forgiveness, redemption, righteousness, restoration, and a new life come to us.

        3. THE RECOVERY THROUGH THE STRIKING STRIPES

                 Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 8:16,17; 1 Peter 2:24-25

“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.” (Isaiah 53:5). Our transgression and iniquity affected our entire being. Our minds became twisted and affected negatively. Our souls were distressed and depressed. Our spirits were hardened and deadened because of our transgressions. The devastation in the mind, soul and spirit affected the body. The outcome of the injury in our spirit man became visible in our physical bodies and this is why there is sickness everywhere in the world. In the millions of homes in the world, there is no home that has not experienced sickness at some point. As Christ looked down on the world in compassion, He gave Himself to give us total healing. He gives us what all the powers and medicine of the world cannot give us. His is the striking, ours is the healing. By His stripes, He takes our sickness, disease and pain. It is a Finished Work and finalized transaction. We can now look up to Him and have our healing because he has borne our stripes.