My Understanding of The True God - Cathrine Thomas (robert munsch read aloud TXT) 📗

iniquities: the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed.
(He “was wounded” because we broke the law of God; “he was crushed” because of our sins: his punishment was “of our welfare”: he was punished so that our welfare might be restored to us, “and with his stripes we were healed” (because of his suffering we were healed).)
6. All we like sheep did go astray, we turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath made to light on him the iniquity of us all.
(How true this is: we have gone our own way, not sure what to believe, and the Lord has laid on him the sins of us all.)
7. He was oppressed, though he humbled himself and opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb; yea, he opened not his mouth.
(The words “opened not his mouth” are repeated: he did not complain of his “oppression”; he did not say he was the Messiah.)
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and with his generation who did reason? for he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due.
(The words, “By oppression and judgement he was taken away”, mean he was falsely accused and judged; “and with his generation who did reason?” means that nobody of his generation did anything about it. He was “cut off out of land of the living”: I interpret this as he was put in prison, and the reason he was so severely punished was that the people of Israel had gone against God’s law (“for the transgression of my people”. The punishment should have been against the people (“my people to whom the stroke was due”), but instead he was punished.)
9 And they made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich his tomb; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
(They “made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich his tomb”: he was buried with the wicked and the rich, with the evil-doers, the people who had gone against God’s law, even though he “had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth”: he had not done anything violent or deceitful.)
10. Yet it pleased the LORD to crush him by disease; to see if his soul would offer itself in restitution, that he might see his seed, prolong his days, and that the purpose of the LORD might prosper by his hand.
(The Messiah or Servant of God will offer his soul “in restitution” for our sins; he will “see his seed”, i.e. he will see the results of his actions in the people who will follow what he has striven for; in this way his days will be prolonged: what he has lived for and died for will continue after his time so that “the purpose of the LORD” will prosper.)
11. Of the travail of his soul he shall see to the full, even My servant, who by his knowledge did justify the Righteous One to the many, and their iniquities he did bear.
(The Messiah will “see to the full” “the travail of his soul”, i.e. he will understand fully that the suffering of his soul was God’s purpose for him: he justified “the Righteous One to the many”: he fulfilled God’s purpose, and many people understood that he had accomplished God’s purpose: it was the servant who suffered because of us who broke the Law.
12. Therefore will I divide him a portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty; because he bared his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
(“Therefore will I divide him a portion among the great”: he will be rewarded with God’s “portion among the great”: God will reward him for what he has done, and he will be regarded as one of “the great” and “mighty” people who have ever lived. The reason for God’s reward is that “he bared his soul unto death”, i.e. he was prepared to carry out his soul’s purpose even to his death, even though he “was numbered among the transgressors”, i.e. he was considered a criminal; but God’s purpose prevailed: he died for the sin of others so that “the transgressors”, the people who had sinned, might be forgiven for the breaking of God’s Law.)

Let us take an example from our own country, South Africa.

If you or I had been Nelson Mandela when he came out of jail, you or I would have made each and every white person leave this country. But he did not. He was a better person than any one of us will ever be.
He gave freedom, not only to the black people, but to the whites as well. He made changes to our country and to the world during our lives, and yet I did not know who he was until he was released from prison and became President of the country. Nelson Mandela was asked if he was the Messiah and he said, “No.” Did we not hide him from the land of the living? Was he not buried with the rich at his side and buried with the wicked?
Nelson Mandela wanted freedom in our country; he wanted each child to learn, to get good education; he helped the poor. We have learnt from his example: when it is Nelson Mandela’s birthday, the whole country steps in, and all give to the poor and less fortunate; it is a pity we do not do this all the time, but perhaps we are still learning from his example.
In Isaiah 11:11 we are told, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people…”. The first time was when God helped Moses deliver the people from slavery. When was or will be this “second time”? Was it Mahatma Gandhi, who achieved the freedom of India at the cost of his life? No, Nelson Mandela achieved far more: he helped God’s people out of slavery and has achieved changes throughout the world: we all have to be led to freedom: whites, coloureds, blacks, Indians, men and women, adults and children.
I remember the day of voting: it was the first time that everyone voted. Some people said that they were going to start a war and that we needed to stock up with food and be prepared. I was so scared that I told my mother that I would get a passport and take all our children out of the country, but, after the voting, I said to my mother, “It’s as if God has blessed our land: no one fought on the day of voting.”
In Isaiah 46:11 God said: “Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My counsel, from a far country; yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed, I will also do it.” God’s man of His counsel will come “from a far country; it is His purpose, and He will do it.

Let us now look at Jeremiah 23:5-8.

5. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous shoot, and he shall reign as king and prosper, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
(The Lord has told us that the “righteous shoot” will “execute justice and righteousness in the land”. Did Jesus “execute justice and righteousness in the land”? No, but Nelson Mandela did: he executed justice and righteousness and, like Moses, freed his people from slavery.)
6. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called: The LORD is our righteousness.
7. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say: ‘As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt’;
8. but: ‘As the LORD liveth, that brought up and that led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them’; and they shall dwell in their own land.
(We must remember that Judah and Israel are names of people of the Lord, not countries. The “seed of the house of Israel” are the people who believe in the Lord and are in “all the countries whither I had driven them”.)
Now let us look at the Book of Zechariah, first, two verses from Chapter 3:
8. Hear, now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee; for they are men that are a sign; for, behold, I will bring forth My servant the Shoot.
(The word “Shoot” is also translated “Branch”. You may be interested in looking up Nelson Mandela’s real name.)
9. For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone are seven facets; behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts: And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

(The words “I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day” refer to the land in which the servant of the Lord, the Shoot or Branch, is born.)

And two more verses from Zechariah 6:

12. and speak unto him, saying: Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying: Behold, a man whose name is the Shoot, and who shall shoot up out of his place, and build the temple of the LORD;
(Again, a reference to the Shoot or Branch: he “shall shoot up out” (or branch out) “of his place, and build the temple of the Lord”.)
13. even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and there shall be a priest before his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
(The emphasis on “peace” in this verse is very relevant to the work of the Branch.)
In Isaiah 11:1-5 and 10 there are more words about the Shoot or the Branch: this time it is “a shoot out of the stock of Jesse”:
1. And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a twig shall grow forth out of his roots.
(Jesse was the father of David. The “shoot out of the stock of Jesse” means that the Shoot or the Branch will be someone like King David. If one has a tree and breaks off a branch of that tree and then goes and plants the branch somewhere else, the branch will grow into a tree that will be like the tree from which the branch was taken. Maybe what is meant here is that the Messiah will follow the example of King David and will bring peace and righteousness even in a far country.)
2. And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
(The “spirit of the Lord” is “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD”: the Messiah will be wise, understanding, able to give advice, powerful, and knowledgeable, but he will have inside him “the fear of the Lord” and will carry out his commands.)
3. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears;
(The Messiah will “delight” in “the fear of