Message Five

The All-inclusive Christ
in His Four Stages according to
God’s New Testament Economy
(1)
In the Stage of His Incarnation

Scripture Reading: Isa. 52:14—53:3;
1 Cor. 1:22-24; 2 Cor. 8:9; Mark 6:1-6

1. The purpose of God’s move in the stage of His incarnation is:
   1. To bring God into man—Matt. 1:20-21, 23; Isa. 7:14; 9:6.
   2. To make God man that man may become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead—John 1:1, 14; 12:24.
   3. To mingle God with man that God and man may be one—Lev. 2:4-5.
   4. To accomplish God’s redemption for man—Rom. 8:3; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; Heb. 9:26, 28, 12; 2:14.
   5. To carry out God’s salvation in man—1 Tim. 1:15.
   6. To impart the divine life into man—1 John 4:9.
2. The incarnated Savior is the arm of Jehovah; the arm of Jehovah is God Himself in His saving power—Isa. 53:1b:
   1. When the Lord Jesus came out to preach the gospel, that was the unveiling of the arm of Jehovah—Luke 4:14, 18-19; Mark 1:14-15.
   2. The Old Testament term is the arm of Jehovah; the New Testament term is the power of God—1 Cor. 1:24.
   3. Although Christ was unveiled as the arm of Jehovah, many did not see that He was Jehovah Himself coming in power to save them; they did not believe, because He grew up like a tender plant before Jehovah and like a root out of dry ground—Isa. 53:2a; John 1:46; Matt. 13:55.
   4. When the Lord Jesus comes back, the remnant of Israel will repent and wail and be saved (Zech. 12:10-14; Rom. 11:26-27); at that time they will confess the contents of Isaiah 53, and this chapter will be full of taste to them.
3. As the complete God, signified by the arm of Jehovah, the power of God, Christ became a perfect man, signified by a man of sorrows—vv. 1b, 3a; John 1:1, 14; 1 Tim. 2:5:
   1. The arm of Jehovah is Jehovah in His power, and the man of sorrows is Jesus; when these two are added together, they equal incarnation.
   2. In 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 Christ crucified corresponds to the man of sorrows in Isaiah 53:3, and the power of God corresponds to the arm of Jehovah in verse 1.
4. As a perfect man, the Lord Jesus lived a lowly and sorrowful human life—vv. 2-3:
   1. He grew up like a tender plant before Jehovah and like a root out of dry ground—v. 2a:
      1. The plant here refers to a sprout, which is tender, small, and delicate; because He was such a small, delicate person, no one would pay attention to Him.
      2. He grew up like a root out of dry ground, which signifies a difficult environment; this means that He was born of a poor family—v. 2a; Luke 2:21-24; cf. Lev. 12:8; 2 Cor. 8:9.
      3. The Lord Jesus was raised in the home of a poor carpenter in the despised town of Nazareth and in the despised region, Galilee; this was the fulfillment of the dry ground in Isaiah 53:2a.
      4. The Lord’s environment being one of dry ground means that His environment did not render Him any help at all:
         1. Everything that He had was from God; He did not receive or expect anything from His surroundings that would encourage, support, or comfort Him.
         2. Our Lord had God’s will as His satisfaction all His life; He was satisfied only with God—John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38.
         3. Our Lord was never discouraged (Isa. 42:4; 49:4); He had no hope toward the world and did not expect to receive anything from it; His only hope was in God, and His only satisfaction was in God.
         4. Those who take their satisfaction in God will never be disappointed—John 4:13-14.
   2. He had no attracting form nor majesty that men should look upon Him—Isa. 53:2b:
      1. Jesus had neither an attracting form, nor did He have a beautiful appearance; He did not have any form or comeliness that would cause others to appreciate Him.
      2. Instead of majesty, Jesus had poverty (Matt. 8:20), and instead of an attractive form and a beautiful appearance, He had a visage and form that were marred (Isa. 52:14).
      3. Visage denotes the appearance and also refers to the face or facial expression; Christ’s face and His form were marred (disfigured) in order that He might save us; this is astonishing, different from what people expected Christ as a servant of God to be—v. 15.
   3. Christ was despised and forsaken of men, like one from whom men hide their faces and whom men do not esteem—53:3.
   4. The Lord Jesus lived as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; this was a part of Christ’s qualifications for accomplishing redemption—v. 3a.
   5. He was a “man whose chief distinction was, that His life was one of constant painful endurance” (Keil and Delitzsch).
   6. Christ’s being such a man and His living such a lowly and sorrowful human life fully qualified Him to be the Redeemer and the Savior to save us from Satan, sin, death, and self—Heb. 2:14-18; Matt. 1:21; Rom. 8:3; 2 Tim. 1:10; Matt. 16:24-25.
5. Mark 6:1-6 may be regarded as a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:2-3:
   1. The Nazarenes, blinded by their natural knowledge, knew the Lord Jesus according to the flesh, not according to the Spirit—Mark 6:2-3; 2 Cor. 5:16.
   2. Only in the Gospel of Mark is the Lord Jesus called a carpenter—6:3:
      1. Carpentry is not a magnificent work, but it requires much fineness and patience; in such a work the Lord Jesus was found in fashion as a man (Phil. 2:8), not in loftiness but in lowliness, fineness, and patience.
      2. In Mark 6:3 the word carpenter is used in a despising manner:
         1. The Nazarenes were astounded by the Lord’s teaching, by His wisdom, and by His works of power, but they regarded Him as a person of low status—vv. 2-3.
         2. They were stumbled in Him because, although they heard wonderful words out of His mouth and saw some of His marvelous deeds, they considered that He did not have a high status or degree.
         3. They saw the Lord Jesus as one who was merely a carpenter; therefore, they were stumbled in Him, and they despised Him.
   3. The record in Mark 6:1-6 should cause us to ask ourselves what we want and what we value.