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Thursday, 17 July 2008
The Right Arm of God
With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 136:12
In Ex 6:6 and Duet 5:15: God told Moses ONLY HIS ARM saved the Hebrews, they DID NOT save themselves.And in Job 40, God himself states:* NO ONE has an ARM like God.* Your right ARM can NOT save you. Now notice, God has stated VERY PLAINLY that YOU canNOT save yourself, only HIS ARM can. So when readingthe Isaiah 53 verse set, you have to realize thatthe ARM OF GOD can not be the Hebrews (God's ARMsaved them, they did not), and it can't be some simpleman (no man's ARM can save himself, let alone others).It's fairly obvious that the ARM OF GOD in Isaiah 53, MUST BE the actual ARM OF GOD, especially since that ARM OF GOD is expected to save MANY in the world from their sins (those that accept him). Further, the name for the ARM OF GOD was given inthe Isaiah 53:1, Job 40:9, Ex 6:6, and Duet 5:15 versesets as "zeroah", all being the same ARM OF GOD. Yetin Job 40:14, where God is talking about YOUR own armNOT being able to save you, God uses the word "yamiyn" and NOT "zeroah".It's clear that God is being VERY SPECIFIC about howONLY his ARM is able to save and YOUR arm can NOT save you.The New Testament account shows a direct correlationbetween the ARM OF GOD in Isaiah 53 and the HAND ofGod (Jesus) in the New Testament. Both accounts showmuch the same character of events and the same ARM OFGOD showing up as a man, being despised and rejected by those he came to save, etc... But as both say, Jesus showed up to save us from our sins.Why?Isa 59:1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.God is saying here that HIS HAND can save AND hecould hear us pray to him, EXCEPT our SINS have separatedus from him and turned him from us such that hewon't hear.Yet if anyone wanted to return to God there wasno way set up for it, hence no INCENTIVE to for usto return to God:Isa 59:15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. 16 And he saw that there was NO MAN, and wondered that there was NO INTERCESSOR: therefore HIS ARM brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. By God sending HIS OWN ARM as a man to die for oursins, he's in effect paid the price for sin of those whowould believe him. With the sin paid for, God couldthen turn back to us and listen to our prayers.The only one capable of saving is God himself, God'sown ARM, sent as a man as described in Isaiah 53.That man would have to CONFIRM himself being the ARM OF GOD and as such, a part of God himself. And Jesus did just that.Jesus gave a set of statements that LOCK him to beingAT LEAST God's HAND: (Jesus speaking) Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:(Jesus is also described as the good shepherd, not running when danger arises, but laying down his life for his sheep, much like Isaiah 53 where the "man" or "servant" lays down his life for the sins of the world.) 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and my Father are one.* Sheep or followers are given into Jesus's hand by the Father.* No one is able to pluck them out of Jesus's hand.* No one is able to pluck them out of the Father's hand.* Jesus and the Father are one.Jesus has plainly admitted to being AT LEAST God's HAND.Hence Jesus is the ARM OF GOD, or God's hand. As such, there isn't any split up of God and therenever was. God is still the same God he's always been. He simply sent his own ARM to save the world similar to when he saved the Hebrews long ago "through a mightyHAND and by a stretched out ARM".God made it all, Jesus died for our sins.
Cross references
Exodus 6:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land."
Exodus 6:6 "Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
Exodus 13:9 "And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 4:34 "Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
Deuteronomy 5:15 'You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.
Deuteronomy 7:19 the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
Deuteronomy 9:29 'Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.'
Deuteronomy 11:2 "Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the LORD your God-- His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm,
1 Kings 8:42 (for they will hear of Your great name and Your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house,
2 Kings 17:36 "But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.
2 Chronicles 6:32 "Also concerning the foreigner who is not from Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Your great name's sake and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house,
Nehemiah 1:10 "They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.
Psalm 44:3 For by their own sword they did not possess the land, And their own arm did not save them, But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You favored them.
Jeremiah 32:17 'Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,
Jeremiah 32:21 'You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror;