In the aftermath of World War I, 900 German
soldiers who had violated international law were put on trial for war crimes.
It was an open-and-shut case; they were sure to be found guilty. But in a
dramatic move, the former crown prince of Germany volunteered to be their
substitute. He offered to face both the allegations against the men and the
penalty that they were sure to receive. Though his offer was very selfless, it
was ultimately refused because it was so impractical—how could one man possibly
bear the penalties of 900 men?
Many people
have asked the same question with respect to Jesus Christ—how could He possibly
bear the penalty for the sins of the entire world? This claim almost seems too
outrageous to be true, but in our study of Isaiah today, we will see that this
kind of substitution has been God’s plan for our salvation all along.
As Olympic
athletes long to win the gold medal, so preachers long to preach from Isaiah 53.
This passage is so moving and precious that I don’t think I can do it justice,
but I hope that I can shed some light on it today and drive its sobering
message home to your hearts.
As we have
been studying Isaiah, we’ve been faced with a constant tension. On the one
hand, Isaiah has told us about a glorious kingdom that the Lord Himself will
one day set up in this world through the people of Israel. On the other hand,
we’ve discovered that the people of Israel—and the people of the whole
world—are not fit to be part of this kingdom because of their sin. God knew
this, of course, but what did He have in mind to solve this problem? Isaiah 53
gives us the answer.
This
chapter is a prophecy about a man whom God simply calls “my servant,” and it
describes his early life, his reception by the people around him, his death as
a sacrifice for our sins, and the exaltation and honor that he will receive
after fulfilling God’s will. Let’s follow this progression of the servant’s
life and death.
1. The Servant’s Early Life and
Rejection (52:13-53:3)
The
prophecy of chapter 53 actually begins at the end of chapter 52. Just so you know, the Bible wasn’t originally written
with chapter divisions—they were added in the 1200’s to help people find
the passage they were looking for. Sometimes we find a place where the chapter
division feels off by a few verses, but that’s no big deal because we can
simply start at the beginning of a section, wherever it begins.
Let’s jump
right into the text [READ 52:13-15; “sprinkle” is a
picture of something sinful being cleansed]. These verses tell of the
servant reaching unbelievable heights by going through an unimaginable low. It
is plain from v. 13 that his ultimate destiny is one of glory and honor, but
the path which takes him there is marked with grotesque suffering. Yet this
very suffering and disfigurement will bring about forgiveness of sins, and the
mighty people of the earth will be shocked when they see the fulfillment of
these prophecies.
So the
servant was headed for glorious heights, but the beginning of his journey would
not be marked by widespread acceptance and admiration. Look at 53:1-2 [READ 53:1-2; the phrase “arm of the Lord” refers to the
servant and pictures Him as the very power of God reaching down into the
world]. These words succinctly describe Jesus’ early life to a “t.” The
Lord grew up in an unremarkable family in an even less remarkable town. When he
first began to preach, his neighbors were offended, because to them he was just
“the carpenter’s son”—a peasant just like they were. His family tried to drag
Him home at one point because they thought He was out of His mind!
Jesus did
not fit the stereotype of an important person, and thus, by and large, He was
not received as one. This attitude toward Jesus remains the same today. I saw this thought graphically portrayed a few years
ago at the Louvre Museum in Paris. In a certain room, you will find a
magnificent painting depicting Jesus at the wedding feast in Cana from John 2.
It is the largest painting in the museum, and it is magnificent to behold, but
most people ignore it because of the painting across the room—the Mona Lisa. The
Mona Lisa is considered an all-time masterpiece, though no one could really
tell you why it deserves more attention than the painting of Christ across the
room. Yet there people stand, with their backs turned toward Christ, because
His painting is not a world-famous masterpiece.
That is how
most people think of Jesus still today—He is not considered a masterpiece! Most
people will say that Jesus is a great moral teacher, but that’s just political
correctness more than anything else. Anyone who takes a serious look at the
claims and teachings of Jesus Christ will either fall down and worship Him or they
will neuter His message, leaving it impotent and unrecognizable. Make no
mistakes my friends—rejection is our natural reaction toward Jesus. It is my
natural reaction to Jesus, and it is your natural reaction to Jesus as well.
Jesus
continued to face rejection throughout His life, and the climax of it is
described in verse 3 [READ 53:3]. The metaphor
in this verse portrays Jesus like someone who has an infectious disease and is
thus repulsive to other people. Some of you
remember the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in this country, when people
were scared and disgusted by the thought of being close to that disease. That’s
a glimpse of the rejection that Jesus faced, which of course reached its peak
at His crucifixion, which is prophesied in the next section.
2. The Servant’s Death as Our
Substitute (53:4-9)
Verses 4-6
begin to clear up any confusion about what was actually happening to Jesus in
His crucifixion [READ 53:4-6]. When the eyes of
man looked at Jesus upon the cross, they couldn’t see the reality. The Jews thought
they saw an imposter who falsely claimed to be God, and was finally getting the
punishment He deserved. The Romans thought they saw a fool who claimed to be a
king greater than Caesar. But when God looked at Jesus on the cross, He saw
your sin and my sin. He saw the servant—His only Son—as the lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world! As 2 Corinthians 5:21
states, “he became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him.”
Don’t you
see? He was wearing your crown of thorns! He bled from the wounds that were
meant for me! He bore the penalty for our sins so that we might be healed,
because we had all gone astray—every one of us. Don’t you see? He didn’t die
for anything He had done, but for everything we have done.
Verses 7-9
predict some amazing facts about the details of Jesus’ crucifixion. I have been told by those who focus on evangelism to Jews
that they will often read this chapter to Jewish people without telling
them its from the Old Testament and then they will ask their listeners to
identify who this chapter is talking about. They all easily recognize that its
talking about Jesus, and if you’re familiar with His story at all, it is not
hard to see why.
Verses 7-8
describe the way that Jesus would quietly and willingly endure injustice in His
trials [READ 53:7-8]. Verse 6 compared us to
sheep because of our tendency to wander away; verse 7 compared Jesus to sheep
because of His willingness to calmly go along with those who were about to put
Him to death. When Jesus stood before the high priest, He only spoke words
which condemned him even further in that man’s eyes, and when he stood before
King Herod, He simply said nothing at all. Jesus willingly endured injustice
which led to His crucifixion.
In our country, we are keenly aware of individual rights.
We have a Bill of Rights in our Constitution; we must be read our rights if we
are arrested. We can hardly imagine allowing someone to violate our rights, yet
when Jesus was on trial, the Creator stood before His creatures and was willing
to endure the greatest injustice in history—why? So He could launch a great
escape? No—so He could fulfill the plan of God and die for you and me.
Verse 9
then describes the circumstances of his burial [READ
53:9]. The first phrase about the “wicked” refers to the criminals who
were crucified with Jesus, and the statement about the rich man applies to
Joseph of Arimathea, the man who boldly asked for Jesus’ body in order to give
Him a proper burial.
These verses
remind us that these events did not happen by accident. Nothing mentioned in
this chapter took Jesus by surprise—His life went according to plan! When he
came into this world, He knew what the plan was, and as He grew up as a Jewish
boy hearing the Old Testament proclaimed, He was hearing His own autobiography!
When Jesus died, chaos appeared to reign—the sky turned black, the earth
quaked, the veil in the Temple was torn in two. Yet the unexpected had never
been more expected, and chaos had never been under greater control!
Isaiah then
reveals that the servant’s humiliation was not the final word. There would be
more to the story! The dark valley of death would only be the pathway to the
glorious light of victory and triumph!
3. The Servant’s Victory and
Exaltation (53:10-12)
Verse 10
picks up the thought of the servant’s innocence from verse 9, and it says [READ 53:10-12a]. For the first part of v. 12, I think
the Holman Christian Standard Bible offers a better translation—“Therefore I
will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil.”
Jesus’ exaltation involved receiving authority over all people. Jesus—in His
own words from Matthew 28—has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
He has received the name of “Lord,” the name which is above every name, and it
will not be shared. Why is this? [READ 53:12b].
This
exaltation is why 52:15 says that kings will shut their mouths. Humanity will
be astonished when Jesus’ exaltation is revealed at His Second Coming, because
the “Man of Sorrows” will have become the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
But please
notice that v. 12 tells us that Jesus hasn’t just sat back and enjoyed His
victory and exaltation. It says that He “makes intercession for the
transgressors.” Jesus is at work right now to apply the blessings that He
purchased with His blood to the lives of men, women, and children throughout
the world. He is offering the healing that His wounds have purchased and the
peace that His punishment has secured. He offers us forgiveness of our sins so
that we can be accounted righteous—seen as holy and pure and clean in the eyes
of God.
Make no
mistake, my friends—Jesus did not die because He had sinned; He died because
you and I have sinned. But He was willing to bear the punishment for our sins,
and His resurrection is the proof that we will be forgiven and have eternal
life in Him if we will confess our sins to God and believe that Jesus is the
sacrifice for our sins through which we can be forgiven. I urge you and warn
you today to repent—to come to your senses and change your mind about your
rebellion against God and to accept Jesus as your Savior. He is coming again,
and you can embrace Him today as your Savior, or stand before Him on that day
as your judge!
If you have
already accepted Jesus as your Savior, never forget what had to be done to
purchase your salvation. Peter said that if we’re not growing in obedience to
Jesus, we must have amnesia, because we’ve forgotten what was done to purchase
our salvation. The book of Hebrews says that those who go on sinning
deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth profane the blood of
Christ and outrage the Spirit of grace. May we never again take the sacrifice
of Christ so lightly by sinning against our Savior!
I leave you
today with a poem from a man who understood the sacrifice of Christ and the
depths from which he had been saved:
One Hanging On A
Tree
In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopp’d my wild career:
I saw One hanging on a Tree
In agonies and blood,
Who fix’d His languid eyes on me.
As near His Cross I stood.
Sure never till my latest breath,
Can I forget that look:
It seem’d to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke:
My conscience felt and own’d the guilt,
And plunged me in despair:
I saw my sins His Blood had spilt,
And help’d to nail Him there.
Alas! I knew not what I did!
But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid'
For I the Lord have slain!
A second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou may’st live.”
Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now I’ve fill’d,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I kill’d!
Those words were written by John Newton, the former slave
trader who also wrote these words:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind but now I see!
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home
When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun!
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