Message for THE LORD'S DAY EVENING, April 15, 2018 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel Message 10 in Greatest Chapters of The Bible Sermon Series The Gospel According To Isaiah ISAIAH 53:1-12 (NKJV) Tonight as we continue with our series of messages on The Greatest Chapters in The Bible I would like for you to please open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter fifty three. And let's read all twelve verses. Isaiah 53:1-12 (NKJV) 1 Who has believed our report?and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. ********************************************************************** I N T R O D U C T I O N No doubt this scripture we just read is quite familiar to many of you. It is a passage we often hear around Easter time or any time you hear a message on the cross. You will find more quotes from this prophetic scripture in the New Testament than from any other Old Testament passage. Isaiah 53 has been called many things. It has been called The HOLY of HOLIES in the Bible. It has been called The Bible In Miniature. It has also been called The Mount Everest of Prophecy. But perhaps the most appropriate title anyone has ever given to Isaiah 53 is The Gospel According To Isaiah. And it is this title I have chosen for my message this evening. In these twelve verses Isaiah tells us about the birth...the life...the death...and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And what is most remarkable is that he wrote these prophetic words 700 years before Christ was born. Stop and think about that. Isaiah was able to look forward and see what we can now look backward and see. What he could see prophetically we can now see historically. What he could see would happen we can see did happen. This truly is one of the greatest and one of the most amazing chapters in all the Bible. As we go back and take a closer look at this great chapter Isaiah reveals to us three portraits of our Savior.
First of all, Isaiah reveals to us a portrait of... I. Jesus Our SCORNED Savior (vs. 1-3) 1 Who has believed our report?and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 1. Throughout the Old Testament God raised up prophets to foretell the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah...Jeremiah...Micah...Daniel...David...Hosea... and Zechariah. They all prophesied the coming of The Messiah. Isaiah foretold that His Name would be called Immanuel and that He would be born of a virgin and that a messenger would be sent to prepare the way for His coming. Micah foretold that the Messiah would be born in the town of Bethlehem. Jeremiah foretold that there would be a mass slaughter of Jewish babies following the Messiah's birth. Hosea prophesied that the Messiah would spend a season in Egypt. Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would grow up in Nazareth. 2. Time after time after time God raised up prophets to report to the Jewish people that a Messiah was coming. 3. And yet look at the question Isaiah asks in verse 1... Who has believed our report? Seven hundred years before Christ was even born Isaiah was prophesying that the Jewish people would reject everything that had been reported to them about the Messiah. They would not accept Jesus as God's promised Messiah.
4. Isaiah goes on to say, And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? What is he talking about? He is talking about miracles. He is prophesying that Jesus will be a miracle worker...he will make blind people see...and deaf people hear... and lame people walk...and cure people of sicknesses and diseases...and and yet they will still scorn Him...they will still refuse to believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah the prophets of old had spoken about. 5. Why did the Jewish people reject Jesus? Isaiah answers that for us in verse 2 when he says, For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. When Isaiah talks about dry ground he is talking about the spiritual condition of the Jewish people at the time Christ comes. He is talking about the religious system that would exist at the time of Christ's coming. As a tender plant or root Jesus would grow up in the dry... hardened...legalistic Jewish religion that taught salvation through good works and good morals. Isaiah is prophesying that the Jewish people would scorn Jesus' message of repentance and their need of a Savior. 6. In the latter part of verse 2, and verse 3 Isaiah tells us another reason the Jewish people would scorn Jesus. v.2b He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. What's Isaiah talking about? He is telling us that the Jewish people would scorn Jesus and reject Jesus because He didn't fit the profile of the type of Messiah they were looking for. They would be looking for the Messiah to look like a King after the fashion of King David in the Old Testament. They were looking for a Messiah who would be a great soldier who would lead them in the conquest of the Roman government.
7. But there would be nothing about Jesus that would even remotely look like a king. He wouldn't dress like a king. He wouldn't wear a crown like a king. He wouldn't sit upon a throne like a king. He wouldn't lead them into war like a king. And because Jesus wouldn't fit their profile of the Messiah, they would despise Him and reject Him, and hide their faces from Him, and not hold Him in high esteem as their Messiah. No wonder Jesus was a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief! After revealing to us the portrait of JESUS OUR SCORNED SAVIOR... Isaiah now reveals to us a second portrait, and that is... II. Jesus Our SUFFERING Savior (vs. 4-9) 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. 1. One commentator writes, Its as though Isaiah was standing at the foot of the cross as he wrote these words. 2. Isaiah is describing for us in great detail the substitutionary nature of Christ's suffering.
Surely He has borne OUR GRIEFS, and carried OUR SORROWS. He was wounded for OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, He was bruised for OUR INIQUITIES. 3. When we think of a substitute we think of a basketball player checking into the game to give some rest to a player who has been on the court for awhile. When we think of a substitute we think of a baseball player coming off the bench to replace an outfielder or infielder. When we think of a substitute we think of the person who has been called in to teach in place of the regular teacher who is out sick. 4. But to think of Christ as our substitute has a whole different meaning. Christ stepped in and took our suffering. The innocent One died for the guilty...the sinless One died for the sinful... the obedient One died for the disobedient. Jesus allowed His Father to strike Him and punish Him and bruise Him for our sake. Can you imagine a doctor taking a lethal dose of medicine in order to spare the life of his patient? Can you imagine a Judge taking upon himself the death penalty for the crimes committed by a criminal defendant in his courtroom? That is exactly what Jesus did. The Great Physician took our lethal dose of medicine. The Righteous Judge took our death penalty upon Himself. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:6-8 (NKJV) 6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 5. Notice in verse 6 Isaiah begins with the words All we and he ends that verse with the words us all. Here we see the universal nature of our sin. All we like sheep have gone astray. Every last one of us has gone astray. Every last one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
6. GOD had the choice to do one of two things: He could either condemn us or He could save us. Aren't you thankful GOD chose to do the latter? Isaiah says, The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. GOD gathered up all our sins...all your sins...and all my sins...he gathered up every single one of our sins and laid our sins upon the shoulders of His only begotten Son. Christ could have refused to do it! He could have rejected it! But Isaiah says, He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. We are not to interpret this to mean that Jesus was as helpless and as powerless as a little lamb. He was in complete control! As the old hymn says, He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free, He could have called ten thousand angels,but He died alone for you and me. 7. Isaiah says in verse 8 He was cut off from the land of the living. Jesus didn't swoon or faint or lapse into a temporary coma as the critics suggest. He died! His heart died! His brain died! His lungs died! He was as dead as dead can be. He had to die for without the shedding of blood... without His death...there could be no forgiveness of our sins. 8. But to be Cut off from the land of the living not only referred to His physical death, it referred to the finality of God's judgment upon Christ for your sins and mine. The moment Christ drew His final breath our debt of sin was paid in full! God's judgment against our sins had been fulfilled.
9. When Isaiah says, They made His grave with the wicked of course he is prophetically foretelling that Christ would die in between two thieves. And had the Jewish religious leaders had their way, Jesus' body would have been thrown in the smoldering trash heap of Gahenna, which was the common way of disposing of the corpses of crucified criminals. But instead, Jesus was buried with the rich. Here Isaiah is prophesying that Jesus would be buried in a tomb owned by a wealthy man named Joseph of Arimathea. 10. And then in verse 9 Isaiah reminds us once again of the innocence of Jesus. He says, He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. Someone has said, The only thing Jesus was guilty of was excessive love. Isaiah has revealed to us a portrait of Jesus Our SCORNED Savior...and a portrait of Jesus Our SUFFERING Savior. Now thirdly, Isaiah reveals a portrait of... III. Jesus Our SOVEREIGN Savior (vs. 10-12) 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
1. In verse 10 Isaiah is reminding us that even though wicked men such as the scribes and Pharisees, and the Roman soldiers, and the angry mob, and Judas Iscariot all took part in the murder of Jesus, ultimately NO ONE took Jesus' life, but rather GOD gave the life of His only begotten Son; JESUS willingly and obediently gave Himself up as the sacrificial lamb for our salvation. Isaiah is foretelling that on the day of Jesus' death, He would not be a victim of tragic circumstances. He is telling us that on that day when Christ would be crucified that the Roman soldiers would not be in control...the scribes and Pharisees would not be in control...judas Iscariot would not be in control...nor would the angry mob be in control; BUT RATHER GOD WOULD BE IN COMPLETE CONTROL OF EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED THAT DAY. Christ would be fulfilling the plan that GOD had ordained even before the foundations of the earth were laid! Jesus was not a victim of tragic circumstances. The Roman soldiers did not control His destiny, the scribes and Pharisees did not control His destiny, Judas Iscariot did NOT control His destiny, the angry mob did not control His destiny. GOD WAS IN COMPLETE CONTROL. Christ's death was ordained even before the foundations of the earth were laid! 2. Imagine the sorrow and the heaviness Isaiah must have felt as he wrote those prophetic words about the darkness of Calvary in the first part of verse 10. But then imagine the joy and gladness Isaiah must have felt as he wrote about the daylight of Christ's resurrection in the latter part of verse 10. Isaiah wrote, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. When Isaiah says, He shall see His seed who is he talking about? He is talking about Christ's spiritual descendants. He is talking about those who accept Him as LORD and SAVIOR. He is talking about you and me. He shall see His seed.
And when Isaiah says, He shall prolong His days he is of course referring to Christ's resurrection. The grave will not hold Jesus...Jesus will conquer death and be raised to life on the third day and He will live forever and ever, never to taste death again! 3. In verses 11, 12 Isaiah now looks beyond the cross, beyond the resurrection, and beyond the ascension into eternity. He sees the great reward God the heavenly Father will give to His son for His work and sacrifice on the cross. 4. Notice in verse 12 Isaiah says, Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death... Isaiah is using military terminology here. He sees Christ as a victorious warrior, a champion for the souls of men, dividing the spoils of victory. Those spoils are the souls of the those He redeemed, the souls of everyone He saved when He gave His life on Calvary. 5. And in that final statement in verse 12 Isaiah is speaking of Christ's present day ministry when he says, He made intercession for the transgressors. That is what Christ is now doing in heaven. He is making intercession for You and me. He is praying for us. Romans 8:34 (NKJV) Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Revelation 12:10 tells us that Satan goes before God to accuse us day and night. Every time we sin, Satan points the accusing finger at us; but Jesus, our intercessor, our Defense Attorney steps before His Father to defend you and me as those who have been redeemed by His blood.
C O N C L U S I O N Do you see now why this 53 rd chapter of Isaiah is often called The Gospel According to Isaiah? Isaiah has revealed God's entire plan of redemption in these twelve short verses. Through the divine prophecy given to Him by God, Isaiah takes us from Christ's birth...to His death...to His burial...to His resurrection and ascension...all the way up to what Christ is doing at this very present moment. Napoleon Bonaparte once said this about JESUS... "I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not like any other man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires, and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and His will confounds me. Between Him and whoever else in the world there is no comparison. He is truly a being by Himself.""