The Suffering Servant - Part 4
Isaiah 53:7-9 · Vern Peterman · Dec 31, 2006
Isaiah, No. 50
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926013281052

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, we're going to move into our Isaiah 53 passage here, and kind of as we've kept the perspective, we're after racing to Isaiah 53, 52, 13 through 53, 12, we're now in a mode of munching our way through it. Three verses at a time, five sections.

We're now here at the very last day of the year, so this is our last shot for this year, okay? And assuming some freaky weather doesn't come up, we'll meet next Sunday and finish the last of it, okay? Now, the illustration we've been using is this is a five-part sandwich, and this Dagwood sandwich here is, we're now in the fourth part. And one of the things we've done, starting last week, is to kind of have a summary of each three-verse section.

The first three-verse section, the last three verses of chapter 52, we've called it an enigma. It is an enigma because here is Christ both exalted and humiliated. We've called the second section misjudged. The beginning, the first three verses of chapter 53, Christ is misjudged, misunderstood by the great mass of humanity, even those who are around at his time. The next verses, verses 4 through 6 that we looked at last week, summarized as, He is our substitute. Certainly that idea gets carried across in the remaining verses, but focuses in those three verses.

And finally today, the summary word would be voluntary. He did what He did. Christ did what He did for us voluntarily. And we'll see more about what that means. The other point that we have here is this mirror image. Okay, a chiasm is the term that we've been using to say a mirror image in writing. And I'm glad most of you survived this too.

Okay, we are at the end of this middle section of the mirror image where it shows Christ's suffering as voluntary and yet undeserved. Alright, as we get into the passage for today, verses 7 through 9, We'll be going through it, stepping through it, one verse at a time, through verses 7, 8, and 9. Beginning here with verse 7.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth, like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before cheers, so he did not open his mouth. Let's take a look at this word oppressed that shows up here. This word is used, interestingly, earlier in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus. It's used for the taskmasters who were very cruel to the Jews for a little over four centuries. The Jews were slaves in Egypt, and the Egyptian taskmasters drove them hard, cruelly, And that word is carried forth here.

Christ was not told, you can go and nicely be crucified on a cross. He was oppressively, cruelly treated from the very point when it was said, alright, now you beat him. They had a traditional beating before the crucifixion. Alright, now it's time to turn him over for that.

And the Romans, by the way, were free to do whatever tricks and mean and nasty things they wanted. The Egyptians, because this is kind of the image that would come up in the minds of the Hebrew readers, the Jewish readers who are reading this passage, the image that comes from these Egyptian taskmasters was one the Egyptians themselves painted. These are from Egyptian drawings. on the walls of Egyptian structures and notice that both of these show the taskmasters with a big stick wielded over the slaves. In each case, they were just profoundly cruel and drove hard.

Contrary to what a lot of people think, the Jews did not build pyramids. What they made, scripture has it and archaeology tells us, what they made was bricks out of mud reinforced with straw. Straw had both a structural and a chemical effect that helped make the bricks work better. Each brick was stamped, as you see in this picture, with the pharaoh's stamp. Imagine that, working really hard, being beaten to make bricks, and you've got to put the pharaoh's stamp on every brick, every single one that goes out.

They used a mold. This is, as a matter of fact, a mold from the time when the Jews were slaves in Egypt. They used a mold and they would put the mud and the straw in those molds and make brick after brick after brick after brick. We even have tallies in the Egyptian records of the number of bricks that they would make each day. And they would drive the slaves hard to get those bricks. So they were oppressed.

1 Samuel 13 and 14, as you have in your handout there, also has this translated as distressed. This is not an easy word. It's a tough word. It's a difficult word. The word that's paired up with it is afflicted. Christ was afflicted, as Isaiah wrote seven centuries in advance. What does this word mean? It has the idea of being humbled. It is the same word that's been translated in verse 4 as afflicted as well. And as compared to oppressed, which has sort of an objective sense, this focuses more on the subjective sense, the feeling afflicted, the sense of being and experiencing that affliction.

That's what this word is focusing on. Now, you've got all of us like sheep, and like a lamb, and like a sheep. All these sheep comparisons, you know what's coming. Don't you? You know what's coming. Comparing we like sheep to he like sheep. Now last week we brought up this lost sheep, and this week we bring up the sheep being shorn and the sheep, the lamb, being led to slaughter.

And it goes like this, Isaiah 53.6, we humans, this is from last week's verse, we humans were compared to sheep going astray, ending up in great danger. That's the typical habit of the sheep. And as I shared last week, I've seen it first hand. If sheep can find trouble, they will. This illustrates the nature of humans to stray from God. It is the nature of human beings to stray from God, except for the Lord's pursuing us and working in our hearts to draw us to Him. We would stray as well. And thus the shepherd has to come in and rescue the sheep.

The verse here for this morning, in verse 7, uses the sheep and lamb analogy but differently. Christ is compared to the tendency of a sheep to be quiet while being shorn, slaughtered, or whatever else you do to the sheep. This illustrates the willingness of Christ to be our substitute, to substitute himself for the punishment for our sins, suffering unjustly. He Himself would take upon Himself the penalty for sins that was due to us. So as we look at these verses here, you see lamb and sheep show up. So you know what's coming, right?

So you've got to have some kind of farm story. You know how that is. So Vernon's got to tell farm stories. Now you'll wonder, this makes you wonder, were Vernon and Nancy ever sheep ranchers? Really? Well, not like this. But anyway, in terms of what sort of experience I have had, I have not actually shorn sheep, but I've been shorn.

I have stomped wool. That's where they have bags about seven or eight feet tall made out of burlap. You throw the fleece down in there and you stomp the wool down and you get it really compact. Then you sew up the end and load it on the truck. Okay. I've seen people act like sheep. Okay. And I've been face-to-face with sheep, alright? Aside from that, well, I never saw any flying sheep. We never had any of those. I've never seen sheep in sheep's clothing. And come to think of it, I've never seen a wolf in sheep's clothing.

But, oh well. I have tagged sheep's ears. And they think it's real fashionable, really. Believe me, they all do it. Just like that. They tag an ear. Alright. I've even docked sheep. That's where they took it. See the tail is long. They're born with a long tail. About two-thirds of the breeds of sheep. It's better if you clip that off because the tail tends to get infected and things like that. Anyway, you clip them off so you got short little cute ones that flip around like that. Alright, so I've done that but here's the real story.

I had a neighbor friend, the Lytle family, and this is Floodgate, California. By the way, if you look that up, there is no zip code for Floodgate. The houses you see there, that's Floodgate. That's it, okay? This is the Lytle Ranch, or it was the Lytle Ranch. This is a little more closely. Right there was the barn where I helped Mr. Lytle with his sheep, doing various things to the sheep. He asked me to come over and so he and his son and I would do various things with the sheep. Now, Al Lytle told me this.

He said, Vern, Isaiah 53.7 is right. The sheep won't do a thing or make any noise while you shear them or anything else you have to do with them. They make all kinds of noise before and they make all kinds of noise after, but not while you're doing them. Interesting characteristic. So Al Lytle observed that and even brought up this passage here. Right there in front of the barn, that's where a ram taught me how to kiss the ground. Anyway, alright. Okay. Now, verse 7. Let's get to it. He was oppressed and he was afflicted.

This is the Hebrew poetry pattern where there's restatement, okay? Remember, in the Hebrew poetry patterns, not rhyming sounds, but rhyming meanings. So we see that there. The next thing we see here in this next part of verse 7 is actually a small chiasm. That is, it's a mirror image in writing. It centers around the middle of that part like a lamb that is led to slaughter, like a sheep that is silent before its fears. And so anyway, it has that mirror image pattern.

You know what I mean. Okay. All right. As we look at verse 7 then, when did this happen in history? Okay. Now, I notice Nancy is explaining to our guests. There's a lot of explaining to do when people come here. Anyway, this is when it happened in history.

Here is Jesus before Pilate, the governor, the Roman governor, reigned as governor from 26 to 36 AD, then faded from the pages of history. He is asking Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus said to him, yeah, it is as you say. But then, While he was being accused by the chief priests, Jesus was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Isn't that interesting?

No answer. Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you? And he did not answer him with regard to even a single charge. So the governor was quite amazed. Justifiably so. Could Christ have had an answer? Yes, most certainly. Every single charge was false. Every single charge was trumped up. Could he have an answer? He certainly could have had an answer. He could have brought up others to testify. The charges weren't even consistent. And the Sanhedrin had met with some illegal points in their own law. But nonetheless, Christ did not answer. In Mark, Mark records a similar account there.

Early in the morning, the chief priest with the elders and scribes and the whole council immediately held a consultation. And binding Jesus, they led him away and delivered him to Pilate. Here the governor again. Pilate questioned him, Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, It is as you say. The chief priest began to accuse him harshly. Numerous false charges. Then Pilate questioned him again saying, Do you not answer? See how many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer, so Pilate was amazed." Isn't that astounding? Not a response. None. No refutation.

So here we have verse 7, why didn't Christ defend Himself? Certainly He was capable. As a matter of fact, could He not have called down angels against these? Could he not have said, Pilate, you're no longer governor. I'm replacing you. Pilate, you're dust. He could have done whatever he wished, but he did nothing. Why not? Why was he like a lamb led to slaughter? Why was he like this sheep being shorn?

Christ voluntarily, as we pointed out last week, did this for you. Christ did not object where He could have. He did not refute the false testimony against Him, though He certainly could have. He did not bring punishment and end to it all, as He well could have, because He voluntarily did this for you.

A great many times the Roman soldiers would find that the people who they were crucifying would be struggling in various ways, resisting and fighting. Not our Lord. He volunteered for this as a sheep led to slaughter. I am certain that the Roman soldiers were amazed. As a matter of fact, we know for a fact that the centurion, once the crucifixion had been done, said, certainly this is the Son of God. He was convinced by what he saw.

We point out last week, Hebrews 12.2, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. That's active voice, by the way. He actively endured the cross. He didn't just go passively along with it. He actively endured the cross for you and me.

We see in Galatians 2.20 and these two passages in Ephesians 5, Christ loved and gave Himself up for us. He didn't just say, Oh, I guess so. If you really want me to, I will. No. Because He loved us. voluntarily Himself for us.

Last week we introduced this 1 Peter 2, 21 and 25 passage, and that interestingly enough was the passage that they covered in the 1 Peter elective this morning. And we pointed out several things. This morning we're just going to look at two of them that fit our passage. Verse 23 contains the kernel of verse 7. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats. He could have gone way beyond threats. He didn't even have to give them a warning. And he could have ended it all. He could have said, I'm done with this.

You know, years ago in Carson City, Nancy and I lived a little bit north of the Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center. And I went there myself, though not a Marine for training. They were willing to give people in the community that were interested and willing to go through some of it, some training as well. So I went through some of the training voluntarily.

But one of the interesting things is while they had various people go through the training, and the last and most important part of the training was the field experience where they actually put people out, there in the wilds in the Sierras and had them just live off the land. They gave them a little box of things to survive with and some clothing and sleeping gear and that's it. And they would survive out there in the woods. Well, they told them, you can come here and here's how you live off the land.

Anytime you want to go, you're free to go. And just before I arrived there, a captain had just decided he was done with this, and he had just left just minutes before I got there. And Christ could well have done that. He could have just said, hey, this hurts. This doesn't feel good. I don't like this. This isn't what I signed up for. He could have said that. He didn't. He didn't. He had the opportunity make threats and go way beyond the threats to make the threats good. But he did not.

Verse 9 in verse 22 of 1 Peter 2 here says, Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. Repeating in summary the truths of verse 9 in Isaiah 53. Peter got this message from Isaiah 53 real clearly, and reiterated those truths there, and in some cases even further explained it. Now, verse 8.

We'll step into that one. By oppression and judgment. This is kind of a Hebrew phrase, just like we have phrases that have a significance beyond just the individual words. It kind of has the idea in Hebrew, a figure of speech, by process of law. Christ was dealt with by both the Jewish and Roman authorities, even if he was falsely accused. And he was. Even if Pilate said, I'd find no fault in him, but I'll go ahead and do this anyway. He went through the process with both the Jewish and the Roman authorities, even if it was false, even if it was unjust. Due process of law took place. The next word here is taken away, and this is a figure of speech. It's short for, well, it means more than just being taken away, like being taken out of the room or taken off somewhere else.

Heidi and Helmut, who left us about 13 months ago, I'm sure many of you remember them, they moved off to California to the land of the fruits and nuts. Anyway, when Heidi and Helmut were here, we were talking about figures of speech one time, and I bring this up because here's the way figures of speech can mean more than what they sound like at first. Heidi let us know that drop you off at the corner in the German figure of speech means to kill you when the gang hit. So this is not like a friendly thing, I'll drop you off at the corner. That would be a frightening thing to say apparently in the German culture.

So this is the idea. Taken away is not just always going out the door, okay? This is taken away like, you're done. Alright? It's a shortened form of taken away to be executed. That's the thought. You can compare that to farther on in the verse there, cut off out of the land, which we'll take a closer look at in a bit. And you can also see the same word used in Proverbs 24 and Ezekiel 33, where the context makes it clear, no, this is taken away in order to be killed.

This word generation, translated descendants in some translations, has the idea of circularity. It's kind of like the circle of peers. These are the contemporaries, those who are around Christ. What did they do? Who considered that He was cut off from the land of people, taken away?

So does Isaiah 53.8 really really mean that Christ died really really 100% genuinely fully dead? Does it really mean that? Jeremiah uses a very similar phrase as a matter of fact even a similar context and even uses this lamb led to slaughter.

Jeremiah 11.19 When Jeremiah was being betrayed, he wrote of it this way, but I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter, and they did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, and notice there's a triplicate threat here, let us destroy the tree with its fruit, wreck the whole thing, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, very similar to what Isaiah has written, that his name may be remembered no more. Let's wipe him out. That's exactly what... Now, let's look at this phrase here.

Who considered? What does he mean by that? Of those who lived at the time of Christ, those who were in the circle of peers, and saw what took place, how many of them got it? How many of them understood what was happening? How many? A great many, of course. Everybody said, oh yeah! Right? How many of them understood what was really happening in and through Christ? Oh yeah, now I get it. Right? Or, how many saw what God was accomplishing through Jesus Christ? Of those who were around and alive during His time? How many said, oh, that's who He is.

Well, here's the disciples. This would be our best case scenario, right? The disciples. Let's see what they say. Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. Now, here he is with the disciples, he's explaining, and notice, this is the twelve, this is the whole bunch of them, okay?

Here they are, they're walking from the northern part of Israel, they've been around Galilee, they're going along the Jordan River area, and they're about to enter Jericho, and then go up from there to Jerusalem, which by the way is a stiff and steep climb. And all the things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be handed over to the Gentiles and be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him and the third day He will rise again." And the disciples go, Oh yeah! Now I get it! Right? Do they get it? Do they go, Oh! A light bulb moment! No! They don't. Look, Luke is almost joking here three times. Look at how he says it.

But the disciples understood none of these things. Do you get what he said? Alright, now he says it again. And the meaning of this statement was hidden from them. Do you think that's enough? No, one more. And they did not comprehend the things that were said. Did they get it? No. They did not understand. That's the disciples. How about the Pharisees? Did they get it? Not so much, right? The rest of the people, what did they think?

Crucify. Right? Here we have this Hebrew poetry pattern. Repeat the same idea three times that Luke says in verse 34. So, did the disciples eventually understand? Not so much immediately, but eventually they did. Here Peter says it right here. Peter, after a few decades, He says, yeah, now I understand. And you need to understand too. He did understand, eventually.

The last half of verse 8. He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. This last half of verse 8 conveys this idea. restated it, Christ died for our sins even though we were the ones who should, by any and all measures of justice, have been the ones to receive the penalty directly upon ourselves. He took it upon himself. I should have been the one there. Burns should have died on the cross. I was due all the penalty for my own sins. I should have been the one. Instead, Christ took it all upon himself. Verse 9. His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death, because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.

One of the things that some of the pictures betray or be a lie, and we'll look at that in a minute. One of the things that the Roman soldiers were to do was to stand during the crucifixion. They weren't to sit down, lie around, you know. They were to stand and constantly be on guard. Reason? You didn't want anybody getting removed from the cross. You want to make sure that once they were beaten and crucified that they stayed up there until they died. And that was the Roman soldiers' job.

Therefore, they weren't allowed to go and lounge around. And that's why this picture here, which I show from time to time, is a really well done picture. A few little things I might pick on, but that one right there is a problem. The soldier sitting down would not have been allowed. That would have gotten him some terrific punishments, or at least put him at great risk of it.

The centurion had to testify to Pilate. that Christ was truly dead, like all the other criminals. After all, the sentence of crucifixion didn't mean you just got crucified, it meant you got crucified to death. It was the centurion's job, along with the other Roman soldiers under him, to make sure not just that these were crucified, but they were crucified and that they were dead. They would do shift work, whatever it took, but you had to let the people go through the death process with the exception of the shortcut that was allowed for the Jewish Sabbath, and that is that the bodies be taken off before the Sabbath.

So why was Christ grave, as this verse makes it out, assigned with wicked men? Was He a wicked man? No. But the usual expectation was that since the crucifixion was for the lowest of low, it was for the scum of the earth in the Roman Empire. These were the very worst of the worst. And so it was assumed that these very worst of the worst would, unless somebody came and asked for the body, would simply be thrown into the public dump. There was a dump in the deep valley that was right nearby Jerusalem and it was constantly burning and so they would throw the bodies down into this dump and that would be the typical place where a great many of the crucified would end up. Just thrown down there just like the rest of the trash and refuse to rot and to burn and that would have been the outcome. This was also a further warning as the crucifixion was, don't mess with Rome. Don't mess with Rome. You're going to be really sorry. It's going to look really ugly. And when it's all said and done, you'll be garbage. He had a grave that was assumed to be with wicked men.

He would have ended up there, had it not been for what Joseph of Arimathea asked. Mark 15 and John 19 record, both of them, how Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. It was granted once because Pilate was surprised. Jesus is already dead?

Once the centurion was able to confirm, yes, Jesus is dead. Then Pilate said, okay, go ahead. You've got the body. Do what you like. With the assistance of Nicodemus, the one who talked with Jesus as recorded in John chapter 3, With the assistance of Nicodemus, also a member of the council, they prepared Jesus' body for burial and placed it in a newly cut tomb, a tomb that was owned by Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man. He was with a rich man in his death.

Because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth, Christ took upon himself the penalty of our sins, as a matter of fact, the sins of the whole world, 1 John 2, 2. Everyone. Christ died and paid the price sufficient for the sins of everyone on the planet, for all time. He died for all, every single one. It is not because God was just some phenomenally angry God, but because of a satisfaction of God's holiness and justice.

He didn't deserve that. It wasn't because he said, you know, I got to pay for some sins and so I might as well pay for some other people's too. No, he didn't deserve it. He took entirely undeserved the penalty of the sins upon himself. He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth. No reason for him to take those penalties except for his love for us, except for the joy set before him. except for that voluntary action that he did because of his marvelous grace. His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with rich men in his death, because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth. So we looked over these three verses here, the fourth out of the five here. It brings us back to this point of what's the gospel?

First Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received, that Christ died for your sins. This is the point that is made here in Isaiah 53. According to the Scriptures, he was buried and he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. These are the three things that must be believed for a person to be saved. And the three things that are not only given here in First Corinthians 15, but told of. in Isaiah 53. The essential gospel is contained in Isaiah 53, 4-12.

Take a look at the first one here. This one, Christ died for our sins. We saw as we went through earlier in Isaiah 53, our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried. Verse 5, but he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chasing of our well-being fell upon Him voluntarily. And by His scourging, we are healed. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people for whom the stroke was due.

We'll get into verses 10 through 12 next week. As we look at that next part, 53.9, that we covered here this morning. His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death. Jesus Christ truly died for our sins, and to prove it, yes, he was buried for three days. So we have the three things.

We'll look at the last part of it, the resurrection, next week as we look at verses 10-12 in this passage. He will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he's died? After he's buried? Yes, he'll be resurrected. Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great, and will divide the booty with the strong."

One more really important thing that we can point out, John again brings it forward, built into the understanding of this word Christ is that he is deity, the Son of God. John 20.31 says this, and I've added some things that are highlighted in green up here that I'll point out that are not in your handout, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of, and the Greek actually has the Son of the God, the one and only, the singular God. and that believing you may have life in his name. The Greek there has the idea you may be having life right now, present tense. Are you having life right now? Believing you may be having life right now in his name. Have you believed? Are you having life right now? His life? That's God's intent. That's God's design.

Right now we who believe have been identified with Christ in his crucifixion. where he truly died, what Isaiah told about seven centuries before it happened, in his burial, as we read of this morning, a grave with a rich man, and raised. These events were all prophesied, those three.

What these verses in Isaiah 53 don't say, that we see abundantly testified to in the New Testament, is that we were identified with Christ in these things, we who believe. Isaiah looked forward seven centuries in advance to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He looked, being at about the midpoint between the Passover and Christ's crucifixion, he looked forward seven centuries ahead to the things we read about this morning. We in the church have the privilege, and I'll let you decide how close we are between Christ having come and having died for us and been buried and resurrected and Christ coming again. But you're here somewhere, okay?

We have this marvelous privilege being able to look back, being able to look at the details, being able to see what even the disciples who were listening and even watching Jesus be crucified, did not understand. And by the way, they were astounded at the resurrection. They weren't looking for it. It took them by complete shock and surprise. We have the amazing privilege of being able to look in retrospect at those marvelous events and then to be told in retrospect that we were identified with Christ in those things. You're a believer here this morning, since you were identified with Christ in those things. You were there when He was led like a lamb to slaughter. You were there when He was like a sheep being shorn. No fighting. No saying, no, I don't deserve this. I'm not guilty. I wasn't the one that did this. None of that.

No. for the joy set before Him for you and me, for His love for you and me, for eternally longing for that relationship with you and me, and that joy, that eternal romance between Christ and the church, He would do this for His love. Let's pray. Lord, what You have done is beyond awesome. What You have done is grace unfathomable. We thank you for what you've done. We thank you for your love for us. We thank you for your marvelous care. And Lord, the sacrifice you made and that you paid, a price paid that we could never even touch. We couldn't begin to scratch the surface. We thank you for your love for us. So marvelously shown that you gave yourself for us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.