Hey my friends, it's Matt. This is the Ten Minute Bible Hour Podcast. And theoretically, we're working on the Book of Galatians. However, the Book of Galatians is a really Bibley book of the Bible that connects with a lot of other parts of the Bible. And on its own, it might be a little bit confusing, but the more we follow the breadcrumbs coming out of Galatians, other parts of the Bible, the more it makes sense. And the more I think we understand why Paul felt confident enough to take such a firm tone as he takes in the book of Galatians. So right now, the breadcrumbs have taken us back to the Old Testament, hundreds of years before the book of Galatians was written, to the book of Isaiah, where in chapter 53 there's this passage about this suffering servant that probably has a ton of language in it that you might not remember was in Isaiah 53, but you've heard the language because it sure sounds like it's talking about Jesus and specifically the crucifixion, and even more specifically, what it all means for you, for me, for everybody. And that's the stuff that Paul's really tapping into in Galatians chapter 3. So I'm gonna have my friend Jeffrey play some music, and we're gonna pick up right where we left off yesterday on a Galatians 3 rabbit trail back to Isaiah 53 and the passage about the suffering servant. Here we go. It goes on, Isaiah 53, eight, by oppression and judgment he was taken away, and who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people, he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul he will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, for he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Did you catch all of that language that is present in Isaiah fifty three about the idea of this suffering servant being the stand-in for somebody else, taking all of these transgressions upon him for the transgressors who surround him and are part of the environment that is the dishonorable death he is going to receive. This is somebody who is mocked. This is somebody who is underestimated and not appreciated early in his life. This is somebody who people despise as his life is unfolding. This is somebody who, despite all of that, takes up the infirmities, it looks like, of the very people who didn't like him and who overlooked him and who weren't fans. And it's not just some like, I take responsibility for this. People say that crap all the time in politics or whatever. But they never mean it. I mean, hardly ever is somebody like, no, I take responsibility for what happened at the embassy. I take responsibility for the crisis at the airport. I take responsibility for this huge lapse in judgment and organizational failure, and I resign. That doesn't happen very often. Usually people say things like, I take responsibility and I'm gonna work hard for the American people to make it right. It's so hollow. In Isaiah 53, we're getting an account of somebody who people didn't like, overlooked, despite the fact that he was good and noble and doing the things of God. And then he took responsibility for the stuff they got wrong, and it wasn't cheap. It wasn't just a word offering that's being described here like I take responsibility. It goes on, he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that bought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. And that's just the beginning of the language. There's more crushing and suffering. These words are in the text, stricken like a lamb to the slaughter. My goodness, this is grisly language. No, whoever this suffering servant is in Isaiah chapter 53, it's Jesus of Nazareth, by the way, from figured it out. It's totally Jesus. I'm just I wanted to make sure that you were picking up what I was putting down there as Jesus. Whoever's being talked about here in Isaiah chapter 53, this person is taking one for the team big time, and it is costly, and it is a moral outrage. It is a mockery of justice, and it's shameful. This isn't a noble death like Socrates, who we talked about yesterday, who just drank a little potion and slipped away into sleep. Noble Socrates, passed on, so misunderstood. This is a sham. This is a fiasco. This is slow. This is painful. This is meant to bring about maximum pain, maximum shame, and to do it all maximum publicly. This is an attempt not just to kill whoever this suffering servant is in Isaiah chapter 53, but to destroy them, to destroy their reputation, to taint the memory of this person's name forever. And why is he doing all of it? The text is explicit for somebody else. For but us. That's what it says. Feeling like, huh? I don't like the way it feels, the idea of Jesus getting cursed or or being the recipient of a curse, or even worse, as Paul puts it, becoming a curse. But the more we flesh out these ideas from the Old Testament and the New Testament, the more I'm getting the distinct impression that he had to that there wasn't another way to fix this thing, and that this was the plan all along, and Jesus knew exactly what he was walking into. And unfortunately, the Galatian Christians understood that at the beginning and then kind of forgot what the point of the cross was and what the point of what Jesus did a little bit, and Galatians is Paul bringing them back online with this powerful, central, most important reality of Christian faith. Okay, more on that next time around, but first we got a little bit of housekeeping to do. Do you remember that snow baby I was telling you about, the kitsch piece of art that my friend Austin keeps giving me as a white elephant grift? I mean, he just hides it somewhere every year, and I keep getting it. So I got another snow baby this year. It's like a 90s Christian bookstore art thing. It's a little sculpture. If you made the snow babies or you love them, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to offend you. These things just aren't for me. There's a little poem here in this snow baby. It's in a little box. It looks like it's in a, you know, like a little Bible or something. He lives in there. There's a little snow baby. He's got rosy cheeks, he's got a couple ice skates, he's in a onesie. It's adorable, I guess. It says snow babies. Once upon a time in a far-off wintry land, Jack Frost grew lonely and he took the task to hand. Oh, it rhymes. He used his magic powers and smiled when he was through for what he'd made were snow babies, a joy for me and you. It is not a joy for me. But it might be for you. So here's what I want to do. I have been so grateful to all of you who have supported this program over the years that I would love to give all of you a snow baby. But snow babies are far too precious, and I just have the one here. So I have two things that come to mind though I really want to accomplish right now. One is that I'd really like to say thank you to whoever signs up next to be a patron of the program, because those of you who support the program are the reason the program exists. I haven't talked about it in a long time, and I'm just so incredibly grateful for all of you. So one, I'd like to say thank you to a new patron of the program. And two, I'd like to get rid of this snow baby. So the next person who signs up to be a patron of this program, make sure you give me your address. Make sure you fill out that part of the little sign-up form because I am sending you this snow baby. And also I'm going to send you my own handwritten certificate of authenticity that is it's going to be good and very authentic. And you're going to love this and cherish it for generations. And it's going to go away from my house, so Austin won't be able to get his hands back on it and give it to me again next year. In all seriousness, thank you to all of you who support the program. It means the world, you don't have to do it, but the program exists because some of you do. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm so grateful. All right, that's plenty for today. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do this again soon.