WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?

1. Isaiah’s Prophecies  

a) Isaiah declares, "Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us about his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. The law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3). Isaiah looks forward to the gospel. In Isaiah, you will find nine prophecies, quoted in the New Testament, concerning the preaching of the gospel to the whole world, both Jew and Gentile. Some of these prophecies focus on the ministry of Jesus. These prophecies show how the gospel of Jesus would bring understanding to an ignorant world.

2. Who Has Believed Our Report?

John 12:38
38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

Romans 10:16
16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”

Isaiah 53:1
53 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

a) Along the same lines as the previous passage, Isaiah asks the sad question, "Who has believed our report?". Isaiah was used to preaching God’s word but not getting the response of faith. As John points out, even Jesus himself experienced this. Certainly we often experience it too.

b) Nevertheless, we are reminded of Paul’s exhortation to Timothy... "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be on the ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound teaching, but will gather for themselves teachers who will tickle their ears according to their own desires. They will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of a gospel preacher, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:1-5).