The Suffering Servant - Part 5

Good afternight and a blessed new year to you. We're privileged this morning to look at this last set of verses out of Isaiah 53. So we're going to start off with some questions. As we look at these questions, see these guys here? They're pressure washing gunk off of a building. The whiter and lighter part is where the stuff's been cleaned off. The darker part is the gunk. This is a place where it doesn't matter if you smoke or not, you've probably got lung problems. But anyway, that's what they're up to.

We're going to ask some questions. Does Jesus Christ deal only with the gunk on the outside? And does Jesus Christ deal with the gunk on the outside of us? Some other questions. Just how good are human beings at judging who is good or not good enough? Can we really tell when justice has been totally satisfied? How good are human beings at judging those kinds of things?

As we've been going through this passage in Isaiah, the last few verses of chapter 52, and three verses at a time through Isaiah 53, only 12 verses long, We're finishing up here on this first day of the New Year. And so as we've been putting it, munching our way through this passage, we're going to be stepping up the pace, finishing Isaiah, unless the Lord determines something different, finishing Isaiah before the end of February, before the end of next month. As we've been using the picture or analogy, this is a five-part sandwich. You're here in the process of this morning completing the fifth, the last part, the last three verses of that section. And one of the things we've been doing the last few weeks is summarizing each of those five three-verse sections this way, with one word. The first section there, the last three verses of Isaiah 52, we said could be summarized with the word enigma. The first three verses of Isaiah 53 summarize what the word misjudged. Christ was an enigma. What? He's the King of the Jews? What? He's thought very poorly of? What? People don't understand what He's about. Here He does a miracle, and the first thing the Pharisees want to do is He did something wrong.

They don't realize, hey, this is God. in the flesh, right in front of us. The next verses, four through six, convey Christ as a substitute for us. He died in our place. The death I deserved, He took upon Himself. The next three verses, as we saw last week, summarize with the word voluntary. We'll see that again this morning. But those prior verses underscore the idea he did it voluntarily. It was no accident. It wasn't something simply imposed upon him. But his taking the sins of all of us upon himself was intentional. He did it knowing what he was doing and knowing what was about to take place. What we'll see this morning will be summarized with the word satisfied. God is satisfied with Christ's death on our behalf. Satisfied. One of the other things we've been pointing out is this passage has a literary mirror image characteristic. It is what we call a chiasm, a mirror image in writing. And today's passage is the last part of that mirror image.

It reflects some similarities to the very first three verses we looked at, Isaiah 52, 13-15. And one of the things we're going to see is that both those last three verses of Isaiah 52 and the verses today speak from, at least in part, from the Lord's perspective, God's perspective. How does God see it? So we'll take a look at that. Here's our passage here this morning, Isaiah 53, 10-12. We're going to look at it, stepping our way through it, one verse at a time. How about that?

Alright, Isaiah 53, 10. But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. Isn't that interesting? Pleased to crush him. Let's think about that. How can it be said that God was actually pleased to crush him? This was his son. This was the one that he sent especially, born of a virgin. That one, born at the right time. Pleased to crush him? How does that make sense? Pleased to see him put to grief? What would it accomplish? One of the things to make note as we look at this, is that there's a pattern that shows up here.

Is Isaiah 53.10 pleased to crush him? Like the King James has bruised. We saw two passages ago in verses four through six here, this word crushed. Bruce and the King James was used also in verse 5. He was crushed for our iniquities.

One of the things you'll find if you go through this passage, you can do it yourself in your own time, look at this passage and look for words that are used again and possibly even again and again. Repeated words. What that means is there's a common thread that runs through the passage. You might take a look at that and see what you find. Crushed is only one example.

If He would render Himself a guilt offering, this is the answer to the question. Why would the Lord be pleased? Christ would give Himself, and notice that, would render Himself, He would give Himself, here's the voluntary idea focused upon again, to offer, to satisfy the infinitely holy and just character of God Himself.

God could not just say, oh well, boys will be boys. And girls will be girls. And just say, well, we'll just let it slide. All great on the curve and most of them will get through. No. He could not do so. Why? Because God is an infinitely holy God. Just a little bit of sin is not okay. A little bit of rebellion against Him is not okay. A little bit of life lived separate from His life is not okay. God is infinitely holy, infinitely just, also infinitely gracious. We were the guilty ones. We were the ones deserving the full penalty for our sins. Christ graciously, as this verse points out, offered Himself, gave Himself for us.

If we look at John 1.29, we get the picture. Here is John the Baptist, a relative of Jesus. The next day he, that is John the Baptist, typically gathering along the River Jordan, saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The same Greek word for lamb is used in the Greek Old Testament here of Isaiah 53, 53 7. That same Greek word is used in John 1 29 here and also a few verses later in verse 36. where John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God.

It's also used in Acts 8.32, quoting Isaiah 53.7. This is a sacrificial lamb. This is the perfect, unblemished lamb given for you and me.

Christ would offer himself as the Lamb, presented by God as an offering for guilt. Now, in our culture, when we talk about guilt, we either think of it in a courtroom sense, or we often think of it in terms of how we feel. Well, this isn't talking about whether or not we feel guilty, and it really doesn't address what does the earthly courtroom think is guilt or not. This is guilt before God. If you look at Leviticus 6, this is the picture of the guilt offering.

Leviticus 6, when the Lord spoke to Moses saying, when a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord, and then the next verses go in detail what that might look like. Verses 6 and 7, Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without defect. Was Christ without defect? Yes, without defect. from the flock according to your valuation for a guilt offering." Same words that Isaiah is using. And the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.

But you know what about this? They were supposed to do it. They understood when they heard the words guilt offering what that meant. But the problem is, how many times did they have to do this? How many times were they guilty? Again, and again, and again, and again. They had to do it repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly. You give the guilt offering, and there's only a question, how long before I need to do this again? With Christ, it's God's one lamb, sacrificed once. As Hebrews puts it, once for all. Once for all. Once done, forever valid. In the last part of verse 10, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

These three statements tell us that no Christ would die as a guilt offering in order, as John the Baptist put it, to take away the sins of the world. He would in fact live beyond that death. Yes, would he die? Certainly. Is that death the end? Nope. That's what these verses are telling us. Out of this passage, we've repeatedly seen that Christ dies in our place. This is the first place in this passage, these last few verses where we see Christ dies for us, but that's not the end. That's not the end at all. He is in fact resurrected, and what this passage does, it tells us the outcomes of his resurrection.

He will see his offspring. So what does it mean when he says he will see his offspring? Who are his offspring? Is that these guys? Are those his offsprings? Probably not. Us. We who believe are his offspring. We are children of God. Scripture makes that clear. He will see who? Us. Us. Here in Romans 8, which is a passage that the Romans elective looked at very recently, the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are what? Children of God.

His offspring. He's going to see you and me. He won't die. And by the way, one of the reasons we're going to see Him, is because we won't die either. Here is the Ephesians 5 passage. Here is Ephesians that starts off after Paul got through in Ephesians saying, Hi, my name is Paul. Greetings to all you folks.

Ephesians 1.3 You've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Here he focuses upon that relationship. Therefore, be imitators of God as what? As beloved children. Not just the fact children, but as beloved children. And this is agapitas, this is love unconditionally. He didn't say, oh those are such cute kids. Instead, he says, I love them unconditionally even when they were unlovable.

Did you notice this? When Christ died on the cross, it wasn't because we were begging for some relief. God, can't you do something? Man, this is a mess down here. Fix this! Right? He didn't wait for us to come begging for relief, for some kind of fix.

He loved us unconditionally. He says, because I love you unconditionally, I will pay the price. And notice how Paul puts it, and walk in love, now he's talking about how life gets lived out, As Christ also loved you, in other words, it's because of what God has done and who you are that the behavior comes, not, do this so that you can have a relationship, do this so that you can be children, do this because you are children, do this because He has already loved you. Also loved you, past tense, and gave Himself, past tense, He will prolong His days.

The days won't be a matter of, okay, this is your last day, you've died as a sacrifice, that was really nice of you, we won't see you later. Instead, no, He will prolong His days. Christ's death on the cross was not the end. He brought Christ back to life when he was, after he was crucified, he brought his buried body back to life, but not to this life. Important distinction. Not to this life, but a new kind of life. A new kind of life. Here's the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11. I won't read through all of it, but I'd like us to take a look at some key points here. Here is Jesus, and He's already greeted the people there in Bethany, where Lazarus is buried. And He's greeted the people there, and He says, being deeply moved within, came to the tomb, the tomb of Lazarus.

Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus says, remove the stone. Did they have to do that when Christ was resurrected? Was the tomb where Jesus was laid open when he was resurrected? Was it open so that he had that in order to be able to get out? Did he need to have the stone rolled away to get out? No. When Christ was resurrected, the stone was rolled away so that people could see that he was resurrected. Not because he needed it to get out.

Let's look at something else. After Jesus resurrected Lazarus, What's the line at the end? Jesus says, unbind him and let him go. When Christ was resurrected, did they have to unbind him? No. They found the claws just lying there. The stone and the wrappings were no limitation.

Why? A different kind of life. Lazarus gets raised to life, to this life. Can you imagine that? Here's Lazarus. Oh no, I've got to die again? This is tough stuff. Lazarus was raised to this life. Jesus Christ was raised to a new kind of life. Never to die again. The stone is rolled away, not so that he can get out, but so all can see he's resurrected. The wrappings are not taken off by somebody else, but he simply leaves them behind. because he's raised to a new kind of life. That's the kind of life that Isaiah is looking forward to in this passage.

This, by the way, and it appears that the tomb of Lazarus has been fairly reasonably well identified. This is the inside of that tomb where Lazarus would have come out of that tomb. How about that? The last part of that, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

Jesus Christ pleases the Father in all that He is, all that He is in His being, everything He has done, everything He is right now doing, and everything He ever will do. The Father is pleased. That's why our best efforts will not suffice. It's Christ's life in and through us that pleases the Lord. that prospers, all that the Lord does prospers in us. He has prepared good works for us to walk in, for Him to live out. He knows what those things are. He didn't give us a list, here's a list of good things to do, do everything you possibly can on the list.

I've shared previously, there was a time Nancy put up with about 15 years of our first being married when I had this idea that I had this sort of list of things that I had to do, and it was longer than everybody else's list. And I would wake up just in a cold, sometimes cold, but usually I'm not very cold, so hot sweat. And I would just, my heart pounding, wake up in the morning, my heart pounding. about between 1 and 2 a.m. I've got a list of things I've got to do. Stuff to do. I've got to do it. And so I'm launching like a rocket, taking off through the day, because of this list of things that I feel like I've got to do. And boy, did I do them.

But guess what? There are only so many things that the Lord has prepared beforehand. And those are all intended to be done by His life and not mine. And it didn't matter who else was impressed. I was an elder at a church and I resigned. I said, guys, I have a serious problem. I've been living by my life and not His. They didn't understand it. A year later they asked me back on and I said, you still don't understand.

It's His life in and through us that pleases the Father. So this passage that we see here in Isaiah 53.10, the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in Christ's hand. What the Lord does, and what the Lord does in and through us, that is what pleases Him. That is what pleases Him.

His life, not ours. Verse 11 here, as a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities." As a result of the anguish of his soul, Christ took the anguish, the penalty of our sins.

I can show pictures here of the outside of Christ's crucifixion and the process of getting there. What I can't show you is what's going on inside, because he not only dealt with what the Romans did to him, He not only dealt with the false accusations of the Jews, but he dealt with the wrath of the Father when he took upon himself our sins. That I can't give you a picture of, but we have the words here.

The anguish of the soul. When he took our sins upon himself, your sins, my sins. That's unfathomable anguish. That's why Psalm 22 starts off with, and Christ said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The wrath of the Father. The alienation from the Father. Something he had never known.

Why? For us. For you and me. Because he loved us. Not because we begged for it. Not because we were awful cute. But because he loved us unconditionally. It's the basis for our being immeasurably blessed that Paul wrote about in Ephesians. He talked about in Ephesians 1.3. It's the basis for our responding for unending gratefulness.

We will never pay it back. As I used an analogy before, if somebody were to tell me, Vern, you've got a $4 billion debt. No, excuse me, trillion. Let's move the notch up there. $4 trillion debt and you've got to get that paid off. Oh, good luck. If somebody comes along and says, no problem, writes the check, says, made out to Vern, all you've got to do is turn it over and sign it. I turned it in. Boy, am I grateful. Have I got any hope of touching that $4 trillion debt? Not even a chance. That's the place we're in. We're not here to pay it back. In eternity, we'll never pay it back. All we can do is be grateful, and that's the appropriate response. Forever grateful.

He will see it and be satisfied. God the Father will be, and as this passage puts it, future tense, but is now, as we know, because Christ has died, has been satisfied with Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God, taking away the sins of the world, taking the penalty for all those sins upon Himself. God is satisfied with that. Ah, that's enough. That pays the price.

To use the analogy, there's the four trillion dollar payment. That satisfaction, that complete satisfaction that God had in Christ's sacrifice for our sins. is a satisfaction of God's character, God's holiness, God's justice, God's righteousness, his love and his grace. All infinite qualities of God, those are all satisfied in Christ's death. Is it infinitely gracious?

Oh yes. Is it infinitely loving that he would do that? He loved me and gave himself up for me. Yes. It's infinitely loving. God is infinitely holy. That's why he can't just say, we'll let it slide. Go great on the curve and half of you will make it through. Boys will be boys? No. God is infinitely holy. This satisfies God's infinite holiness. He is the perfect, unblemished Lamb, the Son of God. He took the sins for you and me. Only He could do it.

So, there is this word propitiation. By that, by the way, this propitiation has nothing to do with these guys. This is a pro-pitcher, not a propitiation. Not that guy. This propitiation here is the total satisfaction of God's changeless eternal character in Christ's death on the cross.

God says, I am completely satisfied in every aspect of my being with what Christ did on the cross. Totally. Nothing for us to make up, nothing we can even hope to touch. Completely done. His love and grace, justice, holiness, righteousness, all completely satisfied in Christ's death.

You see, people don't understand this very easily, do they? It isn't us who has to be satisfied. Oh, I think I'm good enough. No, it doesn't work. I remember a poll at the college where Nancy and I went where well over half the people thought they were better than average. Now, you figure out the math on that one. If we don't set the standard within ourselves, I think I'm good enough. We don't measure ourselves against everybody else. That's not the standard.

The standard is God's perfect holiness. You want to spend eternity with Him? Guess what's the standard? God's perfect holiness. You're going to do it? I'm going to do it? No. Christ alone will do it. Christ alone, in His death on the cross, satisfies all of God's character for eternity.

No thumbs up, thumbs down based on our guesses. Here's the way human beings look at things. I am too cleaner than she is. Or, no, I'll be the one to decide if I'm clean enough. That's the human dilemma. Ha, they never touch me. The human dilemma is, here we are covered with moral and spiritual filth. trying to decide, oh, I'm as clean as the next guy. Or, I think I'm clean enough. No, our own estimations aren't going to do it.

Spotted, stained, tarnished, blemished, all fall short. 1 John 2, 1-2, My little children, and here's the children message again, right? I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. Now, does that mean No Christian will ever sin? Nope. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the what? The Righteous. The Righteous One. And He Himself is the propitiation, there's that word again, for our sins. Not for ours only, but for those of the whole world. The propitiation, the total satisfaction of God's infinite, eternal character. God is completely, totally satisfied. with Christ's death on our behalf. Completely.

So we ask that question. How good are humans at judging who is good or not good enough? We're not so good. As a matter of fact, we're not the ones who have to be satisfied. It's God. Can we really tell when justice has been satisfied? No. Only God can. It's He who does the judging and He who sets the standard. He is completely, infinitely, and eternally perfect character. That's the standard. Not, am I better than average, or about average, or better than most folks, or anything of that sort. Here are some things that will give you a sense of how human beings are at judging What's what? Let me give you an example.

See squares A and B in this? Right here is square A, here is square B. Believe it or not, those are the same shade. There's A, there's B. They're the same shade. Put them in a different contrast and one looks like a different color than the other. Put them together, no, they're the same.

Human beings can be fooled. Our estimate, am I better than average? Am I good enough? We can be fooled. Here's a similar thing. A and B are the same shape. You have a different contrast and all of a sudden we human beings can be fooled. Our ability to estimate, our ability to judge things like this is not the best. There's A and B right together. Same shape. How about this?

Care to step into this elevator shaft? Let me give you a little closer look and you can make a judgment for yourself. That's what it looks like looking down on the elevator shaft. Ready to step into it? Guess what? That's the floor. It's just been painted. It's just been painted.

Human beings can be fooled. Even being fearful when there's nothing to be afraid of. Or not being fearful when there is something to be afraid of. Here's an example. You see here? See this guy stepping around that little place? He didn't want to fall into that. How about this guy over here stepping around those blocks that are sticking up? Or this guy here kind of examining the situation to see what's going on here.

The reality is that's all painted. There is no hole to fall into. There is no pile of blocks that are sticking up. It's all optical illusion. But human beings can be fooled. We don't have a good sense of what's dangerous and what's not. We don't have a good sense of, am I better than average, or is this good or is this bad?

God Himself sets the standard. Here's in verse 11, by His knowledge of the righteous one, my servant will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities. So what is by His knowledge? What does that mean? Christ didn't die on the cross for our sins by some accident or some chance turn of events. It wasn't a flip of a coin, well, I wonder if He's going to die today, okay? Instead, by looking at God's character and knowing God's character, that God had determined before everything was built or before anything was made, this is what's going to have to happen in order to save these people.

So it's amazing. He did this on purpose? Yes. It's astounding. He did this on purpose. There, died on the cross by intent. It was deliberate. It wasn't some awful thing that, oh no, it's too bad that that happened. It's really too bad that that took place. Isn't that a shame? No. He deliberately, knowingly, stepped into that. He did so, why? Not because it was some accident he couldn't avoid. Not because it was a socio-political set of circumstances. He couldn't sidestep. But it was love-motivated. It was done knowing what needed to be done.

The knowledge that Isaiah wrote of was also truth that's been conveyed to us in God's Word. We have been told, as we've seen here in these verses, what needed to take place. Isaiah wrote these words seven centuries before Christ came. We're looking back now 2,700 years after Isaiah wrote these words.

Isn't that amazing? By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities. 1 John 2, 1 and 2 says Jesus Christ is THE righteous. So what will he do? He'll justify the many. That is, the many who believe will be declared righteous.

Not on the basis of their own righteousness. Not like I was trying to do. Your best efforts. Do a good job. No. His righteousness. the perfect righteousness of Christ. In the Romans elective, some weeks back, they went through, maybe it was months back here, through chapter 5. And notice some of the points from Isaiah 53 that Paul draws from. The many, the many, resulting in justification. The many, again. The many will be made, what? Righteous. Like Him. Declared righteous. Made like Christ. Christ's justification for all those who believe is on the basis of having taken upon Himself the penalty for their sins.

We saw at the beginning of this passage, this person who is speaking was from the Lord Himself. In fact, at the time, I think we embarrassed Wayne in the process here, but we pointed out it's from the Lord Himself speaking. This now begins again in this verse, My servant. Who's that? This is God speaking. God is the one speaking here, and that continues on in verse 12. In fact, we'll see it here. I will allot him a portion with the great. Divide the booty with the strong.

The impression that Jesus' disciples had on the day that Christ died was mistaken. Oh no! Jesus died! They killed him! They were mistaken. Christ wouldn't be dead and gone, done for. He would be resurrected, as we said, to a new kind of life. They didn't understand it. They didn't fathom it until later. In Biblical times, even into New Testament times, military victors would take up the spoils of war and they would have a victory procession typically into their capital city or into the country when they returned. And here's an example of when it took place when the Romans fought against the Jews in 70 AD, returned with the spoils of war, including some of the articles from the temple.

And that's what this is intended to reflect here, is a victory procession. Now, so I will allot Him, Christ, a portion with the great and divide the booty with the strong." Who are the great and the strong? Who are the great and the strong in this verse? You and me.

But it includes all those who have been saved of all time. All time. The final battle in the victory procession and the enthronement that's referred to here is spelled out Revelation 19 and 20. And you can take a look at that on your own. It includes all those who have been saved and resurrected of all time, Gentiles, Israel, and the Church. Therefore, looking at this passage, because he poured out himself to death, this focuses upon Christ's voluntary death on our behalf. He didn't just stop short of death. He didn't say, is that good enough? This kind of hurts. Can I quit now? No. He poured himself out completely on our behalf, all the way to the end.

The New Testament adds that we were identified with that death. Identified with Him. He was numbered with the transgressors. How was Christ numbered with those transgressors? Two ways. Certainly, very literally, He was beaten as a criminal. He was crucified alongside two thieves. but also He took the penalty of our sins upon Himself.

Here is the spotless, unblemished Lamb of God, and He takes our sin. For what we should have taken, oh my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That should have been our words. Instead, He takes it upon Himself, numbered with the transgressors. taking the wrath of God for sins upon himself on our behalf as if he were the transgressor.

All upon him. He bore the sin of many. He bore the shame, the grief, the penalty, the guilt for the sin, the sin of many. None of those were his own. He didn't say, you know, I got some sins and I'll take theirs too. No, the spotless, unblemished lamb took all of them, when he himself had none to bear of his own. The sins of many. The one who knew no sin were ours. He interceded for the transgressors.

Our human lives, if we were to simply stand by ourselves, unsaved, Before a holy and righteous God, we would be hopeless. What chance would we have? Hey God, I'm pretty good. I haven't done anything too terrible, awful. No, that's not going to cut it. When you have a completely and infinitely and eternally holy and righteous God, that's not going to make it. Averages, best efforts, none of that's going to make it. We would be hopeless. Every one of us would fall short of God's infinite holiness.

Christ, however, stepped between and said, I will take those sins myself. And his righteousness also stands in our stead. He interceded for the transgressors, us. As we look through this passage here, one thing to keep in mind is the gospel that is spelled out in here. We've seen here as we proceeded through this passage the three things to be believed about Christ in order for a person to be saved, here in Isaiah 53.

The first one, Christ died for our sins, He in our place. He did the dying instead of us. The second one, he was buried. He was certainly, most certainly dead. And thirdly, he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, even the ones that Isaiah wrote.

Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage here, oh, wow, how much we have to be thankful for. Endless, endless thankfulness. Endless gratefulness. Overwhelming to ponder. A price we couldn't even hope to touch. We could not make a dent or a scratch in the mass of debt that you paid for us. As you, our Lord, put it from the cross, it is finished. The debt's paid. Completely done. Thank you for that. Thank you for finishing off what we couldn't even begin. Lord, how thankful we are. Pray that you would even grow that thankfulness. In Jesus' name, Amen.