Marked by the Lord (like you may have never seen)

The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not disobedient nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike Me, & My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation & spitting. For the Lord God helps Me, therefore, I am not disgraced; therefore, I have set My face like flint, & I know that I will  not be ashamed... Isaiah 50:4-7

Isaiah 50 is one of the most wonderful passages of Scripture to me. The foreshadowing of Christ is unreal in this chapter as well as chapters following. But, I want to take a different look at it today & maybe reveal something that you may have never seen before. But, in order to do so, we must go to Exodus.

The story goes like this:

"If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife, & she bears him sons or daughters, the wife & her children shall belong to her master, & he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife & my children; I will not go out as a free man,' then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; & he shall serve him permanently." Exodus 21:2-6

We must conclude that there are times when this would happen--a free man choosing to remain in slavery to his master. In my opinion, this says much about the master. Who would so willingly remain in slavery? Well, mind you, it depends on who the master is. In Isaiah 50 we have the foreshadowing of Christ & it uses very similar wording to convey that those who serve the Almighty, Loving, & Sovereign God will never be ashamed. "He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord God has opened my ear." 

Those who follow Jesus are different. Why? Because slavery to Jesus is better than the royalty of anything else. I guess you could say, Christ followers have been marked by the Lord. They are his disciples. 

I conclude this post, may God bring me to the doorpost & pierce my ear with an awl & may I serve Him forever. I would choose no other way. What an honor to be fulfilled in Christ!