SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 53
Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely, He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people, He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
KEY POINTS
In the Bible, covenant and testament are often used interchangeably. One definition of testament is like a will or inheritance. In Galatians 3:15–17, the word covenant or testament refers to a will or an agreement for disposing of a person’s property upon death, as in a Last Will and Testament. In this passage of scripture, Paul compares the covenant God made with Abraham to a legally binding will in which a person sets down promises to an heir.
Galatians 3:15–17 – Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
He is saying, In the world, a covenant is a legally binding agreement. So, when God made his covenant with Abraham, He was sealing the promises that would be passed down to His seed, which is Jesus Christ, and since it was made hundreds of years before the Covenant that God made with Moses, the Law or Old Testament has no effect on the original covenant that was made, so the original covenant or testament made with Abraham regarding his seed is still valid or legitimate.
Galatians 3:29 says, And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Therefore, the New Testament that God established with us through His son, Jesus Christ, makes us legitimate heirs to the promise. In addition, speaking in the manner of the world as Paul did, when a will is read, it is handled by an Executor. The Executor distributes the inheritance. The Executor makes sure you get what you are supposed to get, and that all conditions for receiving the inheritance are met. Our Executor is Holy Spirit. He knows every promise in the book. Some of us have not received all that we are entitled to because we have settled for little when God wants us to have it all, but we receive according to our faith. More God brings stronger relationship; more Word brings more understanding; more obedience brings more blessings, and more faith brings more power.
Maybe it’s time we review the Living Will and Testament of Jesus Christ and collect ALL of our inheritance so we can be healed and allow Holy Spirit to heal through us. It’s a Living Will because our God is not dead. He is alive and well and living in every believer.
