Who Is This？ The Champion from the Wilderness

In one paragraph

Brian opened Isaiah 63 and asked a single question that carried the whole message: who is this man? The portrait Isaiah paints is not the one most people learned in Sunday school, and that was the point. The goal was not to hand out application points but to let the picture speak. Isaiah 63 shows a figure sweeping in out of the desert from Edom and the city of Basra, clothes stained red, marching...

Read together

1. Romans 8:28 prayer before sermon, God uses all things for good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes
2. Isaiah 63:1-9 main passage read aloud, the vision of the figure coming from Edom with blood-stained garments
3. Song of Solomon 8:5 same phrase 'who is this' used of the beloved coming up out of the desert leaning on her lover
4. Isaiah 7 referenced as earlier portrait of the Messiah, unto us a child is born
5. Isaiah 9 referenced as describing the Messiah as a divine royal child
6. Isaiah 11 referenced as a picture of the Messiah's sevenfold spirit
7. Isaiah 42 referenced as God revealing the Messiah as Yahweh's chosen servant
8. Isaiah 49 referenced as another portrait of the Messiah as servant
9. Isaiah 50 referenced as another portrait of the Messiah as servant
10. Isaiah 52-53 referenced as the picture of the Messiah as suffering servant
11. Romans 3:10 quoted as there is no one righteous, not one, in context of all falling short
12. Romans 3:23 quoted as for all have sinned, in context of humanity's separation from a holy God
13. Habakkuk referenced for description of earthquakes, storm clouds, and spring flowers erupting in the Messiah's wake as he marches

What was said

• Set your Bible on your bedside table this week instead of your phone, and read Isaiah 63 before you go to sleep.
• When you hit a hard moment this week, stop asking God why and instead ask him what he is trying to teach you about himself through this season.
• Fill out a prayer request card and drop it in the box so the staff can pray over it at their Monday meeting.
• Invite a friend or neighbor to the Christmas Eve service on Town Square at 5pm.
• If you do not have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving, take Brian and Lissa up on the open invitation to their home this Thursday.

Talk about it

1. Brian said he wanted to paint a picture of Jesus and let the Holy Spirit do the rest, rather than connecting all the dots to a Monday-morning application. How did that approach land for you, and what did you find yourself sitting with by the end?
2. Isaiah sees the Messiah as a child, a prince, a chosen servant, and a suffering servant before this vision of a warrior coming out of the desert. Which of those pictures of Jesus is most familiar to you, and which one challenges you the most?
3. Brian described the 'crucial problem' as this: God is holy and cannot look at sin, yet he loves the people he created and longs to be with them. Before he got to the answer, what do you think most people around you believe solves that problem?
4. Brian talked about the difference between immaturity and maturity in how we receive being ransomed and rescued, saying that maturity means reckoning with the cost and the battle it required. Where do you think you land on that, and what has helped you move toward that more mature understanding?
5. Lissa shared that singing about the power of Jesus's name makes her think of her father, and how a different, stronger side of him came out when he thought his family was in danger. How does holding together both the tenderness and the power of who Jesus is change the way you relate to him?