WE SHALL NOT DIE - Reading With the People of God #17Sample

THE HISTORICAL JESUS IS THE RISEN MESSIAH

What a hopeful chapter today in Isaiah. We have read so much misery and judgment, and finally, light at the end of the tunnel! Maybe during the dark days of the evil kings, God’s people needed to hear that somewhere down the line, from David’s line (stump of Jesse), One will come. He does not mention Jesus by name, but if you can’t see the historical Jesus of Nazareth in this passage, get your eyes checked!

These promises can motivate any believer in times of depression or oppression under the forces of ungodliness. God will be victorious - the Messiah will reign over all the earth. It’s the waiting that is the difficult part.

In our last reading from Luke, we see Jesus appear again to the disciples after the Road to Emmaus story. It seems Luke had two purposes here: Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, and he wanted to demonstrate the physical reality of the risen Christ. As Luke told us in chapter one, he gave an “orderly account” from the eyewitnesses. He really appeared to all these people, and His resurrection was bodily, not an apparition. This would be huge, of course, for Paul later on (1 Cor. 15).

So today, we serve again the Risen King and look forward to His return in glory! Come, Lord Jesus!

Primer contributed by Brian Mott, Ministering Elder